Top 45 Jimi Manuwa Quotes

The fear of losing motivates me, and that’s it.

Stylistically, every fight in the division is a hard fight. Lyoto Machida is unorthodox, Jon Jones is long and tall with good wrestling, Ryan Bader has good wrestling. You can’t pick one and say, ‘I want to fight him.’

I remember being happy and a little wild kid.

I think everyone knows that I keep myself to myself and I don’t get involved in trash talk or anything else.

The London fans know what I bring to the table. Destruction.

When I was ranked No. 11 or 12, they offered me Gustafsson who was the No. 1 contender, and I didn’t hesitate. I was No. 10 when I fought Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson who was the No. 1 contender. We accept fights, but not everyone is like that, I’m beginning to find out. It’s not right.

MMA has improved my life leaps and bounds.

When I started fighting I’ve always thought about being a UFC champion.

I’m not really into supplements, I mostly try to get it all from my food. I take multivitamins, vitamin D – which is really important – zinc and magnesium, but that’s about it.

But that’s the great thing about MMA, you know, you can never predict what’s going to happen.

It doesn’t matter to me who the opponent is, I’ll be ready in all areas.

I expect whoever gets in a UFC Octagon to put on a great show, because that’s why we’re there.

Every fight is a must-win for me.

I had lots of fun; I was in the boy scouts, I went camping. I just used to mess around like a normal kid.

I ruptured my bicep tendon in a sparring session.

I know the mistakes I made against Gustafsson and I won‘t do that again.

I like all styles of MMA, my first classes in the sport were BJJ but I prefer to stand up.

I’ve knocked out a lot of people so I’m not going to cry about being stopped, it’s part of the game and I can accept that.

I enjoy healthy foods but I’m not scared to have a cheat meal or cheat day, have a burger or whatever.

Look at my record – I always bring a finish.

It’s been frustrating. Since I’ve broken into the top five, I’ve seen the politics of fighters dodging fights, cherry picking fights and this that and the other.

Whatever the crowd is – cheering, booing or whatever – it’s not anything I bother to think about.

My plans are to avenge my loss against Volkan Oezdemir and get the UFC title.

I just love putting on a show for my fans.

I don’t think anyone hits as hard as I do in the light heavyweight division.

But the thing about Brazilian fans is that they respect top fighters and I will win them over. When my hand is raised I believe they will cheer for me.

I like watching athletics and I like watching boxing. Probably the sprints, I like watching sprinting.

Thankfully, hamstring injuries don’t take that long to heal.

As soon as I found MMA, I knew that this is what I wanted to do, and it gave me focus because I was good at it anyway, and it gave me a goal to reach. I kept winning my fights, and it’s given me a goal and a career opportunity.

Fighting isn’t an ordinary career, so you have to allow your body time to recover in between training sessions.

I’m not bothered about where I’m ranked in the world. I’m just worried about fighting the best people in the world and being a natural, original champion.

In every sport you get cheats.

When you’re in a fight camp, you’re working your body harder than normal and it’s important to still look after yourself and to relax.

When you’re away from home for a fight camp it’s the simple things that you miss the most. For me, that’s laying on the sofa with my daughters and spending quality family time and small things like that.

But when you’re cheating against your fellow athletes, that’s something I can’t forgive.

Some fighters enjoy the limelight. I get nervous, I mess up when I’m trying to explain things, because I’m a fighter pure and simple, and not really a talker.

I always predict a knockout. That’s what I go for, I hit to hurt.

I’m happy I found discipline, something I love, and I also found God.

It’s all about experiences and taking positives from each fight, even if it was a loss.

I always say if you can’t knock someone out with four ounce gloves on there is something wrong with you.

That was one of the great moments for me, getting a knockout in front of my home crowd in London.

The last few weeks are always the hardest during any fight camp.

I can’t think of any heavyweights that would match up well with me. They’re all too big.

I was introduced to money as a teenager, my friends had nice things. It came naturally to me to try and make money.

Massages and swimming are feel-good activities which are both mentally and physically relaxing.