I didn't think I could make the NRL, but I was confident in myself that I could make the UFC.

I used to play in the front row, I could eat whatever I want - but I got up to 97 kilograms. And let's remember I'm five foot bloody nothing!

My last year of football I started having a couple of MMA fights, and bringing the weight down. It started in the pre-season of football, just to keep fit, and I did really well.

I wrestled before rugby league so I always had a pretty good wrestling background, a good base, and that helped with my football. It just meant my balance was always so good; a strong core, good hips and just things like that just really played a factor in how I ran the ball and tackled.

My right-hand hit is my favourite.

Being in UFC is a great promotion for me because I have more fans from all over Australia.

My surname Volkanovski comes from my father's side, so I have many Macedonian supporters and I really appreciate it.

My father is from the village of Beranci, Macedonia, and my mother is from Greece.

It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog.

You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe deserve your love and affection.

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.

Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.

Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose.

Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.

I fought Chad Mendes to make sure I was in the top five.

I'm the type of person, I'll fight whoever.

This is a crazy sport.

If I want to be the GOAT, I've got to take out No. 1 contenders.

That's the thing, I've got so many ways to go, even striking there's so many ways to go. I proved that.

I'm going to stay champion for a long time.

I'm going to be a great champion.

I want to fight on home soil in Perth.

This sport can be very unforgiving.