The Weekly Wrap: March 6 - March 12

Quoteworthy

“Angles, footwork and elusiveness are always the game plan. People don’t know how to handle feints. It’s something that’s untapped in MMA, and I want to bring that to MMA. I want people to start recognizing it and saying, you know what, when you look at a good boxer, what do you see? You see good footwork, hand speed and good head movement. That’s what I want to bring to MMA. Boxing is an art. People don’t give boxing enough credit. Then you mix kicks in with that, and it takes it to another level. And that’s what I’m trying to do.” -- Dominick Cruz to Sherdog.com following his WEC 47 title win

“I don’t know how many more times I can cry in front of all y’all. I love y’all way too much to keep putting you through this. You guys have made my life a miracle. I don’t make a lot of money at this, and promise me when I tell you, you’re the only reason I’ve done this from day one.” -- Jens Pulver following his loss to Javier Vazquez

“This 25 minutes with GSP will be the last 25 minutes of my life, and I will only start thinking about the rest of my life when I’ve gotten past it. The position I want to be is at the top of the tree, looking down at everybody else and saying, ‘I’m better than you, and you know I’m better than you, and you’ve got to respect me for that.” -- Dan Hardy on the premiere episode of UFC Primetime

“I wish Dan Hardy would come up with some original material. Because, so far, all the guys that I fought in the past, they come up with the same song. George is going to break, never fought a guy as tough as me. He’s not a fighter. He’s just a good athlete.” -- Georges St. Pierre on “UFC Primetime”

“You go back to the UFC as a reference; the year of the upset was 2007 if I remember right. They said, ‘Oh, this is terrible; there’s too much parity. No one’s going to be able to hang on to their belts.’ Two years later, they’re saying, ‘Is there going to be any upheaval whatsoever? These champions might have to retire to give up their belts.’ I don’t necessarily agree with that, but that’s what some of the public is saying. But this is MMA. One minute it looks like this, the next minute I’m not going to be able to get rid of my champions. My job is to get these guys the absolute toughest challenge I can possibly bring to them and really finding out who the world number one is. So that’s the way I have to look at it. I have to challenge them.” -- WEC matchmaker Sean Shelby on the Sherdog Radio Network’s Savage Dog Show

“I want Brock Lesnar. I’m the heavyweight champion of the world versus the UFC champion. That’d be a hell of a match. I’ll fight anybody you got.” -- James Toney on Inside MMA

“I think they’re using James as a way to say MMA fighters are better than boxers. If he fights a quality ground guy, once he goes to the ground, he’s gonna get killed. But if a guy chooses to stand up with James, James is gonna destroy him.” -- Renowned boxing trainer Freddie Roach on James Toney fighting in the UFC to Craveonline.com

“Brandon has some of the best muay Thai in the light heavyweight division. Why run from that? Embrace the challenge. See how I’m going to do against a so-called ‘best muay Thai fighter’ in the light heavyweight division. Ultimately, at the higher levels, I have to get past the great kickboxer that can fight southpaw and fight normal [stance]. I have to be able to pass that test.” -- Jon Jones on opponent Brandon Vera during conference call promoting UFC on Versus 1

“We say a prayer before we walk out. And then standing behind that curtain, I’m thinking to myself, ‘What the hell am I doing? Why are we doing this? Man, I need to get a regular job.’ But when they call my name and they open up them curtains, I say, ‘Ah, this is why we train. That’s right. I forgot.’ It’s a long walk from the backstage area to the front cage. I’m nervous the whole time, man, wondering ‘What the hell am I doing?’ But as soon as my foot goes into the threshold of the Octagon, as soon as my foot touches that mat, I feel comfortable, I feel at peace, like, man, this is why we do it, this is why we’re here.” -- Brandon Vera on UFC conference call

“I can still beat anybody in the world at my weight, so make of that what you will. The difference now is there was a time when I didn’t think anybody could beat me. Now, it’s a slight shift. I don’t think there’s anybody I can’t beat.” -- Chuck Liddell to Yahoo! Sports