Pretty much, I was a hometown fighter, and everyone was pulling for me. Now I'm a hometown fighter again. It's a lot of pressure because you don't want to let people down. They're yelling your name and chanting for you.
I've been doing charity work since I'm 20 years old, and now I want to help kids.
It's a little weird: you're headlining a show on TV, and obviously, people like to associate that with material things. I drive a - what is it - 1999 Chevy Blazer. There's no more cushion on the driver's seat, and the tires are about gone.
I got to share the Octagon with Clay Guida. I got to share the Octagon with Cub Swanson. Now I'm going to share the Octagon with Frankie Edgar. These are things that, as a fighter, you always dream of.
Cub Swanson's a guy you either get through or you don't, and I fought him when he was on a nice winning streak.
Nobody expected me to finish Cub Swanson the way I did. When you see something like that, even I say, 'You're finally here. You're not only hanging with the best of the best, you're finishing them.'
I've proven I can hang in there, go through adversity, and pull tricks out of the bag.
I want the real title. I can't express it enough that I want to fight for the real title. The interim title, from what I've seen... people get it, and then they take it away in a month. I just don't want to be that person.
I am who I am. I'm a cool person, and I don't think I need to sell myself. I'm just going to let the fights keep talking.
I've gotta check, but I think I'll be the first UFC fighter in history to have the lead role in a big movie.
The Harbor Area is everything - Carson, Wilmington, San Pedro, Long Beach, that whole little bubble that I grew up in. I always throw it up after I finish fighting, I always throw up the Harbor Area. Out of pride. It made me who I am. It brought me my goods; it brought me my bads. It molded me into who I am.
When I go in the Octagon, it's no big deal. Just gonna go fight. Majority of the people? 'Dude, I'm scared to even walk through there.' Everything's a matter of perspective.
I'm not the perfect person, but I have the perfect heart, I feel, when it comes to helping people.
