Ben Askren

“If you're competing right, if you're doing it right, competition should be a very selfish pursuit.”

“I've never feared anyone or worried what they said as long as what I'm telling is the truth, and I'm not telling lies about people.”

“I don't like all the cheating that's going in mixed martial arts. I don't know what percentage of high-level fighters do it, but I think it would be a significant amount.”

“If I'm coaching at my academy, and we were drilling the front headlock, we don't just say, 'OK, now go five-minute goes,' because how many tries are they gonna get at going at the front headlock position?”

“In MMA, all of these coaches are doing their best.”

“I want to go and fight the best guys in the world and show people I'm the best. And hey, if something doesn't go my way - I don't think that's gonna happen. I realize that's a possibility in competition, and that's what happens.”

“If I want a kid to be good at a front headlock - which, if you're gonna wrestle at a high level, you need a good front headlock - I'm gonna put him in there 50 times in that practice.”

“There's no honor in faking an injury. There is no integrity, because you are lying about it.”

“One of my best qualities is my persistence.”

“I'm just a straightforward kind of dude.”

“I'm dominant positionally, and my hands got power.”

“I don't really want to be famous.”

“If your coach ain't got your back, who's got your back?”

“I think people realize that I'm one of the best welterweights, whether I'm number one or number four or number five or number six.”

“I've got more skills in my pinky finger than half the damn guys in the UFC.”

“People who are great at what they do, they do it the same way no matter who the opponent is.”

“I don't care if you're an Asian fan or an American fan: I'm happy to perform.”

“In wrestling, if you want to be the best wrestler, you show up at the U.S. Nationals. If you win that, you go to World Team Trials. You make the World Team, you go to the World Championships, and we all know who the best is at the end of the year.”

“I have nothing against Bellator at all.”

“I love running my business, and I love wrestling. I love helping kids.”