The Weekly Wrap: July 3 - July 9

Quoteworthy

“I know they threw me to the wolves. [UFC President Dana White] said, ‘We’re not going to give you any easy fights.’ They were going to make an example of me, absolutely. I know the thought crossed his mind.” -- Brock Lesnar reflecting on his UFC debut in 2008

“No, we’re going to make an example of James Toney.” -- UFC President Dana White, interrupting Lesnar, during UFC 116 press conference

“The sky’s the limit with him, and he’ll continue to evolve for a long time. He’s a grappler, so he loves training on the ground, likes training as a whole a lot. And one thing you haven’t seen yet is how he has an aggressive guard. He’ll surprise a lot of people.” -- Rodrigo “Comprido” Medeiros, Lesnar’s jiu-jitsu coach, to Graciemag.com

“He can punch in traffic, and I know it’s just a matter of setting the feet and turning it around. In training, he’s shown a lot of potential to unleash some serious leverage and good snap and good power on his punches. So, it’s now a matter of getting Brock comfortable enough to get the repetitions in, and he’s going to be a force to be reckoned with, not only in striking but in all areas. It’s just a matter of getting the reps in.” -- Peter Welch, Lesnar’s boxing coach, to the Sherdog Radio Network’s “Beatdown” show

“Who’s Brock Lesnar? He has only five professional fights and one defeat. He is a marketable fighter because of his WWE past. They sell out 60,000 stadiums for that crap, which no one would even consider watching in Russia. That’s why Brock Lesnar is popular. As for Fedor, he is not a marketable fighter -- he’s just the best. He destroyed everyone during 10 years. He has 31 victories.” -- Vadim Finkelstein to ProSport magazine in Russia, as translated by Sports.ru

“I already said that he better not fight anymore, but I didn’t say it to him. I have expressed this desire just to my wife and his brothers. He doesn’t want [to retire] and says that he still has many challenges. My biggest concern is that injuries and losses occur, but you can recover from them. But in the spiritual matter, it may take up to five or 10 years.” -- Yoshizo Machida, father of Lyoto Machida, speaking of his son’s future in MMA to Sherdog.com

“So what you see now, it’s only the lights and show, not the reality. The reality is living in s--tholes or finding enough money to pay for your next meal, waking up each day and thinking, ‘What the [expletive] am I doing here?’ The reality is harsh. It’s depressing. Fighting is like those baby turtles who hatch from eggs on the beach. They have to make their way down to the water without getting eaten by birds or other predators. Then they have to swim out through the marshes, which is tough. You have to go through all of that just to get to the sharks.” -- George Sotiropoulos discussing his ascension in MMA to The Daily Telegraph

“I got really emotional and thought, ‘What have I done?’ I have to admit, it’s not an easy feeling. I’m going to be messed up inside for a while.” -- Carlos Iraburo to The Augusta Chronicle on his June 26 fight against Michael Kirkham, who died of a brain hemorrhage afterwards

“We don’t hold anything against the other fighter, because he was doing what he’s trained [to do]. I want to tell him that, because I don’t want him to get in the ring thinking, ‘Am I going to hit him too hard?’ I don’t want that going through his mind. I want to take the burden off him.” -- Dennis Kirkham to The Journal-Courier on his son’s death

“It’s just ludicrous, here’s a guy with absolutely no skills over-matched against a guy who was … in pretty good shape and it was like beating up the kid who is 12 years younger than you down the block for his candy. It’s tragic and people are praying for the family and whatever, but this kid shouldn’t have been in there. He’s 30 years old and he’s too old to learn this stuff, too. He has no right to be there and he’s dead! So, everything that we’ve been saying that’s going to happen, going to happen, going to happen, well it’s happening.” -- Former UFC matchmaker John Peretti, who viewed one of Kirkham’s amateur fights, to The No Holds Barred podcast on Kirkham’s death, as transcribed by FightOpinion.com.

“That last one, I knew I was trying to knock him out. When I came up, I checked his face because it would have turned a great moment into something that the paparazzi could talk about, because they don’t like MMA already. If I would have slammed this guy and started pounding his face in three or four more times, I wouldn’t be on ESPN.” -- Gerald Harris to MMA Junkie Radio on his UFC 116 finish of Dave Branch

The Week Ahead

Shinya Aoki and Tatsuya Kawajiri jockey for the position of Japan’s premiere lightweight at Dream 15, while Josh Barnett and Carlos Newton return to action on an Impact FC card in Australia.