The world of MMA has offered us some of the most memorable moments in all of sports history.
You can’t forget some of those magical trash-talking moments from Conor McGregor and his wit or the passionate game-changing journey of Ronda Rousey.
In this article, I’ll list over one hundred of the best MMA quotes of all time from many fighters of the UFC.
Buckle up because there’s plenty here to make you laugh, cry, and inspire your next rise from the ashes.
Table of Contents
1. Attitude of Excellence
“Excellence is not a skill, excellence is an attitude.”
Conor McGregor
2. Embrace Positivity
“Be passionate, be optimistic, be grateful.”
Conor McGregor
3. Adaptability is Key
“You must improvise, adapt, and overcome.”
Conor McGregor
4. Self-Perception Matters
“All that matters is how you see yourself.”
Conor McGregor
5. Positivity and Persistence
“Keep positive and keep pushing on and things will turn good.”
Conor McGregor
6. Trust in Hard Work
“Smart work pays best. Trust it.”
Conor McGregor
7. Importance of Details
“When you pay attention to detail, the big picture will take care of itself.”
Georges St-Pierre
8. Discovery in Injury
“An injury is not just a process of recovery it’s a process of discovery.”
Conor McGregor
9. Self-Knowledge
“Know yourself, to know others.”
Conor McGregor
10. Words Can Hurt
“There’s a Celtic saying, “Many a time a man’s mouth broke his nose.””
Conor McGregor
11. Balance in Art and Game
“There’s people that focus on the game and forget about the art. There’s that specific special individual that can do both.”
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12. Small Steps, Big Results
“Every little thing you do leads up to a bigger thing.”
Georges St-Pierre
13. Feeling Unbeatable
“At the end of the day you gotta feel some way. So why not feel unbeatable? Why not feel untouchable.”
Conor McGregor
14. Fearlessness
“I fear no man. If you breathe oxygen, I do not fear you.”
Conor McGregor
15. Facing Adversity
“Face adversity head on in your training and you will conquer it smoothly in your fight.”
Conor McGregor
16. Civility with Strategy
“Always be civil, but with a plan to neutralise everyone in the room.”
Conor McGregor
17. Health is Wealth
“Good health is true wealth.”
Urijah Faber
18. Spontaneity and Creativity
“Be spontaneous, be creative, go out and have fun, let things happen naturally.”
Conor McGregor
19. Doubt as Motivation
“The support gets me to the gym but the doubt keeps me there.”
Conor McGregor
20. Pain is Illusion
“It’s only pain, it will not hurt you.”
Bas Rutten
21. Daily Ascent
“I plot my ascent daily.”
Conor McGregor
22. Value of Loyalty
“Look out for those who look out for you. Loyalty is everything.”
Conor McGregor
23. Work Hard, Fight Easy
“I work hard and fight easy.”
Conor McGregor
24. Comfort in Discomfort
“I am comfortable in the uncomfortable.”
Conor McGregor
25. Gratitude for Surroundings
“Appreciate your surroundings and be grateful for it and that’s when good things happen.”
Conor McGregor
26. Illusion of Pressure
“Pressure is an illusion, but I like that illusion of pressure.”
Conor McGregor
27. Focus on Your Game
“I don’t worry about my opponent or their game, I worry about my game.”
Conor McGregor
28. Always Be Ready
“I stay ready so I don’t have to get ready.”
Conor McGregor
29. Street Smart Training
“Think street, train sport.”
Conor McGregor
30. Proving Self Right
“I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing. Keep proving people wrong and proving myself right.”
Conor McGregor
31. No Time for Relaxation
“I don’t relax, I don’t celebrate. I sit and plot.”
Conor McGregor
32. Dreams of Success
“I keep having vivid dreams of success. Then it’s time to sleep.”
Conor McGregor
33. Inner Focus
“I pursue this dream and carry on. I don’t dwell too much on the outside, I just focus on the inside.”
Conor McGregor
34. Movement as Meditation
“Movement for me is meditation.”
Conor McGregor
35. Pursuit of Perfection
“I’m definitely on the pursuit of perfection. I will always be learning.”
