I am very honored and excited to be part of UFC 100, it's going to be the hardest challenge of my career so far and it's going to be pretty tough, I can't wait.
Before each one of my fights, I make a point of saluting my opponent. I salute the other fighter out of respect, even though he is trying to take something from me.
People often say, 'Ah, ultimate fighting is so violent,' but it's rooted in martial arts. Martial arts incarnate respect. You can't walk into a dojo and say to your sensei, 'Hey, salut tabarnac!' After every one of my fights I go and shake the hand of my opponent. I don't need to hate the other fighter to fight him well. It's a sport.
I can choose whoever I want, in MMA things change very rapidly, sometimes you don't know what'll happen and there's a guy that upsets everybody. I could fight who the fans would like me to fight the most. For me that's important.
When I go on vacation I just like to do nothing - just hang out at the beach, go eat the best restaurants, and do nothing.
If you want to be a proud person, then you want to avenge your loss. For me it was [Josean] Serra and [Joe] Hughes, and for Michael Bisping, Henderson is one of his losses - one of his most painful losses. So I understand why he wants to avenge it. As an athlete I understand.
I went to Jerusalem, the dead sea, it was just amazing. Because what we see in the TV, I'm sorry to say it, I don't want to insult nobody, but a lot of the image that we see from the middle east in Canada - It's sad to say but it's always bad stuff. I was thinking coming here it would be a lot of military, security, everybody would be a little more on the edge, but I see it's amazing. It feels a little bit similar to Miami.
For me there is no reason why to go up in weight class, because when you go up in weight class you have to fight bigger guys - then you have to train against bigger guys. The guys are not better, they're heavier, but it means you have more chance to get hurt.
People have mistaken my break, I took a break from competition, it was because of mental problems, and because I was not agreeing with Performance Enhancing Drugs. I put the things on pause for a while, but I didn't retire.
I'm an athlete, my job is not negotiating, it's not my field of expertise. I'm an emotional guy - it's normal, a lot of athletes are, and we're very susceptible to get our ego cut because of that.
People don't understand, yeah I'm alright as a wrestler, but I beat people in the takedown because of my distance control - because of my Karate. This is something I learned since I'm 7 years old.
Sometimes I'm under the impression some of the fights happen that they shouldn't happen because a guy's cheating. Also, I think when something like this happen they should have not only a suspension but also monetary wise enforce a penalty. Maybe take the purse of the fighter to the other fighter.
Innovation keeps me ahead of my competition. It means that my foes must adapt to me, not the other way around.
Innovation is very important to me, especially professionally. The alternative, standing pat, leads to complacency, rigidity and eventually failure.
Dinosaurs were huge and powerful; they could not adapt and they died out. And so the big difference between dinosaurs and cockroaches is adaptability: one is able to adjust, while the other, apparently, couldn't... The same analogy applies to fighting, and probably any other sport. It's not always the strong that survive. It takes brains, guts, tolerance and forward thinking. We've seen this since the beginning of mixed martial arts.
I was a big fan of Jean-Claude Van-Damme growing up, and I always wanted to be a martial artist 'cause of him.
I am a public person and I have my private life. It's important for me that my private life stay private, that what I share with the people is my public personality.
