Tyron Woodley

What got me into MMA first was that I was a wrestler, and I was a gangbanger getting into trouble a lot and getting into fights. I grew up in a family of 15 in a four-bedroom house. It was dysfunctional, so that alone made me want to be an MMA fighter. It's really the only sport where you gotta basically depend on yourself.

I'm a person who believes that if a team that's producing a champion and producing contenders in that same division, then the coaches should be proud of that and pat themselves on the back because they're really creating a dynasty, so that's the way I take it.

I've physically seen profiling. I've seen me walking up the street with my friends, and the police officers get out of their car and bust the hell out of my friends. And they can't do anything about it, and the cop gets back in his car and drives off.

I'm gonna fall back, do my thing, but goddamn, I'm going to be a tough dude to deal with.

When things get you in the corner, and it feels like you can't go on, you can fight back. You're never out of the fight.

I'm the person that's been that young, spunky kid that wanted to beat the top guys.

It's a sport about risk and reward. It's a sport about becoming a legend. You look at guys that have stepped up on last minute, and it changed their lives. I don't think that I should be any different.

For me, in general, I've been blessed to have hospitality from several different camps I've been able to train at and get an approval by the American Top Team guys to go anywhere.

Let's put the cards on the table. Real is real. If I was a different complexion, I think people and fans would treat me a different way.

Look at guys like Demetrious Johnson, who's the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world. Why isn't he on the largest pay scale? Why are there people that aren't even champions making more money?

I don't feel an obligation to go by the rankings - we all know how those rankings are produced anyway. I want to go out there and fight the money fight.

There's something about somebody who does something special in the UFC that they're allotted certain freedoms and wiggle room around the rules. I'm just not in that category. So if I want to fight Georges St-Pierre or Nick Diaz or Nate Diaz, then it's all the hooplah and all the talk about it.