Quotes from T.J. Dillashaw

I'm not a fake one.

The reason why I'm so shredded at 135 is because I'm a professional athlete. I do everything the correct way.

I'm a big time hunter. I grew up my whole life hunting and providing meat for my family.

I'd love to get that Mayweather fight. Not even for the money, just for the fact of proving us UFC fighters got what it takes to get in that ring.

I wanted to drop the weight class to go to the 125s, and I played it off on how easy it was going to be. 'I can do this, no problem, I always cut weight.' I pushed my body to the extreme.

I'm one of those guys that loses and gains weight out of my face.

We're professional athletes. I feel like I got treated better in college wrestling. I had a physical therapist on hand at all times, no matter what, when I was in college.

I got thrown into the lion's den when I got to Alpha Male. My first sparring session was with Joe Benavidez, Chad Mendes and those guys, just bleeding from my face, its not like they took it easy on me. It was one of those things where we sparred 3-4 days a week, and we got thrown in there and that's what made me as tough as I am.

I treat myself more as an athlete instead of as a fighter. As a fighter, you're going out there as a street thug, relying on your hands, trying to knock someone out, being overly aggressive.

It's something to be proud about when I'm done, to look back at my career and know I've handled myself the way I wanted to - that my son can look back at my career and be proud of his dad.

I am leaps and bounds better than Henry Cejudo. I greatly believe that. But unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to prove it.

I'm one of those guys who's a hard worker.

I've seen past fighters who don't seem all there anymore, can hardly walk around or look like the Tin Man, they've just been through the wringer.

I'd rather be an athlete than a fighter, an athlete is going to go there and figure out the ways to win, see the holes in the game.

Everyone is wanting to make a name for themselves, and Dominick Cruz has been doing that by talking. He's been behind a desk, being a reporter, talking about fights.

Chad Mendes, I'm hunting with all the time.

Immediate rematches or rematches in general, I don't know if they ever really do change.

We're controlled more than any other professional sport. We're told what to wear, when to wear it, what we're allowed to say in our interviews.

Going to train out at Joel Diaz's out in Indio, I've trained with the Lomachenkos, I've seen Terrence Crawford's camp - I think that would be a super intriguing thing to get involved in.

I was chasing that Demetrious Johnson fight. It just really didn't seem like it wanted to work itself out.

What's going to build my name the most is by beating Demetrious Johnson. I think he's the best pound-for-pound in the world. I'd love that fight.

Have I been overly aggressive in some sparring sessions? Yes, I have. There's things, there's punches and things I've thrown that's been too aggressive and I've gotten to where I've had to tell myself, yeah, I shouldn't have done that, kind of thing.

I'm not the flashy guy with the neck tattoos trash talking your head off.

Justin Buchholtz is one of my best friends.