Fight Psychology Quotes

There's a camaraderie that comes with this sport, but fighting Anderson Silva is a lot like eating Chinese food: twenty minutes after I do it, I'm going to want to do it again.

At the end of the day, when two combatants get into the ring and/or cage, it's anybody's game, especially in MMA.

All boxers are different, and we all approach the fights in different ways.

A lot of time I fight guys and after a few rounds, they accept my dominance. They aren't fighting to win anymore. They're fighting to not lose. I've seen it many times. It's very hard for me to finish a guy like this. He doesn't want to get hurt. It's normal. It's human nature.

Your body can dictate your mind, so when I walk to a fight a lot of times I'm scared, I'm scared to death, I have a lot of doubts of myself, I'm afraid to fail, I'm afraid to be humiliated in front of everybody; but what happens, I act like it's impossible for me to fail and that my victory is a certainty. So as I'm walking to the Octagon and I act with confidence my body takes over my mind and I become confident for real. As I'm walking I see the change in my mind and when I reach the Octagon I'm a different person, I'm very confident.

Before a fight I'm always afraid... before I used to have a hard time just dealing with it because I would try to run away from it, but then as I competed more I understood the fact that this is how I'm supposed to feel.

It's the warm-up in the changing room when I switch on. I don't even think about the fight until then. Some fighters are bouncing about the walls, but I switch off. Then it's like someone flicks a switch in me.

I've always felt that I had to go out and prove myself in every fight.

Nick Diaz is a champion so he's got the spirit that comes with it. So he's not going to give up mentally. You see a lot of guys give up mentally and that's why they get knocked out or submitted. They give up mentally before they lose.

When people first started watching UFC, it seemed like a no-holds barred event... early on it looked like all the fighters were crazy. Actually, there are a lot of techniques, and the reality shows have let people see the fighters behind the scenes.

Guys have a lot more to worry about when they're fighting me than they do fighting Khabib. He's just one-dimensional.

The first thing I do when I book a fight is I go to the Internet and I print out a picture of the guy and put it on my refrigerator.

I listen to Frank Sinatra before my fight a lot, and I also listen to Orisha music, so both of those, I need, it's weird. It's a weird combination.

I've always said the thing about MMA that a lot of fighters don't understand is people care more about the story, about why a fight's happening, than the actual fight.

I've coached doing judo, but I've never coached MMA. I'll have my own coach with me to help me along the way and I can't really fail with him by my side, but I'm a little nervous.

Getting hit is part of the job. You don't want the first time you're getting punched to be in the fight because there's a lot of shock and awe and you won't react well. I like to get hit in sparring. I don't want to get concussed, or I don't want to be getting knocked out, but I want some shock treatment to prepare me for the fight.