“Forrest is a bigger, stronger guy with a lot of cardio, and he’s the full package. The other thing Anderson likes about it is that Forrest is a big name with a huge heart and is a fan favorite kind of a guy. That’s the kind of match that makes a legendary kind of a fight, and that’s what Anderson wants.” -- Ed Soares, Anderson Silva’s manager, talking to Yahoo! Sports about a fight between the middleweight champion and Forrest Griffin at UFC 101
“It definitely did a lot for me, fighting under those rules and proving that I can go out there and prove that I could contend. And that I wasn’t going to be, you know, massacred and picked up and punted out of the cage, like a lot of skeptics said. I think it could definitely help me to seek to fight in a commissioned state. I just want to compete in it, honestly, and I think I got that chance and I was able to do it without disastrous consequences. And I think it actually was beneficial to the sport because I think we really opened a lot of eyes with the coverage of it.” -- Congenital amputee Kyle Maynard in an interview with the Sherdog Radio Network’s “Beatdown” show
“People writing all that stuff are cowards. They’re people with two arms and two legs that hide behind computer screens and would never have the courage to step into the cage. Anyone who ever meets Kyle … it’s impossible not to get behind him. He’s an inspiration to all of us.” -- Maynard’s trainer, Paul Creighton, talking with Sherdog.com about public criticism of Maynard’s MMA efforts
“I was pretty damned amazed. I didn’t expect him to be that quick. He’s got bigger balls than a lot of the guys I know.” -- Bryan Fry discussing his controversial fight against Maynard with Sherdog.com
“I think this is a great fight for me, but I really hate that he brings his kids to every one of his fights, because now I’m going to be made out to be the bad guy or some sort of villain after I beat him up.” -- Nick Diaz talking about facing Scott Smith at Strikeforce “Lawler vs. Shields” on June 6 in St. Louis
“I think the hard part for the UFC right now is that their [lightweight] champion [B.J. Penn] is only defending the belt once a year. I think it will be 15 months since that belt has been defended by the time he defends it [against Kenny Florian at UFC 101 in August]. So, it’s kind of a tough situation for them to begin with, and it’s a real tough situation for all of us contenders who are trying to fight our way to the top, because once we get to the top, there’s nobody defending the belt. So, it’s like, ‘OK, what do I do now?’ Even if I win this fight, I will be sitting on the sidelines. If they do give me a title shot after this, assuming I win, I’ll be sitting on the sidelines for another nine or 10 months waiting for Penn to defend it.” -- Former UFC lightweight champion Sean Sherk in an interview with MMA Fanhouse
“I don’t care what his contract says. If it went to court, you can’t stop someone from their livelihood. If he’s under contract with the UFC, they have to give him a fight or, if they don’t, they have to let him go. They just can’t say you aren’t going to fight. Chuck is still under contract, and they have to give him a fight or let him go.” -- John Hackleman, Chuck Liddell’s longtime trainer, discussing the former UFC light heavyweight champion’s future with AroundtheOctagon.com
“She got mad at me after the ‘Rampage’ thing. She was watching on TV and she’s like, ‘Rashad, I don’t like all that cussing and s--t. Rashad, you don’t get on TV cussing like that now, shoot.’ And I’m like, ‘Ma, he made me mad.’ ‘Rashad, still, you don’t do that. People don’t want to see that s--t.’” -- UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans relaying his mother’s reaction to his trash-talking faceoff with Quinton “Rampage” Jackson at UFC 96
“To be honest, I’d really like it if a Japanese fighter could win our featherweight grand prix, but to book easy opponents against our Japanese fighters will not make them great. Even if they win, their value doesn’t rise, and they don’t learn anything. Since this is a tournament, they’ll eventually meet up with strong fighters anyway, so why not let them face each other now?” -- Sengoku matchmaker Takahiro Kokuho explaining his thought process behind the promotion’s featherweight tournament, which stages its next round May 2
“His worst problem is his arm, which he can’t move, and leg; he can’t stand up. The doctors said that, with good treatment, there’s some hope that he could walk again and, if God wants, return to fighting.” -- Wladimir Alves, brother of World Extreme Cagefighting bantamweight Will Ribeiro, talking to Sherdog.com about Ribeiro’s recovery from a motorcycle accident * * *
The Week Ahead
Sengoku stages its “Eighth Battle” at Yoyogi National Stadium in Tokyo. The event will whittle to four the event’s field of featherweight grand prix competitors.