Michael Chandler

“I don't want to just be a great fighter, but also a great man.”

“I've had the belt and it's great. But at the end of the day it's just 12 pounds of leather and gold.”

“Bellator wouldn't be who they are without my performances and Michael Chandler wouldn't be who he is without Bellator promoting him and us having a phenomenal symbiotic relationship.”

“It's a fast-paced somewhat violent sport, but it's very much entertaining. And the greatest thing about mixed martial arts is that it transcends a lot of demographics.”

“I'm a guy who's been around this sport on the outside looking in, seeing, watching, scheming, plotting and planning his next big move.”

“I built my name on fighting so hard - I'll always do that - but I'm also trying to become more of a veteran, to be be calm and calculated and not always trying to bowl people over.”

“I've been blessed so much in my own life and I want to spread that blessing to others who need it.”

“Some guys, when they enjoy some success in this sport, they get complacent. Not me. It makes me work and train that much harder, helps to bring out the warrior in me.”

“I train my butt off every single day.”

“Letting emotion get into it isn't part of my game. Letting animosity or a rivalry come into it, that's all for the show.”

“It really has been just take it one day a time, one fight at a time, one training camp at a time, one year at a time.”

“The greatest thing about fighting a guy like Dave Rickels: He always comes to fight.”

“I've had a phenomenal life. I have a phenomenal God that I serve. I have a phenomenal wife.”

“Bellator has taken care of me, and I've taken care of them. It's been the perfect storm of a symbiotic relationship - them having an asset they were not willing to lose, and me being in a situation where the grass isn't always greener on the other side.”

“I'm a nasty human being when I step into that cage, but before that I could care less.”

“I never focus on my opponent - I focus more on myself: knowing what my strengths are, where I can take the fight, how I can win the fight, and the intensity that I'm going to bring to a fight.”

“I was never an upper body wrestler. I am a shooter.”

“Life is too short and too sweet to complain about the silly things.”

“I'm going to stash up my cash and invest in real estate. I want to be set up for the end of fighting.”

“Obviously, beating Alvarez was the first step to getting my name out there. Now people now know who I am and see, at least in some part, that I'm the real deal.”