"I try to wrestle one time a week with good, solid people." — Ben Askren

I don't care about having a fancy car. I don't have a lot of the wants and needs that a lot of people have where I would need to make a $1 million a fight.

If you can't play the good guy, sometimes you've got to play the villain.

A Division I college wrestling team has so many guys at such a high level it'd be like having every single guy in the gym being a top 10 UFC guy, and that's who you're competing against every single day. Most everyone has been wrestling since they were 5 years old. It's been their dream to wrestle in college. There's such a high level of intensity.

I think every promoter's job is to pump their athletes up. Like, you see, Dana White did it all the time with branding people: all of a sudden, they're the best thing since sliced bread, just because that's the promoter's job.

As long as I'm speaking the truth, I'm going to be OK with what I'm saying. That's kind of how I've lived my whole life.

I'm dominant positionally, and my hands got power.

If your coach ain't got your back, who's got your back?

When I couldn't sign with the UFC, I think my goal of being Number 1 in the world went out the window. There's just no way of doing that at Welterweight without being in the UFC. I could go 50-0, and as long as it's outside the UFC, I'm not going to be Number 1.

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I try to wrestle one time a week with good, solid people.