JOSEPH BENAVIDEZ

Life is crazy. It goes in directions that you could never guess.

I love crying. I pick movies to go see with the intention of crying.

I'm not going to bag on people and make funny jokes about my opponent. I just respect every opponent I go in against.

Our first job is to go out there and fight - not to do backflips or have a mustache.

The title's the goal, not to beat Henry Cejudo. Because I already accomplished that goal.

I believe in my skill 100 percent, that I can go out there and beat Demetrious Johnson and give him the best fight there is.

Persevering is a fight. That's what a fight is. You face something, you persevere through it, you meet it head on.

You're always going to want to beat a person that beat you, just to prove you're better.

Fighting was the only way I felt self-worth, with people thinking I was the best.

That's why we're here: to leave a legacy that'll be remembered long after we're done. And what a great start to my legacy, man, being the first UFC flyweight champion.

I have watched 'Wolf of Wall Street' like eight times.

I never thought I was going to lose the first title fight. I was literally obsessed with the outcome only, and I couldn't imagine any other way possible. I thought I was going to explode and die before I lost. But I lost.

Cruces is like my town, where I grew up, where my heart is... All the teachers and coaches and people who have really influenced my life are from there.

You want to be respected by your bosses and peers.

My goal is to be UFC champion, and my eyes are on that prize.

I'm in this sport for a long time and I'm going to continue to fight with my whole heart and put on a show.

Of course, in Joe Jitsu it is about a lot more than fighting. It depends on their style, their confidence, the way that their hair falls in the morning, the way that their clothes look. It's more state of mind.

I'm just looking for matches that make sense.

People would ask me about my legacy, and I would tell them my legacy is what I did. You can't change it. It's just what you do or what you did.

And that's what I want to do, fight the best guys, the toughest guys to prove I am the best.

I remember this one time I had a dream about me writing a screenplay, and when I woke up, you know those dreams that feel so real, but I woke up and I was like, 'Oh my god I have this amazing screenplay I need to write down as soon as I wake up' and then I woke up and I was like what the heck was I dreaming of?

Fans are going to give you crap no matter what sexual orientation you are.

The destination is the belt, but you never arrive at just the belt. You're always on the way to something else. You never truly arrive anywhere. But winning the belt, it's a nice pit stop.

I think there's no one out there more deserving of a title shot than me.

That was always the top martial artist - the Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt. Once I started beating them, I knew I had what it takes to form a new martial art. That's when I came up with Joe Jitsu, my namesake, so my legacy lives forever through the martial arts.