I don't fight for the money. I fight for my legacy. I fight for history. I fight for my people.
I want to stay humble, but I have to talk because the other guys talk too much, and... I understand the crazy power the UFC PR machine has.
You have to punch hard for knockouts, and to beat me, you have to knock me out.
My best background is, like, smash opponents. I all the time go forward. I all the time try to take down somebody. Make him give up. This is my style, you know. This is what I do all my life.
I don't think I'm a bad guy from Dagestan. I think I'm a good guy from Dagestan. But for my opponents, for sure, I'm a bad guy because when I go to the cage every time, I smash my opponents.
I came to the UFC to fight with top-level fighters and become the undisputed, undefeated champion. This is my goal.
Give me 30 minutes rest, little drink of water. Give me 30 minutes, and I can fight with anybody.
I'm from Dagestan, I'm born in Dagestan, and Dagestan is a different level for people living a tough life, people living in the mountains.
I train, eat, sleep, and repeat.
My style is not like anyone's. I'm not a typical wrestler.
Of course I am tough, but I am smart, too. I'm more smart than tough. People watching my record and say that this guy is tough. This is not about tough; this is about mind. You think when you fight. This is about everything.
I don't think about, 'Oh, I'm finally getting my respect,' because I don't care about this.
I never have a problem with the weight cut. My number one enemy is injuries because I train so hard.
Where is Conor? He wanna fight with a bus. I want to fight with a real gangster. Iaquinta, thank you so much.
I don't know about politics so much. I'm a professional athlete.
They're all fake belts. To be honest, I think real belt is Tony Ferguson's.
When I fought with Michael Johnson, when I took his arm for the kimura, I can break it, but I go very slowly, be careful, because I don't want to give him injury.
I feel I represent my country: not only my country but all former U.S.S.R. countries because I have very big fan base here, and I have more than a billion Muslim fans. I feel I represent these guys all around the world. My fans. This gives me very good energy. When I go to the cage, I think about these people.
I need eight weeks, train hard, last one week make weight, and go to the war. Because when I go to the war, I have to know I am ready or no.
These guys talk when I'm injured, but when I'm healthy, where are these guys? Tony or Conor, it doesn't matter. Or maybe they're going to fight it each other? It doesn't matter.
