Paige VanZant

“I'm just going to be myself; there's no reason for me to try and go out there and put a certain facade on or emphasize, 'Hey, I'm this. You need to believe it.' I just want to be the best that I can be, and if people like me, that's great, and if they don't, they don't.”

“I like ground and pound; I don't know if it is like a technique or discipline. I like to be on the ground, but I don't necessarily go for submissions or anything.”

“I think the reason why people have trouble fighting me is because I don't come from a specific background, and they can't prepare to fight me. I come in, and I push the pace, and I think that pushes a lot of people off their game, as much as I push the pace through the whole fight.”

“When I'm training, I cater a little bit to my opponents.”

“I gave up school. I gave up a really, really good job. I gave up a lot of stuff. I cut a lot of people out of my life so I could just focus on my fighting dreams.”

“My dad grew up wrestling. He knew Ken Shamrock, and I didn't know who he was at the time. So, he found out that Shamrock was in a gym in Reno, and he wanted me to go try a class with him. I tried it and fell in love the first day. Ken told me that I had potential in this sport, and he's the reason I kept at it.”

“There's a lot of girls out there that can relate to me. They can look at me and see themselves a little bit. There's a lot of girls out there that have a tougher side to them. I just think that people are really grown and attracted to that, and that's why people like to see me fight.”

“I've been blessed; I've been getting so many amazing opportunities because of the UFC. I know there are going to be haters no matter how successful I am, and I just have to be thankful for all the blessings that I have because all of it can be over before you know it.”

“I do Athlete Devotion throughout all my fight camps. I am a Christian, so I fight with God first, and I have my devotions with me everywhere I go.”

“Sunday, I go to church; I take the day off. I rest.”

“I am a huge wrestling fan. I would say The Rock is my favorite person to watch for obvious reasons.”

“Winning my first UFC fight by a finish, I've never felt so accomplished in my life.”

“CrossFit is just another thing I've become passionate about. I like to continue to make gains and compete with myself. There's many ways to do that either with adding weight or competing with my own times or my previous records. It's been nothing but a benefit to me, and I love lifting weights.”

“If I wasn't a fighter, I wouldn't be unique.”

“After I won my first amateur fight, I figured I would do fighting on the side while I was going to school. I got an offer after that amateur fight to take a professional fight. The opponent kind of wanted to have an easy win for her pro debt, and they said they'd pay me $1,500. I was like, 'Yeah, might as well get paid for what I was doing.'”

“I strictly want to beat every opponent I face, whether it's for a title or for a small show. The only thing for me is winning my fights and being the best athlete I can be.”

“Sometimes the media twists your words, and they say things to get a headline, and it's not necessarily what came out of your mouth, and they take things out of context 90 percent of the time. But I guess - any publicity is good publicity, I guess.”