Michael Bisping

“Once I started fighting in UFC, things took a big U-turn. After my second fight, I came home and paid my mortgage off.”

“I'm not going to please everyone; not everyone's going to like me. I accepted that a long time ago, and if I had to shed a tear every time I got a hate email, believe me, I'd be severely dehydrated.”

“Financially, I've done very well doing what I do. I've got plenty of money in the bank. I've got gigs with FOX doing analyst work, media work. The UFC has been very kind to me. Ultimately, however, I want to be world champion. I have to achieve that to validate my entire career.”

“I'm a fighter through and through, and I've got more heart and more determination than anybody.”

“I want to be world champion, and that's why I've worked for an entire lifetime to get here.”

“I want to be liked; I just haven't lost sleep over it.”

“UFC has done a fantastic job of establishing the biggest leading brand in mixed martial arts. Years ago, many people didn't know what MMA was nor understand the sport.”

“I always wanted to be the champion, and I had belief in myself that I could achieve it. But along the way, of course, you've also got to be a realist. You lose a couple of fights here and there, and you think maybe it's not going to happen.”

“If a football player has a bad game, he's allowed to do that because he plays once or twice a week. With fighting, it's once every few months.”

“I used to do traditional weapons training, and I wasn't bad with a sword.”

“I'm a proud Brit and a proud Englishman.”

“'The Ultimate Fighter' has found lots of great talent.”

“Back then in the early '90s, people weren't calling it MMA - we called it Knockdown Sport Budo.”

“My best weapon is probably my speed. I am faster than most middleweights, and I know how to use it.”

“I beat Anderson Silva and then Luke Rockhold, who was, pound-for-pound, one of the best. Now I get to do Dan Henderson, who is a legend in the sport.”

“I want to be the first British person to lift a UFC World Title.”

“The Liverpool lad Darren Till looked unbelievable in his UFC debut, and he seems like quite a character.”

“The more in shape you are, the harder you can push yourself.”

“I worked in factories, slaughterhouses, as an upholsterer. I did demolition work, was a postman, was a tiler, a plasterer. I even sold double-glazing door-to-door. But I always dreamed of being a world champion, first of all as a boxer.”

“Anderson Silva kind of took the best part of Rich Franklin out of his soul, and he was never the same again.”