It's kind of the period of your career where as a fighter, you need some sort of validation from time to time. I mean, winning matches and going off to the next one, without really having any direction, it's fun, but it's good to have a period where you can say "Ok, I won a title. Ok, I got picked up by a big organization." So every step in there is important.

I grew up kind of rough, without very much. So, I just want to work as hard as I can so my kids won't have to go through what I did.

When you go into MMA you really can't do it half-assed. If you do it half-assed, then you're going to get annihilated. You're going to get destroyed out there: there are some really good fighters out there.

It's kind of the period of your career where as a fighter, you need some sort of validation from time to time. I mean, winning matches and going off to the next one, without really having any direction, it's fun, but it's good to have a period where you can say "Ok, I won a title. Ok, I got picked up by a big organization." So every step in there is important.