Quotes from Diego Sanchez

I feel like I always knew fighting was what I wanted to do. But when I was 18, I got into a street fight with this football player. He was a big guy and three years older than me. I really kicked his butt, and I realized I had a talent for this and needed to pursue it.

We didn't do training in grappling for Chiesa; I was about to put the hands on him, put the elbows on him, put the knees on him, put the hurt on him the way I'd trained for.

Never stop, never give up, never stop giving yourself the self-confidence you need to be a champion.

I know people think I'm just the Diego Sanchez from the Gilbert Melendez fight. Hook, hook, hook. A crazy brawler. But I realized the best possible fighter would not get hit. He'd close the distance and minimize the chances of the lights going out. I want to fight as long as I can and be as healthy as I can.

I love motorcycles and riding bikes.

My motto is, 'Just earn it.'

I want to show my fans what happens when you are focused and what God will do for you if you are walking the narrow path.

Before, when I was 19-0, I was undefeated and I was 23, 24 years old. Yeah, I was cocky, I had a little bit of ego. I had to get humbled.

Even the best guys in the sport have losses on their record, and Myles Jury, I just feel like he's coming up into that reality check with me.

I want to earn my top spot in UFC.

For me, if there is one fight I could have, it's Conor McGregor. I'll go fight him in Ireland. He wants to fight in a football stadium? I'll fight him in a football stadium. When he jumped into the spot, he started barking up the wrong dog's alley. I'm one of the guys who laid the bricks for this great career that he is having.

My first dream was to fight here in New Mexico, Albuquerque, my home town. My second dream is to fight in Mexico City.

Over the years, I've tried to find myself, tried to find out who I really was. I ended up coming full circle, a circle that took me back to that street fighter I started as: Diego Sanchez, from 'Burque,' New Mexico, fighting on the streets.

Me and Nick Diaz hated each other. Nick Diaz used to send me e-mails. He found my e-mail, he talked to one of the MMA journalists at the time, there wasn't many. Gave him my e-mail and he would e-mail me hate mails.

I just want to be Diego Sanchez. I don't need a nickname. I'm me.

I had, in a way, become 'The Nightmare' in the cage, but also out of the cage. That's why I changed to 'The Dream.' But 'The Nightmare,' is who I am as a fighter and that's the way it's going to stay. I'll be a nightmare inside the cage and a dream outside of it.

The nightmare? The nightmare was myself. I was my own nightmare.

I let 'The Nightmare' go. To me, I feel a negative in it. I don't like it. It's kind of evil. I don't want to represent that.

For a long time, I was living my life my way and not God's way. I wasn't living it by his rules, I was living it by my own rules. And that didn't get me anywhere. I got to the point where I had no hope.

It's been a long road for me, with a lot of ups and downs. Thankfully there have been more ups than there have been downs. For me, what brings me down has only made me stronger because of it.

I've been through the ups and downs and had a lot of different things go on. But the one thing I believe is that when fans bought a ticket to see me fight, they got their money's worth every time. I never cheated them. I gave them what they came to see.

I remember what it's like, when I was 19-0, going on that awesome streak, feeling invincible. But it's like you eventually run into reality.

I'm here to be the greatest of all time, and that's what I'm striving for.

I'm going to leave it all out in the cage and know that I'm trying to finish my opponent, even knowing that most of my time it ain't going to be a finish.