SO LONG, FAREWELL, AUFWIEDERSEHEN, GOODBYE
"We kind of made up. We’re going to figure it out." - UFC President Dana White. Now this has to happen... (MMA Mania)
"Dana and I finally talked and we made up and then after that he went back on the internet and said some bullshit and he was talking bad about the movie when information is not even supposed to be released & talking about payments which is not even true could really hurt my future acting career, which could very well last longer than my fighting career." - Former UFC light heavyweight champ Quinton "Rampage" Jackson announcing his retirement from the UFC while announcing his new career in run-on sentences. (Rampage-Jackson.com)
"I'm not like Randy Couture. My body has been getting so many different injuries that I wont be able to fight until my forties and neither do I want to fight that long." - Jackson
"So I'm hanging it up. I'm gonna miss all my loyal fans but hopefully they'll follow me to my new career and I will gain more loyal fans along the way." - Jackson
"Rampage is a grown man. He's acting like a baby right now, but he's a grown man." - White, staying classy and sensitive as always. (MMA Fanhouse)
"I think it’s just a breakdown in communication." - Former UFC light heavyweight champ Rashad Evans, confident a fight with Jackson will come to fruition. (Cage Writer)
"I hope he makes it big, and I'm not being sarcastic." - White
OLD MAN AND THE SEA
"Maybe the ones who have said that I’m done are right." - Pride's 2006 OWGP champ Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic, following his loss to young Brazilian buck Junior dos Santos at UFC 103. (Jutarnji.hr)
"I’ve been training like a spartan for 20 years now — my body is worn out. " - Filipovic, who moonlights on the side as member in a special anti-terror police unit.
"I don’t feel the hunger anymore. I started playing it safe, I’m not ready to take risks." - Filipovic
"I want a normal life. I’m entering a cage and thinking about fishing in Privlaka. You can’t win that way." - Filipovic, whose retirement is still up in the air.
CAN ONE BUY BEARD INSURANCE?
"One of the big things, this is funny, coming into the house was his manager kept saying that if anybody messes with his beard while he’s sleeping, there’s gonna be some big problems." - UFC President Dana White, on internet sensation Kimbo Slice and his illustrious beard. (Cage Writer)
"I can’t guarantee nobody’s gonna try to shave his beard off. How the hell can I guarantee that?" - White. Well, you could start by telling the fighters, "Touch Kimbo's beard and I slice your nuts off."
"He got arm-barred and Kimbo really doesn't like to tap. He didn't tap and the guy hurt his arm so he came back in there with a gun." - TUF contestant Justin Wren, relaying a story about Kimbo's time with American Top Team (TapouT radio)
"We didn't want to necessarily mess with Kimbo's beard." - Wren, corroborating the beard tale. Sounds like word may have gotten around the house, no?
WELL AT LEAST THEY DIDN'T TRADE FIVE PLAYERS AND SIX DRAFT PICKS FOR HIM
"These guys are the worst. Now they're going to put in a 50-year-old Herschel Walker, who's never fought a day in his life." - UFC President Dana White, reacting to news that Strikeforce signed former NFL player Herschel Walker to a fight contract. (Cage Writer)
"Who are the fuck are they going to find to fight Herschel Walker, a guy in a wheelchair?" - White. What about that 47-year old you got lying around in the UFC?
"I'm sorry, something must've just happened to my phone. Did you just compare fucking Randy Couture to Herschel Walker?" - White. My bad!
RASHAD POTPOURRI
"He's cool like Denzel Washington." - Rashad Evans, on UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva. (Cage Writer)
"Because once you fight someone, you cross a line that you'll never be able to get back." - Evans, not backing down on the teammate vs. teammate front.
"True wealth is not measured by how much money you've got in the bank or how many toys you've got." - Evans
"I try not to do it too much. Georges is sensitive." - Evans, on impersonating teammate Georges St. Pierre.
"When that song first came out, we just kept playing it again and again. He said, (slipping into GSP impersonation) 'I don't like this because it makes me sound like a frog, like Kermit the Frog.' He was pissed about it." - Evans, referring to this Youtube video.
PARTING SHOTS
"My whole thing is, I kick people in the face, I knee people in the face, I can submit people. Now, if I can go to the southpaw stance, and I’m knocking people out from the southpaw stance, people are gonna be like, ‘oh my God, now what am I gonna do with Vera?’" - Brandon Vera. Decision win, leg kick TKO, split decision loss, decision win, TKO loss, decision loss. (MMA Weekly)
"My theme going into this fight was that he’s probably the future of the sport, but I’m the present. After today, I guess I’m the past and he’s the present." - Nick "The Goat" Thompson, another in a long line of potential MMA retirements. (Fightlinker via Sherdog)
"I have no interest in fighting Koscheck and, as he was showing everybody, he’s just a kid." - Former UFC welterweight champ Matt Hughes, 35. Josh Koscheck, 31. (Matt-Hughes.com )
"I watched him fight Fedor Emelianenko. I watched how afraid he was to stand with him. Let’s see if he wants to stand with me." - Tito Ortiz, on UFC 106 opponent Mark Coleman. (Las Vegas Sun)
