Mauricio Rua

“I try during preparation to focus on everything I can as a source of motivation to prepare harder and train harder.”

“When you watch your opponent's tapes, you look for things that you can exploit, and things that he does very well that you should beware of.”

“I'm a very fulfilled and accomplished guy.”

“I have a lot of respect for Brandon Vera... The guy has a great background in the business of MMA.”

“It's important to have good boxing skills going into the fight with Dan Henderson. It's a big part of his game.”

“The legacy I want to leave and the way I want to be remembered is as a great person, a good role model inside the octagon as well as outside the octagon.”

“I don't care what others say. I know about what I say and what I do and how my career goes. Whatever people want to say, they're entitled to their opinion.”

“My obligation is to give my best, and that's what I think about.”

“Injuries are inevitable.”

“I had Wanderlei as a teammate who was already ahead of me, and I looked up to him as inspiration. I wanted to reach his level, to get to his status. I battled a lot for that.”

“I always want to win, of course, I'm an athlete and this is my life, but you can't control the outcome of a fight.”

“I would never think I would be able to have such a long career, let alone to conquer and to achieve everything that I conquered, that I achieved. I only started for love, for fun, because I liked it. So I never dreamed that I would have such a career.”

“Some people keep saying, 'I won't fight this guy, he's my friend,' or this or that, but I don't think that's fair.”

“People are too critical sometimes.”

“The young fighters will want to make a name for themselves by retiring veterans like me.”

“It would be a pleasure to fight in my hometown. It would be a dream come true to fight in Curitiba, where I lived my entire live.”

“Sometimes you are at your best phase, and things can change suddenly. So you have to be prepared, train hard, work hard and treasure what you have.”

“Losing is always bad.”

“Elbows hurt a lot more than stomps.”

“I really admire Lyoto inside and out of the cage. He's a great fighter and person.”