When I looked at the state of women's MMA, what I saw was that it was missing rivalries or anything theatrical about it. Everybody was trying to be Miss America, unwilling to go under any kind of criticism, and taking the safe answers. I thought I needed to do whatever I could to get attention.

In MMA it’s a lot less intimidating because it’s not like you get one shot at a title every four years. You get a title shot every couple of months ... With the Olympics, you don’t always have this, so there is so much more pressure involved.

To be a fighter, you have to be passionate. I have so much passion, it's hard to hold it all in. That passion escapes as tears from my eyes, sweat from my pores, blood from my veins.

The whole 'bad girl' thing allows me to mess up sometimes. And I have freedom to say more of what I want to.

I try not to get caught up on how cool I am. That way nothing ever gets done. I'm always thinking about what I haven't done.

I'm going to retire undefeated. I'll take everybody out one-by-one then go on my merry way

Strong and healthy is the new sexy.