Conor McGregor
36. Innovation Over Imitation
“Don’t impersonate. Innovate.”
Conor McGregor
37. No Hate in Winning
“I have never encountered a winner that held hate towards something.”
Conor McGregor
38. Embracing the Fight
“A boxer is like a lion, the greatest predator on land. But you throw him in the shark tank and he’s just another meal.”
Renzo Gracie
39. The Martial Artist’s Journey
“There is a difference between a fighter and a martial artist. A fighter is training for a purpose: He has a fight. I’m a martial artist. I don’t train for a fight. I train for myself. I’m training all the time. My goal is perfection. But I will never reach perfection.”
Georges St-Pierre
40. The Power of Self-Reliance
“I wish everyone well, but you need to focus on yourself. You need to stop putting your hand out. Everyone wants hand-outs. Everyone wants things for free. You’ve got to put in the work. You’ve got to grind. You’ve got go through the struggle, and you’ve got to get it.”
Conor McGregor
41. Fear and Courage
“People say to me all the time, ‘You have no fear.’ I tell them, ‘No, that’s not true. I’m scared all the time. You have to have fear in order to have courage. I’m a courageous person because I’m a scared person.”
Ronda Rousey
42. MMA and Lifestyle
“Actually on the contrary my MMA career has gotten in the way of my weed-smoking.”
Nick Diaz
43. The Thrill of the Octagon
“There’s three things in life that excite me: a woman, dinosaurs, and the violence of the Octagon.”
Georges St-Pierre
44. The Evolution of a Fighter
“When I started I used to go off just instincts. Then they took headbutts away so I had to learn some skills.”
Mark Coleman
45. The Fighter’s Ambition
“These custom-made suits aren’t cheap. This solid gold pocket watch, three people died making this watch. I need to put people away. I need those big fights. I’m going to end up in debt pretty fast.”
Conor McGregor
46. The Art of Trash Talk
“Wanderlei Silva: six feet tall and 205 pounds. Boy, until I met you I didn’t know they could stack crap that high. Three months, you and the bad guy.”
Chael Sonnen
47. The Power of Belief
“If people can walk around – and I don’t mean this in a disrespectful way to religious people – and you believe the son of God came down to earth 2,000 years ago, and he killed himself for our sins, and he can walk on water, and there’s a God up there looking after ourselves, and if you get on your knees and pray to him that things will change; if you can believe that, then you can believe that I can knock the f**k out of Luke Rockhold two weeks from Saturday.”
Michael Bisping
48. The Silent Threat
“When Anderson [Silva] walks into a room, you can hear a rat pissing on cotton.”
Chael Sonnen
49. Confidence in Victory
“If he plans on getting knocked out in the first round, that’s his business.”
Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson
50. The Fighter’s Promise
“I’m gonna beat you into living death.”
Ken Shamrock
51. The Weight of Success
“The only weight I give a f**k about is the weight of the cheques and my cheques are super-heavyweight.”
Conor McGregor
52. Divine Recognition
“Me and Jesus are cool. I’m cool with all the gods. Gods recognise gods.”
Conor McGregor
53. The Double Champ’s Freedom
“I’ve spent a lot of time slaying everyone in the company. Backstage I’m starting fights with everybody. I’ve ridiculed everyone on the roster. And I’d just like to say, from the bottom of my heart, I’d like to take this chance to apologise… to absolutely nobody. The double champ does what the f**k he wants.”
Conor McGregor
54. The King’s Return
“Surprise, surprise, motherf**kers! The king is back!”
Conor McGregor
55. The Heart of a Champion
“And he tap I was like, okay, it’s not enough [after beating Conor McGregor]. I need something. Then I see some of the guys in his corner talking with me and I was like: now I have to bite his heart.”
Khabib Nurmagomedov
56. Accepting Criticism
“I’m not going to please everyone, not everyone’s going to like me. I accepted that a long time ago, and if I had to shed a tear every time I got a hate email, believe me, I’d be severely dehydrated.”
