Quotes About Training

For my training camp against George Groves my main sparring partner was a 6ft 7inch cruiserweight who fought nothing like George. It was just wrong. Wrong preparation. I was as fit as could be, but strategically I didn't prepare right.

I don't do isolation body building; I just do practical things that help me with the kind of things that are asked of me in action movies. You know, a lot of kick boxing, a lot of sparring.

There's a very big difference between being fit and being fight fit. Sparring is the only way to get fight fit. It's a very important part of boxing and something that I do as regularly as possible.

I could be sparring mates and you're meant to hit 'em, but we'll be sparring and usually I try and stop at the face, or I don't really try and follow through, but sometimes they walk into them and I say 'oh sorry mate.' They get angry and say 'we're sparring get into it,' but I dunno, I think I'm so used to saying sorry.

You can't cut no days, you can't cut no corners, because you will feel it in the gym, you'll feel it in the sparring.

As an amateur, I trained in some real hard schools of knocks. In Cuba, they would have judges on three sides of the ring just for sparring sessions. They train under exactly the same conditions as they fight, and it was a great experience.

I have showed things in sparring and camp that I don't show in fights.

There are not many heavyweight fighters to come by, so having so many sparring partners is a big luxury a lot of other fighters don't have.

For me it's my biggest sporting achievement being Conor McGregor's sparring partner.

One of the things I like most about Roufusport is, really, the culture. A lot of times, you're training in fight camps and running and hitting mitts and sparring. Those things get old kind of quick. I like the fact that they allow fun into the room.

When most people think of Tae Kwon Do - which, in the United States, is not all that often - they think of sparring, a form of competition that both men and women perform at the Olympics.

I do much less sparring and always with the purpose of working on something in particular.

At Grudge, we just push each other. Whether it's sparring five rounds or rolling and doing drills, I do most of my cardio at practice. As far as running outside or riding a bike? That's not fighting, so I only do things that are going to help me in the Octagon.

I ruptured my bicep tendon in a sparring session.

Robert Easter Jr. is a tough fighter who I have to take very seriously and I do, and that's why we did a nine-week training camp and got the great sparring, got the right training, the right diet, everything.

Sparring is not as tough as a fight.

I've done a lot of rounds with Teofimo Lopez, sparring in Miami - so I know about him.

Many MMA fighters have tried boxing before, even just sparring for a few rounds, but no boxer has done MMA rounds. There's just no way for them to do that.

When I get into the Octagon I look at it as another sparring session kind of.

You try to make your sparring sessions as realistic as possible.

I'm hungry, but I have a good team around me. Good coaches and good sparring partners.

My first sparring session I couldn't breathe.

For my whole career, I didn't have sparring partners. I was frustrated when I came to the UFC because, after a few minutes of the first round, I would feel dead because I had no sparring partners.

What people have to realise is that it's not the fights that are really hard; it is the training camps. It's living away from home for 12 weeks. It's sparring with guys who are told they will get £1,000 cash if they can drop me.