For me there is no reason why to go up in weight class, because when you go up in weight class you have to fight bigger guys - then you have to train against bigger guys. The guys are not better, they're heavier, but it means you have more chance to get hurt.

My mentality is like a Samurai: They used to every day work on their technique to make themselves almost perfect. Because perfection is impossible, but every day, you get closer to perfection.

There is a difference between a fighter and a martial artist. A fighter is training for a purpose: He has a fight. I’m a martial artist. I don’t train for a fight. I train for myself. I’m training all the time. My goal is perfection. But I will never reach perfection.

A fight is 10% physical and 90% mental.

I’m a martial artist, and I don’t train because I have a fight; I train because it’s my lifestyle, and I’ll train every day if I’m not hurt.

I've started late, I was 19 years old. I've trained with Victor Zilberman - he's a Russian-Jewish from Moldova. His son David who is coaching me represented Canada in the Olympic games. There were a lot of very good wrestlers there and they took me underneath their wing when I was young.

The danger is not to set your goal too high and fail to reach it. It’s to set your goal too low and reach it