Chael Sonnen file photo: Dave Mandel | Sherdog.com
“I haven’t talked any trash about him. I haven’t said anything that I’d apologize for and I certainly haven’t said anything that isn’t true. And secondly, who cares about Anderson’s head? He pretends he doesn’t understand anyway. I don’t care about Anderson’s head.” -- Chael Sonnen to ESPN’s “MMA Live” when asked if his remarks on Anderson Silva is designed to get in his head.
“I'm the only titleholder that's fought on the Challengers' card, and now it's twice. All the other title fights were on the main cards, and that's where I want to be." -- Sarah Kaufman to SI.com on her position on Friday’s “Strikeforce Challengers” card.
"The day that I have to say that it's over is going to be a sad day for me, and it's probably getting pretty close to that. … I don't mind getting hit and I don't mind hitting people. So as long as people keep taking me and the fans keep watching me I'll keep coming in and getting beat up." -- Ken Shamrock following his loss to Pedro Rizzo.
"I'm going to keep doing it as long as I can. Any time you hear something like that, it just gives you reason for concern to kind of say, 'Maybe I need a Plan B in case this one goes bad,' but I don't really have one, so I'm just going to keep doing this until I can't do it anymore and then I'll wing it from there." -- Dustin Hazelett to MMAJunkie Radio on a doctor's advice that he not fight again due to a facial fracture.
“I’ve watched enough of it (Ultimate Fighting Championship) channel surfing to know that I find it repugnant … barbaric.” -- North Vancouver Councilor Pam Bookham to media outlet The Outlook in explaining her vote to disband the city’s athletic commission.
“We were going over a few things and I passed his guard and I got a mount and he turned and like grabbed my foot. I’m lucky he didn’t break it. … I had to roll out of it.” -- Dean Lister to FightHype.com on a training session with James Toney.
“Yeah, it’s true, I worked with King Mo. He was happy to come down and spar with me. He showed me some skills and I submitted him with a rear-naked choke. But you know that jiu-jitsu, all the hugging … it’s for girls.” -- James Toney to Fighters Only.
"If you put all these tough guys from the movie in a room together to see who would walk out, and came back in the room 10 minutes later, you’d see Randy Couture sitting on top of us all having a chocolate fudge sundae." -- Sylvester Stallone on “The Late Show with David Letterman,” discussing the toughest members of the cast of the upcoming film “The Expendables.”
The Week Ahead
Sarah Kaufman and Roxanne Modafferi battle to crown Strikeforce’s new women’s 135-pound champion, while Zuffa busts the July lull by gearing up for four events in the month of August.