Jake Hager

“Your natural instinct when people are throwing punches at you is to back up. That just makes it more dangerous for you. You'll get hurt that way. You've got to teach yourself to go forward, move your feet and move your head. I'm not going to lie, that was tough for me to learn.”

“In this world, I feel like we all need to be nicer to each other.”

“Any time you can get Glenn Beck crying it's a good thing.”

“I was young; I signed with the WWE when I was 24. I was up on the main roster when I was 26 and 10 years later that is a lot of learning and a lot of growth.”

“MMA fans and pro wrestling fans are similar in that they care about their sports very much. They want to see that you're serious and not making fun of them or the sport that they love.”

“I want to grow my brand and help wrestling continue to grow, too.”

“As far as the work in the ring, it's so much technique and spacing and timing, and that's what amateur wrestling is, too. So I felt like I learned very fast and a lot of things came naturally for me.”

“If people want to compare me to Brock Lesnar - there's worse people to compare me to.”

“People think I look like a P.E. teacher or the principal.”

“I grew up in one of the most prolific high-school-wrestling programs in the country, and MMA fighters are more successful when they have that amateur-wrestling background.”

“I think Bellator is the place for me to hone my craft and they have a great selection of heavyweights here. They put on a great card every time so it's really exciting to be a part of that.”

“I believe competition makes everyone better.”

“Growing up in Perry, Oklahoma, there's not a lot going on, so we would go wrestle anywhere and anyplace we could. It really is who I am.”

“Yes, pro wrestling is damaging on your body. It hurts.”

“As a fighter, I'm not one of those people that wants to prove I can go out and throw strikes.”

“I think 'We the People' is an example of why pro wrestling is so cool because it was a storyline that started out very political and very controversial and very nasty. It really evolved into a movement of the people, not just American people, but people everywhere.”

“I am Jack Swagger. My background, it's there for the world to see, and you look at MMA today, you look at boxing today, you look at professional kickboxing today, you need that entertainment value. You want people to relate to you as a character, as a personality. Honestly, that's what they're going to remember.”

“It is cool to be a pro wrestler and that makes it so much better for us as pro wrestlers - who go out there and put our bodies on the line and give the fans the entertainment that they deserve.”

“If I can make someone tap out with my ankle lock it would be Sasha Banks.”

“I would say to the critics that they don't have a black belt in time management like I do.”