D. Mandel/Sherdog.com
“When I had his arm behind his back, I could feel it popping. I thought, ‘Well, this guy’s pride just won’t let him tap, will it?’ So without hesitation, I broke it. I heard it break, and I thought, ‘Ah, there, I just broke it.’ I was stopped afterward, but even if I hadn’t been, continuing to break it more would have been fine by me.” -- Shinya Aoki commenting on his arm-breaking win over Mizuto Hirota at K-1 “Dynamite”
“I see guys out there who are super strong, but let’s face it, a guy who’s 280 pounds and six percent body fat -- that’s probably not really natural. I’m not gonna steer that route. The UFC drug tests the hell out of us. I get drug tested before the fight, after the fight and I get randomly drug tested all the time because I’m under contract with the UFC. I’m sure there’s a way around everything, but, you know what? That’s a lot of stress. There might be a way to get around the test. But that means you’re worrying about that and whatever you have to do to figure that out. And you’ve got to fight in a couple of hours.” -- Frank Mir to ESPN Radio 1100 on his increase in size before his fight against Chieck Kongo at UFC 107
“There’s a lot of women involved. I’ve gone to America; I’ve had an American girlfriend. I’ve gone to Holland; I’ve had a Dutch girlfriend. I’ve gone to Japan, and I haven’t had a girlfriend, but I’ve seen a few women there, do you know what I mean? So there’s a lot of James Bond-type stuff going on in a fighter’s life.” -- Paul Daley during the “Countdown to UFC 108” special
“I’m going to do something. I don’t care. They can fine me. I’m going to be doing something after every fight just for them. They created a monster by fining me. I’m just going to be creative and find ways to celebrate. If they want to fine me for the way I celebrate, that’s cool.” -- Muhammed Lawal to Tapout Radio on being fined for pouring an energy drink on his head following his win at Strikeforce “Evolution” on Dec. 19
“Look, when my career is over and done with, I’m the one who can look back and say that I was the champ. He got there twice and choked both times -- literally. I refuse to lose to a guy that has a [expletive] tramp stamp. You’ve seen his back, right? C’mon. No way am I losing to a guy that walks around with that.” -- Matt Serra to Sherdog.com on his Feb. 6 fight against Frank Trigg at UFC 109
“Before, you know, my coach would be like, ‘You should do this,’ and I was like, ‘OK, yeah, yeah, yeah,’ and still I may not do it or not really listen to or heed the advice like I should. And then now, when he says this, I’m like, you know, I’m wide open, my eyes are wide open, and I’m like, ‘OK, OK,’ and I’m asking questions, and I’m more, more attentive now because I know, I know what could happen if you don’t, if you don’t tighten up on those little things.” -- Rashad Evans on a UFC 108 conference call talking about adjustments to his game after his loss to Lyoto Machida
“I think the next champion of this category will be Nate Marquardt. If I’m not over with the belt, I believe Nate will be the next champion, the next guy to win for a long, long time this way.” -- Anderson Silva to Tatame on who he sees as MMA’s next middleweight king after his reign ends
“Three or four years ago, I think martial arts really had good potential to rival baseball, and fighters at this level are training just as hard as pro ball players and they’re just as good. I want people to recognize this, and I want there to be the kind of enthusiasm people had for it in the days of Pride. I don’t know who I should be saying this to, really, maybe the management or people higher up in this industry like that. But actually, I don’t know what the motivations of the management of this industry are -- only protecting or pursuing one’s own interests like that. I want them to expand and grow this world. I mean, the bounds of this industry are shrinking by splitting, getting together again and then splitting again. No one is gaining anything from that.” -- Akihiro Gono at a press conference following his win at K-1 “Dynamite”
“I’d like to thank Bas [Rutten] and Kenny [Rice] for the award and Rodney Rhoden, the opponent who yanked on my jock strap. I guess this wouldn’t be happening if it wasn’t for you doing so.” -- John Reedy on “Inside MMA” accepting a “Most Bizarre Moment of the Year” award for a moment in an October fight during which he had his jock strap pulled
“I also want to play as myself on a video game [one day]. But I don’t just want to be one of those guys on a game that no one chooses because they suck, like, ‘Aww, I don’t want Hazelett. He’s garbage in this game!’ I want to be the guy where kids will say, ‘Nah, you can’t use Hazelett. That’s not fair. You can’t have him.’ I want to be that guy. That’s one of my main goals.” -- Dustin Hazelett to Fight! magazine
“I don’t make faces; we are done here.” -- Fedor Emelianenko responding to calls to look more animated by an EA Sports promotional photo shoot for the company’s upcoming video game, according to Graciefighter.com
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The Week Ahead
Zuffa ushers in 2010 with UFC 108 “Evans vs. Silva” on Saturday, then quickly pivots to set the table for WEC 46 “Varner vs. Henderson” on Jan. 10 and UFC Fight Night 20 on Jan. 11.