I'm a prize fighter. Titles don't pay bills. I fight for money. I'm making money. They're making money. Everybody's making money. That's what this is all about.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
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.
It is my job to sell these fighters. I'm now a business partner of the UFC. What I do directly affects my paycheck. I try my best. I just don't want people to be indifferent.
After every fight, I knock myself down. I start from scratch again. I say, 'I'm not as good as I thought.' It makes you work harder. It makes you push harder. It's more than money. It's more than the title. It's my pride, and it can be scary thinking about it. I could lose. It's scary.
I think I already proved that I wasn't just fighting for the money, because I fought as an amateur. I fought 90 fights for free.
I'm a professional athlete. I've been paid since I was in my early 20s to go out there and fight with guys who were 40 or 50 pounds heavier than I am and fight for my life. I got into a business where people make decisions based on some of the most stupid things.
I get paid the same money if I'm fighting on pay-per-view or on Fight Pass, and Fight Pass is just getting started. It's the future. The Internet, many people watch it.
When you're watching people in non-title fights making four times the amount of money that a champion makes, it takes away the flavor of being a champion.
Money talks. I want the biggest fight. Whoever I've got to fight - the biggest show, biggest payday - that's what I want.
We don't fight about money... I hate to see people fight about money.
You've got to have a focus. You just fight for money, you get hurt. You focus on the title, you'll just naturally make money doing it.