So, jiu-jitsu... This is the thing that ties a lot of threads together ... The more I understood jiu-jitsu, the more I understood everything in the world.

You have to concede the fact that a jiu-jitsu guy... let's say, on the mat, grappling match, 9 times out of 10, jiu-jitsu wins—pure jiu-jitsu against pure wrestling.

Your jiu-jitsu instructor, just to say this for the thousandth time, your jiu-jitsu instructor is not God or a god of any form ... They've just been training jiu-jitsu longer than you; that's just the way it is.

If you're talking a pure wrestler versus pure jiu-jitsu, the wrestler has a better chance in a real fight than he does in a grappling match.

It's something I figured out that took me a long time to figure out: How hard are you train versus training to get in the zone—and if you're not getting in the zone, it doesn't matter how hard you train because nothing is working out for you.

Can't predict the future, but we know we're here to fight ... We know our true self put ourselves in this situation to better ourselves and to get more experience. So, take some comfort in that thought and just go out and just live the match. Live your moment.

When you learn jiu-jitsu as self-defense, you're not learning jiu-jitsu as self-defense so that you can go to the ground and finish someone. That's not why you're learning it. The initial reason for learning it is so you can get up off the ground, protect yourself if you go to the ground, and then you can get up off the ground and get away from somebody.

I think wrestling has the highest level of importance around athleticism; I think judo is number two, and that's not a very big margin; and jiu-jitsu is the third.

Jiu-jitsu and wrestling are really complementary. I mean, they are beautiful when mixed together. I believe the two of them mixed together is one of the most all-powerful things in the world.

The main goal as a parent with jiu-jitsu or with anything is make it fun ... How do you make something fun? Win. Winning is fun.

Look, if you put a wrestler versus a judo player, and it's a takedown contest, I'm leaning towards the wrestler's going to take the judo player down.

When someone is that hyper and they're emotional, they feed off the reaction in your face.

The idea of making your opponent endure your energy versus you enduring the opponent's energy or force, that's when I've done really well.

Talk about being nervous before a match, there are certain times when it's not the time for you compete, but that's the rare situation. What is more common is someone making excuses not to compete because of this or this or this.

You have to have a coach, right, that's going to push you, but the coach can only push you to 96%. The only person that can push you to 100% is you.

By the time I got my black belt, it was kind of predetermined... I kind of felt like, well, yeah, of course I'm gonna get my black belt. When I was a blue belt, I'm thinking, well, I'll never get my purple belt; maybe I'll just be on this blue belt permanently.

My first interest in jiu-jitsu was like, well, I definitely want to do this so I can... handle myself in a street fight. Well, after six months, you know you can handle yourself in a street fight.

Sport jiu-jitsu is doing jiu-jitsu against another guy doing jiu-jitsu against you. Street fighting, or self-defense, is doing jiu-jitsu against a guy not using jiu-jitsu.

What I think is really cool about combat sports, in general, is that there is a way to make your body type into a world champion.

You need to have some ego for sure, because if I didn't have any ego, then, first of all, I wouldn't even be here ... Ego's what makes you want to come back and learn how to win.