Yair Rodriguez

“It's better to take it slowly. You learn what you're doing. The mistakes you make, you take it better.”

“All of what I'm doing in my personal life is for fighting. Of course, I'm also doing it because I want to, but it's all based on fighting. Fighting is the most important.”

“People know me as a professional fighter and when you are in the UFC, you are very visible. But I'm not just a fighter. I'm a man and I have a personal life, too. And I don't have to share every detail of my personal life with the public.”

“At the level I want to be at, you have to be ready for anything.”

“I want to be an example for all the people around the world. I want to be that guy. I know it's going to be hard. I know a lot of people aren't going to like it, but I just want to keep working hard.”

“Every time I step into that cage, I show what I'm capable of.”

“Max Holloway is one of the greatest in history.”

“Sometimes you get in there and the adrenaline is going and you fight a certain way and you wind up taking damage you could have avoided.”

“Of course, I want to fight for the title.”

“I want to be the next Muhammad Ali.”

“Each fight I try to be different.”

“In the 'Ultimate Fighter' house I had these relationships with my opponents, they were my friends, and after the fight, nothing happened. Whatever had to happen happened and we became even more friends after that.”

“I accepted to fight Ricardo Lamas, but then I later learned that he didn't take the fight with me.”

“I started putting myself in a bubble and it really affected me.”

“My feet are swollen, and I'm always on crutches after my fights.”

“If I become a champion, if I become the first Mexican UFC champion, I can become bigger because I will be the first one. There are already a lot of Mexican boxers, great boxers. I'm not saying Canelo is not great. He's great. But I think I can become bigger than that because I'll be the first one.”

“They pay me to fight once I'm up in the cage.”

“I think I'm just a really lucky guy and that's why I got in the No. 1 contender spot.”

“I don't have nothing to prove.”

“Every time, I train things differently with my coach and work on new things, so I don't always come in with the same strategy. We're always working on new things, trying to be creative.”