Ben Askren

When I'm thinking of sports, when I'm thinking of a boy growing up and being a man, I'm thinking of three things - honor, integrity, and toughness.

Young guys kind of have this chip on their shoulder of, 'I want to prove something,' right? 'I've got to prove how tough I am. I've got to prove how good I am.' And man, now as I'm getting older, I think it's almost sad when guys my age and older still have that chip on their shoulder.

If you look across my career, whether it be mixed martial arts or wrestling, it's very, very, very rare that I lose to someone that I'm not supposed to.

It's like, hey, I've done what I could do, I've accomplished a lot, and now this - especially with wrestling - if this next generation wants to pass me up, great job. Good for them.

I think every promoter's job is to pump their athletes up. Like, you see, Dana White did it all the time with branding people: all of a sudden, they're the best thing since sliced bread, just because that's the promoter's job.

I want to go and fight the best guys in the world and show people I'm the best. And hey, if something doesn't go my way - I don't think that's gonna happen. I realize that's a possibility in competition, and that's what happens.

If you're competing right, if you're doing it right, competition should be a very selfish pursuit.

I'm open to any welterweight on Planet Earth.

Andrey Koreshkov is not well-rounded. He's been taken down and mounted and has his back taken by Lyman Good, which tells me he's a terrible grappler. He isn't well rounded. He's a good striker, but that's it.

I wouldn't fight Tyron Woodley; we go way, way back.

I think I'm the best in the world at 170 pounds, so why would I need to go down? If, at some point, I beat everyone at 170, I'd consider going up. If I've eliminated all my challenges, yeah, at that point I would consider going up.

If your coach ain't got your back, who's got your back?