Michael Bisping
57. The Fighter’s Challenge
“Listen, I’ll fight Alan Belcher on the way to the car right now, it’s no problem. He needs to focus on having a fight with his tattoo artist for that abomination on his arm and leave me alone.”
Michael Bisping
58. The Reflection of Perfection
“You’re looking at the reflection of perfection. You’re looking at the man who gets all your attention. You’re looking at the man with the biggest arm.”
Chael Sonnen
59. The Unarmed Danger
“I’m the most dangerous unarmed woman in the world. I’ve prepared my entire life to be that way. Whichever girl I’m going to fight, I’m sure that I’m going to find a way to win.”
Ronda Rousey
60. Embracing Individuality
“When I was in school, martial arts made you a dork, and I became self-conscious that I was too masculine. I was a 16-year-old girl with ringworm and cauliflower ears. People made fun of my arms and called me ‘Miss Man.’ It wasn’t until I got older that I realized: These people are idiots. I’m fabulous.”
Ronda Rousey
61. The Fighter’s Resolve
“When people say, ‘Oh, she’s got everything to lose,’ they’re talking about fame and money. I’m talking about losing the right to look at myself in the mirror and respect what I see.”
Ronda Rousey
62. The Fighter’s Humor
“I’m not the best. I just believe I can do things that people think are impossible.”
Anderson Silva
63. I Fight for Legacy
“I fight for legacy. I fight for my family. I fight for my country.”
Khabib Nurmagomedov
64. Cocky in Prediction
“I’m cocky in prediction. I’m confident in preparation, but I am always humble in victory or defeat.”
Conor McGregor
65. The Fighter’s Philosophy
“I just want to say from the bottom of my heart, I’d like to take this chance to apologize… to absolutely nobody. The double champ does what the f**k he wants!”
Conor McGregor
66. The Fighter’s Ambition
“I’m not talented, I’m obsessed.”
Conor McGregor
67. The Fighter’s Pride
“I’m not surprised, motherf**kers.”
Nate Diaz
68. The Fighter’s Determination
“I’m not going to fight your fight, I’m going to fight my fight.”
Chuck Liddell
69. The Fighter’s Humor
“I was in Las Vegas when the Nogueira brothers first touched down in America. There was a bus, this is a true story. There was a bus that pulled up to a red light, and Little Nog tried to feed it a carrot, while Big Nog was petting it. He thought it was a horse. This really happened. He tried to feed a bus a carrot, and now you’re telling me this country has computers?! I didn’t know that.”
Chael Sonnen
70. The Fighter’s Critique
“Nike has a long history of signing dorks and it looks to me like they just got one more.”
Chael Sonnen
71. The Fighter’s Past
“I actually held public office and I left the only way a person should, in handcuffs.”
Chael Sonnen
72. The Fighter’s Dedication
“I don’t ever want to be done. I’ll never quit this sport. I’ll never be done with this business, but at some point, this business will be done with me.”
Chael Sonnen
73. The Fighter’s Self-Acceptance
“I’m the most dangerous unarmed woman in the world. I’ve prepared my entire life to be that way. Whichever girl I’m going to fight, I’m sure that I’m going to find a way to win.”
Ronda Rousey
74. The Fighter’s Fear
“When people say, ‘Oh, she’s got everything to lose,’ they’re talking about fame and money. I’m talking about losing the right to look at myself in the mirror and respect what I see.”
Ronda Rousey
75. Belief in personal potential
“I’m not the best. I just believe I can do things other people think are impossible.”
Anderson Silva
76. Embracing loss for growth
“Loss is part of life. If you don’t have loss, you don’t grow.”
Dominick Cruz
77. Journey from bottom to top
“The truth is that I didn’t start as a winner. When I was a kid, I was just another reject. I started at the bottom. I think all winners do.”
Georges St. Pierre
78. On the resilience of fighters
“A fighter can always recover, and you never know what they’re going to come back with.”
Holly Holm
79. Unleashing inner strength
“You need a dragon hidden inside you. When you need, you let the dragon out.”
Anderson Silva
80. Living in the moment
“Just do whatever you want to in life. One day tomorrow won’t be there.”
Donald Cerrone
81. Seeing obstacles as opportunities
“I look at obstacles as opportunities.”
