Matt Mitrione

“I feel like I'm pretty damn good. I feel like I get better and better.”

“I'm a knucklehead with a cool job.”

“When I got to the NFL, I was a below-average player. I was lucky to get in, to a certain extent, and I was lucky to make my place.”

“I was absolutely disappointed, but I got injured and football was done with me and that's what it was. I was good enough to get in there and I was good enough to play quite a bit as a rookie, but my body had enough snaps and decided it was done.”

“Obviously, I'm a striker. If I can put my hands on you, I'm going to. But, if I get in a position where I'm going to grapple, I can get down.”

“I just don't like Overeem. I'd like to see him lose. I don't like him as a human being... He is a smug, arrogant man. He came to the Blackzilians and ostracized himself almost immediately.”

“I was slicing sweet potatoes. A mandoline slicer popped my thumb right off. About a minute later, I looked on the floor, and there it was just looking at me on the floor.”

“Don't let people's compliments go to your head and don't let their criticisms go to your heart.”

“MMA is good to me. I enjoy the grind and the learning process.”

“Canadians are awesome.”

“As a promoter of myself and my own brand, I speak very freely and even recklessly about my fighting because I feel extremely confident.”

“There comes a time in every athlete's life, where the scenarios change and the landscape has eroded from what made you fall in love with it initially.”

“I'm an intelligent and articulate person with a college degree and I can do whatever I want in the world.”

“I guess it's just human nature to expect to give and to get back, but that's not the case when it comes to sports. When you know you have a value and you're worth something to them, you've got to monetize it. I've got to capitalize, and it's not fair to be criticized because I want to capitalize on it.”

“I don't do anything to be No. 2, I do it to win.”

“I'm very good at compartmentalizing.”

“Mobility's a big part of my game.”

“I don't want to get punched in the face but I've got a pretty damn good chin and I know that if I can touch you and turn your chin a little bit, there's a good chance that I'll put you to sleep.”

“If anyone ever paid attention to my Twitter awhile back, I had a blast on there. I wrote whatever I wanted to say and however I wanted to say it. I didn't do anything to get a rise out of people, I put stuff up there that was funny to me. I have a different kind of sense of humor and wanted to share things I thought were hilarious.”

“When it comes to something athletic, I can hold my own.”