Quotes from Joseph Benavidez

You have to go out there and fight as hard as you can. You have to go out there and work as hard as you can and do the right things. Then you go out there and perform and either it's good enough or it's not.

When you appreciate something and you're grateful for it - like going in to work everyday or just your partner or your job - you just do it that much better because you're lucky that you're doing it.

That's how you continue your passion and find inspiration; getting new ideas, getting new looks and new visions. Those are ways to evolve and stay passionate.

Fighting was the only way I felt self-worth, with people thinking I was the best.

I wasn't fighting in this sport from the beginning for any other reason than being the best.

You want to be respected by your bosses and peers.

Everyone wants respect from your peers and from fans. No better way to do it than beat Miguel Torres.

I'm in a small percentage of people that get to do what they love to do for a living. I'm lucky.

Persevering is a fight. That's what a fight is. You face something, you persevere through it, you meet it head on.

I like to say I eat black belts for breakfast. They're just great match-ups for me.

The destination is the belt, but you never arrive at just the belt. You're always on the way to something else. You never truly arrive anywhere. But winning the belt, it's a nice pit stop.

When I got into the sport and wrote down my goals, it was never to be a UFC main event or to be a on a UFC main card. It was to be the UFC champion.

Everything happens just like it's supposed to happen; you've just got to roll with it and keep moving forward.

I've been lucky. I've been in that top two or three for 11 years at two weight classes. It's been a crazy journey. It's been awesome.

People do that all the time - they switch teams, switch coaches, switch camps.

When you're fighting the best, best guys in the world, there's no glaring weaknesses. There's X-factors and there's small openings that you have to prepare for better and that's really it.

I'm so passionate and love the craft of movies and watch them over and over.

One person I lost to at 135 was the champion at the time, Dominick Cruz.

I'm actually a pretty quiet guy when it comes to fighting. I'm pretty serious. When I go out to fight people I'm not a big talker.

My goal is to be UFC champion, and my eyes are on that prize.

I've trained different places with different people my whole career. I'm going to continue to do so. It's always been a journey.

Life is crazy. It goes in directions that you could never guess.

I just need to remember even if I don't get the title, I have an awesome life and an awesome family and friends.

Anytime I can take a fight, I feel good doing it.