Jon Jones
82. Pursuing dreams despite naysayers
“If you have a dream, don’t let anyone talk you out of it.”
Henry Cejudo
83. Growth through adversity
“Through adversity, we find our better self.”
Michelle Waterson
84. Fighting for legacy, not money
“I don’t fight for the money. I fight for my legacy. I fight for history. I fight for my people.”
Khabib Nurmagomedov
85. The power of belief
“Belief is a powerful thing.”
T.J. Dillashaw
86. Overcoming any adversity
“No matter what comes your way, just don’t let it phase you. You can overcome anything.”
Rose Namajunas
87. Rising after falling
“We fall, but we get up because the ground is no place for a champion.”
Dustin Poirier
88. No limits on potential
“Don’t limit yourself, and don’t let anyone put a limit on your potential.”
Randa Markos
89. Enjoying the journey
“Dream big, stay positive, work hard, and enjoy the journey.”
Urijah Faber
90. Seeking help for depression
“Don’t be scared to look for help. Depression is real.”
Max Holloway
91. Regret of unfulfilled potential
“You know what the true definition of hell is? It’s when you die; you get to meet the person you could have been.”
Frank Mir
92. Humility in victory and defeat
“When you lose, say little. When you win, say less.”
Matt Hughes
93. Aspiring to be the best
“I only want to be known as the best ever. Is that too much to ask?”
B.J. Penn
94. Loss as a part of the sport
“If you haven’t lost in this sport, you haven’t fought the right guys yet.”
Matt Hughes
95. Bad actions, not bad people
“If you do something bad, it doesn’t mean you’re a bad person. It means you had bad judgment.”
Jon Jones
96. Hope in adversity
“No matter how bad things get, eventually the sun is going to shine.”
Daniel Cormier
97. Rising after failure
“We fail but we get up, because the ground is no place for a champ.”
Dustin Poirier
98. Adversity leads to success
“In the Octagon and in life, you face tough situations and have every chance to quit, but the more adversity you push through, the more likely you are to be successful.”
Tyron Woodley
99. Pushing beyond limits
“If you’re not willing to go too far, you’ll never go far enough in life.”
Chael Sonnen
100. Training for self, not fights
“I’m a martial artist. I don’t train for a fight. I train for myself. I’m training all the time. My goal is perfection. But I will never reach perfection.”
Georges St. Pierre
101. The importance of hard work
“Everyone wants hand-outs. Everyone wants things for free. You’ve got to put in the work. You’ve got to grind.”
Conor McGregor
102. Rising after falling
“A brave man, a real fighter, is not measured by how many times he falls, but how many times he stands up.”
Rickson Gracie
103. Provoking Anderson Silva
“You tell Anderson Silva I’m coming over. I’m kicking in his back door and I’m pattin’ his old lady on the ass, and I’m telling her to make me a steak, medium rare, just how I like it.”
Chael Sonnen
104. Threatening Tito Ortiz
“I hope to God you come ready, because if you don’t, I’m going to beat you into a living death.”
Ken Shamrock
105. Excitement for life’s elements
“There are three things in life that excite me. A woman, of course. Dinosaurs, and the violence of the octagon.”
Georges St. Pierre
106. Rejecting self-help cliches
“Conceive, believe, achieve. Sounds like the worst self-help book I’ve ever read. Shut the f**k up!”
Michael Bisping
107. Misunderstanding mathematics
“90% of the game is half mental.”
Tim Sylvia
108. Mixing up words
“I want to f**k . . . I want to fight with Chuck; f**k Chuck!”
Wanderlei Silva
109. Toolbox full of tools
“I have a full toolbox full of tools.”
Raquel Pennington
110. Adapting to rule changes
“When I started, I used to go off just instincts. Then they took headbutts away, so I had to learn some skills.”
Mark Coleman
111. Misunderstanding longevity
“I want to outlive my children.”
Tito Ortiz
112. Mispronouncing “the labia”
“The labia.”
Mike Perry
That concludes my selection of the top MMA quotes ever. But what are your favorites? Let me know in the comments.
