Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal: Dave Mandel | Sherdog.com
"It feels great, but I think about, now, I got to keep getting better. Guys are going to come out, they're going to be tougher -- the sport's evolving so quickly. And I have to evolve with it, or else I'm going to be left behind." -- Cain Velasquez on ESPN MMA Live.
"I've been emotional before; it wasn't the first time, but this was definitely the biggest win that AKA has ever had. It was our first homegrown champion. But not just a champion, heavyweight champion, which I think more eyes are on than any other division…especially facing Brock Lesnar and [how] everything just came together." -- American Kickboxing Academy trainer Dave Camarillo on his reaction to Velasquez’s win on The MMA Hour.
“Brock started to fight like a truck with no driver." -- Junior dos Santos on Lesnar’s performance on MMA Live.
“It’s definitely bittersweet, because I’ve been with the WEC a while, and I’ve been fighting since ’98. I think I’m a pioneer, but now the future is open to me,” said Torres. “I think it’s really good. It’s going to give us lighter guys more attention. We’ve sort of been viewed as second-tier fighters, and now we’ve got the opportunity to show the world that we belong in the UFC.” -- Miguel Torres to Sherdog.com on UFC/WEC merger.
“We WEC guys haven’t been getting the credit or the exposure that we deserve. It’s also going to mean better paydays, which is obviously great. Not having to explain the difference, or lack of a difference, to the fans is going to be nice. I’m looking forward to the satisfaction of there finally being no difference between the UFC and the WEC.” -- Urijah Faber to Sherdog.com on the merger.
"Not even close to the end of my career. I need to get back to wrestling. I need to get back to my roots. The last few years, I've been through a lot, but I'm not a quitter. I'm healthy. I'm going to continue on. It sucks to lose, but I'm a person who will suck it up and continue on." -- Tito Ortiz following his UFC 121 loss to Matt Hamill.
“I was being stupid. I misjudged some things. I misjudged the weight cut coming down. I made a lot of mistakes, but at least I learned from it with Martin before I fight for a title shot. Definitely I plan on learning from the mistakes and coming back a lot stronger.” -- Jake Shields on his UFC 121 performance to the Sherdog Radio Network’s “Savage Dog Show.”
"Fighting Rashad [Evans] is the last thing I'd ever want to do. To me, being able to call Rashad when we're 40 years old and say, 'Let's go fishing,' or something like that, that's more important than the paycheck we would get today." -- Jon Jones to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
“I know I'm the best, and I've got to be able to talk like I'm the best. I'm not going to do all that, 'Oh, he's a tough opponent' stuff. Not anymore. F--k that stuff. It doesn't work for me. I tried to do that so I wouldn't get this backlash, but it doesn't work for me. So now, people don't like me? F--k them . . . You thought Chael Sonnen was bad? Just wait. I'm going to be like the black Archie Bunker." -- Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal to MMAFighting.com.
“For example, if Eddie were to fight Gilbert and we were to do a unification and Eddie were to walk away with the Strikeforce belt and the Bellator belt, then what does Strikeforce do at that point? I think three-round fights answer a lot of questions. I think five-round fights are great, but I think you can get a lot of questions answered in three-round fights in terms of the dominance and performance of fighters. In all likelihood, it would be three-round fights, but again, I’m welcome to [five-round fights]. I’m trying desperately to not say anything that would be perceived as a barrier to making those kind of fights happen.” -- Bellator Fighting Championships Bjorn Rebney on co-promoting title fights like Eddie Alvarez vs. Gilbert Melendez with Strikeforce.
The Week Ahead
Further details are likely to emerge on how WEC fighters will integrate into the UFC ranks.