Quotes from Aljamain Sterling

I would never want to sell a fight based on stuff about race. That's not the type of person that I am. I would never go that route to push a fight.

People can say the media stuff drains you and everything, but you set everything up accordingly to the schedule.

To be in the UFC and have the name but not the earnings, good for you, you get a hand clasp and a shake and a don't let the door hit you on the way out sort of thing.

There's a lot of American citizens out there that do jobs that they hate, day in and day out. For me to do what I love to do, with people that I like and enjoy being around who are chasing the same dream, same passions, to have that around you day in and day out, I think it says a lot.

My comfortability is always going favor the grappling side, that's the path of least resistance. But, I don't need necessarily need to force the takedowns like I used to before.

My whole thing is I can't wait to inspire the next young fighters from my hometown.

It doesn't bother me to have people looking up to me, because I don't think I say anything too crazy or over the top where people can't look at me as a role model.

I always felt like the UFC brass kind of had it out for me.

I got a different persona than a lot of these other guys.

I got to the pinnacle of the sport for a reason and that's to make money. I didn't come here just to give handouts.

MMA is not one of those up and down basketball seasons where you have a ton of games and you can still make the playoffs. It doesn't work like that in MMA. You get a couple losses, you get washed up, you get the door slammed behind you and they bring in the next person behind you who is here to take your place.

If you're a sports fan and you're home and you're washing dishes, usually your TV is on ESPN and you're just getting the highlights and keeping up-to-date with all of the sports going around, all of the news.

You cant really put a value on the UFC name. That alone has value in itself.

I'm a hard guy to hit and take down, and once I get you on the ground I'm going to choke you out. Even if you resist a few of the other attempts I'm going to get you one way or the other. I'm like the Boogeyman... I'm gonna get you.

At the end of the day, I know I'm not Superman.

I'm like, 'Man, if I'm going to have this idle time, I might as well be in school, do something positive where I'm not just wasting my prime years and not getting something else in return.' If I'm in school and training, that's OK. I did that in college. It worked.

I've got personality. And I can actually fight. I think that combination alone sells.

At the end of the day, Cejudo's a tough competitor but I think he's a flyweight.

I've had negative experiences with cops. I've had positive experiences with cops.

It's almost out of sight out of mind because there's so many cards. One great fight could happens one weekend and another great fight happens next weekend, you kind of get swallowed up in that pack. So you have to find a way to separate yourself and what better way to do that than on ESPN?

I think they need to start doing cageside weigh-ins again. I think that's the best way to go if you really want to see some difference. Cageside weigh-ins; I guarantee you won't see people cutting more than five to eight pounds, and they'll be fighting closer to their natural weight class.

This is the weirdest thing. I've been told one thing, that all these guys turned me down, x,y, z. I take to Twitter and some of these guys are like, 'Yeah, I'll take the fight,' then you don't hear anything of it for the next few weeks.

I mean, I've had fights with random guys, I drove to fights by myself cutting weight, no corners whatsoever. So I've had a very interesting MMA journey.

I want to be in my prime making the big money, enough money to put away so I can do something.