People often say, 'Ah, ultimate fighting is so violent,' but it's rooted in martial arts. Martial arts incarnate respect. You can't walk into a dojo and say to your sensei, 'Hey, salut tabarnac!' After every one of my fights I go and shake the hand of my opponent. I don't need to hate the other fighter to fight him well. It's a sport.

It's not the most powerful animal that survives. It's the most efficient.

When I train, I love to take time off and fly to the Natural History Museum or an exhibition. I just love that. When you know your past, it will help you with your future… That’s why most of my friends are not fighters. Most of my friends are nerds like me. That’s why I have a hard time finding a girlfriend. I need someone to talk science with. I’m married to my work right now. But you never know. One day I could wake up and just do something different. Life is so unpredictable.

Always pursue your dreams and work hard at it.

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.

I don't want things that I regret in life, and things that I have not done - and I don't want to at 80 years wake up, and tell myself: 'Oh I was on top of my shape and skills and I didn't do it.'

I went to Jerusalem, the dead sea, it was just amazing. Because what we see in the TV, I'm sorry to say it, I don't want to insult nobody, but a lot of the image that we see from the middle east in Canada - It's sad to say but it's always bad stuff. I was thinking coming here it would be a lot of military, security, everybody would be a little more on the edge, but I see it's amazing. It feels a little bit similar to Miami.