Conor McGregor on Thinking Street, Martial Arts, and Purpose

Some great sayings from Conor McGregor in this video:

"I always think street but train sport."

"There is no one in there with me, it's just me in there putting on my exhibition. Doesn't matter the body shape that's in front of me or what's going on. It doesn't matter the result either, I don't dwell on the result."

"People say: 'Predict what's going to happen'...I just go in and perform, wear my heart on my sleeve."

"Martial arts gave me a purpose, gave me a dedication, gave me a drive that I wouldn't have had otherwise."

Conor McGregor on keeping an open mind

Conor McGregor takes a Bruce Lee approach to combat in that he is open to all styles. He takes what works and discards the rest. In his mindset, which has been influence by his coach John Kavanagh, he trains a variety of styles and knows that at some point he will be able use one of them in a fight. If you continually train something you never really know when it can help you in caged combat, but your subconscious mind absorbs the technique and it can just flow out of you in the midst of battle. Sometimes you aren't even thinking about it but it just emerges out of you in the middle of combat. McGregor notes this in an interview with BloodyElbow.com:

Approach everything with an open mind, with a learning mind. You will never stop learning as long as you keep the mind-set that everything works, because everything does work. There's a time and a place for every single move. If you work on it enough, it will work. Everything works, and that's the mind frame my coach instills in me. Everything works, and every movement can be effective

Urijah Faber on Living the Dream

Urijah Faber in his book The Laws of the Ring:
Living the dream is simply a form of living out your passion, of making that passion gradually, through persistence and effort, a central part of your life.

Chael Sonnen on Working Hard

Chael Sonnen on the important of training hard and staying motivated during long and grueling training camps:

Workouts are really important. It's easy to get motivated on fight night but it's tough to get in the gym twice a day. I never miss practice.

This kind of relates to what another hard worker in the sport, Dominick Cruz, says about training:

When you go out and fight you give everything you have, there's too much on the line...What translates into the fight though is the camp...You can't mess up in practice, it translates into a fight.

Georges St-Pierre on the story of his life

GSP describes his key to success:

There is no luck in life, everything happens for a reason. Every little thing that you do...leads up to a bigger thing. And that's the story of my life.

Chael Sonnen on his respect for Shogun Rua

 

Chael Sonnen has been known for his entertaining trash-talk, but for his UFC on Fox Sports 1 opponent, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, he has nothing but kind words. He noted the following in his interview with MMA Fighting's Ariel Helwani:

I don't like him because I want to like him, I've been around him and he's a good dude. I've been entertained by him over the years, I've been inspired by him at times as most fighters have over the years. That's what I think of him.

Firas Zahabi on Hard Work

 

In Georges St-Pierre's autobiography "The Way of the Fight", GSP's coach Firas Zahabi gives an homage to his prize pupil's work ethic, as well as to the concept of hard work as a whole:

 

His greatest ability is his perseverance. There’s an understanding we have between us that results and success come from one place: hard work. We agree with Holmes. We think it’s fair: you get back what you put in. People can cheat or rob you of almost any possession, but hard work belongs to you, and you alone. Georges knows that better than anyone I've ever known or heard of. So Georges’s work ethic is his greatest gift

It's a very profound passage by Zahabi. Indeed many people revere hard work above anything else and oftentimes many people don't even feel they deserve something if they haven't toiled for it immensely. 

UFC 164: Extended Video Preview

Going for that title I'm putting myself in the center of all the most dangerous fighters in the world. And I realize that that adversity is going to make it to where I have to rise to the occasion or die trying.  - Frank Mir

Main card

Benson Henderson vs. Anthony Pettis   
Frank Mir vs. Josh Barnett
Chad Mendes vs Clay Guida
Ben Rothwell vs. Brandon Vera
Erik Koch vs. Dustin Poirier

Preliminary card (Fox Sports 1)

Jamie Varner vs. Gleison Tibau
Louis Gaudinot vs. Tim Elliott
Pascal Krauss vs. Hyun Gyu Lim
Chico Camus vs. Kyung Ho Kang
    
Preliminary card (Facebook)

Soa Palelei vs. Nikita Krylov
Ryan Couture vs. Al Iaquinta
Jared Hamman vs. Magnus Cedenblad

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jerry West, Chael Sonnen, GSP, and Rick Story on working when you don't want to

NBA legend Jerry West had a great attitude in terms of training and working even on days when you don't want to. That discipline and mental toughness can be an immense springboard to success. Below are some great quotes from UFC stars Georges St-Pierre, Chael Sonnen, and Rick Story which fall along the same lines:

“You don’t get better on the days when you feel like going. You get better on the days when you don’t want to go, but you go anyway. If you can overcome the negative energy coming from your tired body or unmotivated mind, you will grow and become better. It won’t be the best workout you have, you won’t accomplish as much as what you usually do when you actually feel good, but that doesn’t matter. Growth is a long term game, and the crappy days are more important.”
- Georges St-Pierre in The Way of the Fight

Mindset has got to be up there. But there's some mentally tough guys that don't have discipline. I've been mentally strong at times and loved going to practice but I've also been distracted before, but I still go to practice. I personally am very disciplined. Whether I want to be at practice or not I show up every day. Whether I'm healthy or I'm sick or hurt or tired, I show up every day. I never ever miss. And I think discipline's a big deal. When I read about the top guys, Randy Couture was a big discipline guy; he always showed up whether he felt like it or not. Georges St-Pierre always goes to practice and you'll hear stories like that; if Georges goes on vacation, he brings a training partner with him. If he goes on a media tour, he brings a training partner. And those are disciplinary actions more than anything. And discipline's also a sign of mental toughness, so somewhere in between those two for anything in life will bring you the most success.
- Chael Sonnen talking to Fight Magazine

Positive Messages from Myles Jury

UFC lightweight competitor Myles Jury has a lot of positive messages to share with fans across the world. He is an ambassador for Vega, the plant-based nutritional company which a lot of vegan athletes use for their diet. Their site noted a couple great quotes from Jury:

 

Shogun on Motivation, Dreams, and Inspiration

Mauricio "Shogun" Rua talks training for his fight with Chael Sonnen at UFC on Fox Sports 1 and his motivation and inspiration in general:

I will go after my dreams training hard and dedicating myself to my maximum. To be able to be at my best in the fight and achieve the win. Each victory achieved is a dream come true. And that is what motivates me. 

The thing is to train hard and have determination. And to do what you love to do. When you do what you love, you do it with pleasure. So it's done well. 

Everything inspires me. This fight, my career, my life, my daughter, my family, my team, are my inspiration. My fans are my inspiration. Everything inspires me and I take whatever I can as inspiration.