When I was 16 years old, I weighed 176 pounds.

I think to get a title shot, you need to have some expressive winnings.

My goal is to always be improving my skills.

I miss submitting people; I have a lot of confidence in my jiu-jitsu.

A lot of fighters come from Brazil. We've been doing this for long, long years.

Cerrone, he's a very good Muay Thai guy, very long.

Man, Ben Henderson, Donald Cerrone... these guys are a different level, man.

I think it's a loser's mentality to get happy with somebody losing.

Everybody needs money, but I'm a fighter. For what I make, I'm happy with what I make. The money is not everything; it's about honor.

I just have to go out and fight my fight and fight to win.

It doesn't matter who they put in front of me, I just want people to remember me.

I don't want to just be a champion, and I'm done with that. I wanna be a lightweight legend.

A lot of people tell me I have to trash-talk more, but I got here with my fists, fighting, not with my mouth.

Power is natural, but it can be improved with a lot of work. It's been something I've focused on for a couple of years because I saw it as a place where I could make improvements.

I do things right. No shortcuts.

I'm always looking for perfection. Even after training and my coaches say I did good, I always think I could have done more.

Press conferences aren't the best thing to do, but it's part of the job.

People say McGregor is tall and all that. He's as tall as I am, or maybe even shorter. He might have a longer reach, but I've fought Nate Diaz and Cerrone, who had reach advantage, and fought Anthony Pettis and Ben Henderson.

You have to respect your opponent.

I'm going to show the difference between the champ and second place.

Everybody likes money. I like money. I need money to survive. But I don't love money. Money is not my god.

Ben Henderson, he had never been knocked out before fighting me.

When you want the belt, you have to work for it.

People don't believe in me very much, but I have my teammates and my family that believe in me so much; they see how hard I work.

Eddie Alvarez, man, he's a tough guy.

I'm under contract. Whatever the UFC asks, I have to do because they are my bosses and they treat me very well. I can't complain about that, and it's this, man: When you have a boss, you need to follow orders.

I beat Diaz, Pettis, Ben Henderson, Cerrone, and I earned it, man. I earned my title.

If you're out for two years, and you beat one guy with a full-time job, without disrespect, but we're talking about fighting for a world title. You can't just beat a guy that went there to cover some guy that got injured, and then this guy, after two and a half years, gets a title shot.

Nate Diaz is a tough opponent. I've fought him.

I'm the former lightweight champion. I want to fight one of the top guys. I don't want to fight a guy who isn't ranked.

I think between 2014 and 2015, I made weight five times in 11 months. During that time, I felt my body change. It was able to hold on to more weight. And anybody who makes weight knows that it gets harder and harder to make weight once you've done it that many times.

Cerrone is a great opponent. The guy won eight fights straight.

I am surrounded by great people.

I'm a big fan of Georges St-Pierre.

You can promote fights - of course, you have to - you can say 'I'll beat you' or whatever, but you cannot put family, religion, anything like that in the mix. You need to separate things. That is a line a lot of fighters cross.

I wouldn't be where I am without Evolve.

The future is out of my hands; it is in God's.

I'm confident, motivated.

I'm looking to make history.

I'm an aggressive fighter, but I'm smart. I'm not going to play stupid.

I breathe martial arts every day of my life.

Every night that I put my head on the pillow, I go to sleep knowing that I can do more. I'm working toward perfection. I'm trying to be the best ever.

I think every fight is different based on who is fighting.

I'm the best in the world; thank you, Jesus, for that.

I came from the bottom. Now I'm the main event and UFC champion.

I want to do that. That's my goal. I want to become a legend.

I want people to remember me as a guy who works hard.

I always trained hard in my life to win the title, and I will train twice as hard to stay at the top.

Every fight and every loss taught me something.

I want to keep active, so when they called me to fight Nate Diaz, I agreed because I wanted to stay active. I got a little surprised because he was out so long, but he's a tough opponent.