Jon Jones file photo: Dave Mandel | Sherdog.com
“You know, he truly believes the answer he gave a few minutes ago, that people are tuning in to see a fight and not see anything else. He really means that. He feels like he’s taking the moral high ground. He couldn’t be more wrong. Does he know anything about business? Has this guy ever done anything? That’s not what people are tuning in to see. People don’t want to just see two people fight . . . He couldn’t have this industry more backwards. It’s shocking that he actually believes and then stands there with his chest out like we should all pat him on the back and go, ‘oh, good job Anderson. You’re training really hard.’ Well, guess what dummy, I’ve been training really hard since I was nine years old and I still have time to bring interest to what people see in me with your ass on August 7.” -- Chael Sonnen on Anderson Silva during UFC 117 conference call.
“I'm the last guy who has to leave the locker room, you know, and all of my buddies have left me. But, you know, when I'm in the locker room, I'm just -- I'm watching -- I'm reading my, my notebook of lists of moves that I've written down and I'm just mentally rehearsing the way I think the fight should go and what I want to happen and what I expect and I'm just visualizing a positive outcome for myself.” -- Jon Jones on a UFC conference call.
“If you are looking at a game plan in a very traditional do-this, do-this, do-that, it's not that way. What I do instead with Jon is I give him four or five, we look at our opponent's tendencies and their safety zones and we give him four or five options off of each one of those and how he puts those together is what you know is going to define that fight for us. So, instead of saying, ‘OK, you know, stay away from this and do this and that,’ I say here's several things that you can do off of this and play with him, here's several things that he tries here and play with him, which is very... it's a unique game plan for that kind of fighter.” -- Greg Jackson, Jones’ coach, to the Sherdog Radio Network’s “Savage Dog Show” on Jones’ game plan for his fight against Vladimir Matyushenko.
"I feel Ben's got, he's going to a shootout and he's got one real big bullet, but that's about it, and that guillotine is his bullet. And I know what to watch out for next time. I got Donald Cerrone first. Get through Donald, fight Ben, I get my title back within the year." -- Jamie Varner on HDNet’s Inside MMA when asked if he will regain the WEC title in 2010.
“I’ve said before that I will fight differently but I was still cautious. Not anymore. I am going to destroy Azevedo… I will mess him up. If it goes to a decision, I will leave my gloves in the ring and walk away.” -- Decision-prone Antonio McKee in a press release promoting his fight against Luciano Azevedo at Maximum Fighting Championships 26 on Sept. 10.
“Yes, I cried… one time. That time was when I got out of the shuttle bus at the hotel and was suddenly surrounded by a crowd of people, congratulating me and shaking my hand and telling me how well I did. They were Sarah’s Zuma people. They were so nice to me! I know they were happy because their girl beat me… but they were so nice and telling me that I had a nice fight even though they were rooting against me…and just…I cried. I was so touched. Thank you. Thank you everybody who supported me, and us, and…I won’t be like ‘I let you down’ because I know I’m not going to lose any fans over this. I wish I had come out the victor, but you know. Stuff happens….like getting DROPPED ON YOUR HEAD.” -- Roxanne Modafferi reflecting on her loss to Sarah Kaufman on Facebook.
"You only live one time and then you're gone forever. If you're remembered by people for something, then it's like you're immortal. It's like you never really cease to exist. If people don't remember you, then you're just a little checkmark in a cemetery somewhere. This is kind of my shot at immortality, I guess. They'll always talk about the 70-year-old who got in there and fought." -- John Williams, 70, to MMAFighting.com on defeating a 49-year-old opponent via ankle lock on July 24 in New Brunswick, Canada.
The Week Ahead
A stacked month of August kicks of with UFC Live on Versus, featuring Jon Jones vs. Vladimir Matyushenko and Mark Munoz vs. Yushin Okami.