Cat Zingano

“My son is a huge inspiration for me.”

“The thing to me about this sport, all the fans, everyone that watches, everyone that has a career has had a bad day at work. If you have a project, you have a quota that you have to meet, you can screw up at it. At the end of the day, you get to go home to your family; you can bring your work home with you or not.”

“I walked into the gym not even knowing what jiu-jitsu or MMA and all that was. I was looking to lose baby weight after I had my son.”

“Life is tough, but I'm tougher.”

“I'm training at Alliance because they encourage me, and they motivate me, and they try to build on my uniqueness as a fighter, as an athlete.”

“Nothing in my life has ever come easy.”

“My first fight was incredible; it was surreal. I almost forgot I had to fight, I was so overcome with emotion. It was just an amazing experience.”

“Women's MMA has come a really long way. People look forward to us fighting, and they get excited.”

“I'm a person that, when I'm in the right mood, not any one of these girls can touch me.”

“I feel like every catastrophe in our lives, you remember exactly where you were, what you were doing, who you were with, almost down to what you were wearing.”

“When I'm feeling comfortable at home, confident in my day-to-day, being healthy and being the best person I can be, MMA is easy.”

“I think the match up is one of the century and I have what it takes to take Cyborg down, if anyone does.”

“I've done what I could as far as getting physically healthy after my knee injury, and I've done what I could to get mentally healthy after losing my husband.”

“I was very much a student of the sport. I wanted to know everything, all the moves. It was the coolest thing I had seen. I started winning matches. Dads didn't want their sons to face a girl. Coaches didn't want to put any of their wrestlers up against me to be beaten by a girl.”

“How I hurt my knee was doing something so minimal that it was a little worrisome. To try that motion and others again, after the injury and after surgery, made you worry a bit.”