Top 50 Ryan Bader Quotes

I’ve fallen short in my career, in MMA, but it is what it is. You’re going to do that. I just wanted opportunities.

If there’s anything I take from Lil’ Nog it’s respect.

One thing I learned in my career is to be patient.

Some fighters don’t like to travel when they fight but I fought in Australia and I loved it.

I’m working on my boxing. I hope people see that.

Machida always has his elusiveness and whatnot and Shogun has the tools to beat him.

I believe I can beat everybody at every division, I truly do.

I’m more of a grinder, just get out there and get the job done.

Losing sucks.

You think you’ve got to go out and knock someone out for it to be an impressive win. But it’s kind of hard to even know what an impressive win means.

I came into this game a wrestler and that was pretty much it. I was tough, I could take a guy down and beat him up. I threw a good overhand right.

Coming over to Bellator, it was a great decision. I came over and had the opportunity to fight for the light heavyweight title right away at Madison Square Garden.

You can call Roy Nelson a wrestler, but he’s never fought a dynamic, explosive wrestler.

I’ve been the underdog a lot in the UFC and I love playing that role.

The men and women in the United States Military allow me to live my dream, and I want to continue to do everything I can to thank them.

I’ve been through enough competition in amateur wrestling my whole life to know that sometimes you have off nights and you don’t perform and chalk it up to that and move on.

It doesn’t matter who stands in front of me, I’ve got to find a way to go out there and win.

I believe coming up to heavyweight, I can shine. That’s where I feel the best in terms of being agile, speed, cardio, all that kind of stuff plus I have the power.

I think it’s one of the more underrated careers out there. A lot of times it wasn’t the flashiest stuff, but I’ve gone out there, I’ve had great streaks, I won the light heavyweight belt.

I was very new to the sport when I entered ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ and basically got by on my athletic ability and my wrestling. I’ve since added a lot more tools to my game and continue to develop as a mixed martial artist.

For me, I feel like every time I go out there, I have to prove something, because whether it’s fans or the fighters I’m going to fight potentially or am scheduled to fight, there’s always an excuse of why I won.

I’ve learned from my time in this sport that you only worry about the things you can control.

I grew up in a bracket sport, in wrestling. You win, that does the talking, you move on.

I can control my performance and how I fight.

I think ultimately the fans want to see knockouts.

You have to put your body through hell through training camp, and you’ve got to be able to take that.

I get wanting to fight in the UFC. I got my start there. I fought 20 times there.

The lowest I’ve ever made – and this was on the prelims – was 35 grand on a fight. I’ve made upwards of 80 grand on a fight on sponsors.

I can only work with the opportunity that is given to me.

I think 205 is the place for me. I walk around at 225, 230 at the most, and that’s kind of small for a heavyweight. I think 205 is where I’ll be.

Lil’ Nog had some trouble with Jason Brilz primarily because he put a scramble into every position he had. Nogueira would be going for a half guard sweep and Brilz would use his wrestling to create a better position. Nogueira is a very well rounded fighter, but I think the main thing he lacks is a good wrestling base.

My right hand is pretty powerful.

I won ‘The Ultimate Fighter.’

I’ve fought on ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ in front of 30-40 people, and I kinda like that. There’s no distractions.

I’m not in the UFC to be mediocre.

The wrestling community is a tight community, I love you all.

My mindset has changed. When I was fighting guys like Glover I was second-guessing myself. Am I the best in the world? Do I deserve to be up here. Now I know it.

Seeing friends become successful, you go, ‘I can do that, too.’ I ran with it fresh out of college. MMA was the next step.

I want to be the best.

After I started training with some of the best in the world and fighting in the UFC, I started really wanting fights with guys I used to idolize and watch on TV. Guys like Tito Ortiz and Randy Couture.

I was pretty one-dimensional, a wrestler.

There will always be something down there that says, ‘All right, you won the Bellator title but you never won the UFC title.’ I’ve thought about that. I’ve never had the opportunity, and yes, a lot of it is my fault… but I never got that opportunity.

I learned boxing and jiu-jitsu from the ground up.

It really wasn’t until halfway through my career that I learned had to jab and to box and to kickbox.

I don’t put Jardine on a pedestal or worry about any kind of step-up. He’s just another fighter standing in the way of me achieving my goal.

I like proving people wrong.

I had a great contract coming out of the UFC into Bellator, but it was that second contract that made me really, really happy.

Years and years ago, Jon Jones was untouchable. You couldn’t win a round against him.

I have nerves before every fight – it doesn’t matter who I’m fighting – and every fight is your biggest fight, so I’ve always got to check myself.

I’m in this sport to win a championship.