Quotes from Paige VanZant

When I started training to fight, it was more out of boredom than anything. I was looking for more things to do. I started with boxing, and my coaches told me I had a lot of potential and that I should consider making it a career. I was like, 'Whatever.' I was just 15 at the time, and I never imagined something like that.

My dad grew up wrestling. He knew Ken Shamrock, and I didn't know who he was at the time. So, he found out that Shamrock was in a gym in Reno, and he wanted me to go try a class with him. I tried it and fell in love the first day. Ken told me that I had potential in this sport, and he's the reason I kept at it.

I am a huge wrestling fan. I would say The Rock is my favorite person to watch for obvious reasons.

There's a lot of girls out there that can relate to me. They can look at me and see themselves a little bit. There's a lot of girls out there that have a tougher side to them. I just think that people are really grown and attracted to that, and that's why people like to see me fight.

I want to go as far as it will take me. I would love to go pro, but if that doesn't happen, I am a gourmet chef and would like to open my own restaurant.

In fighting, you're not going 200 mph, but there's obviously danger in the sport. If you're a fighter or a NASCAR driver, you're obviously an adrenaline junkie. Both also take a lot of skill.

I don't go into a fight mad. I go into a fight like it's my birthday. I love what I'm doing.

I would love to go do movies; I would love to kind of delve into other things. I did do acting and modeling before, when I was a kid, so it would be nice to use those things.

Sometimes the media twists your words, and they say things to get a headline, and it's not necessarily what came out of your mouth, and they take things out of context 90 percent of the time. But I guess - any publicity is good publicity, I guess.

I definitely want to be an inspiration or a role model for all the little girls out there or anyone out there that wants to break stereotypes. I feel like I'm breaking stereotypes with what I'm doing. I'm not the typical fighter, and there's a lot of people out there that won't do something just because they don't fit the stereotype.

I think the reason why people have trouble fighting me is because I don't come from a specific background, and they can't prepare to fight me. I come in, and I push the pace, and I think that pushes a lot of people off their game, as much as I push the pace through the whole fight.

I'm just going to be myself; there's no reason for me to try and go out there and put a certain facade on or emphasize, 'Hey, I'm this. You need to believe it.' I just want to be the best that I can be, and if people like me, that's great, and if they don't, they don't.

You can't go into the cage and not love it, and you can't go in there unprepared. You have to prepare.

When I'm training, I cater a little bit to my opponents.

I like the wrestling and executing the throws. My dad was a wrestler and he showed me some of those techniques, too.

My father wanted me to learn self-defense, so I enrolled in the Academy and loved it from the start.