Michael Chiesa Quotes

Michael Chiesa

Profession : Mixed Martial Artist

Birth : December 7, 1987

There's only one guy at 170 that's bigger than me, and that's Darren Till.

Michael Chiesa

I think the Eddie Alvarez fight is a good fight that makes sense - a couple Italian guys throwing down. I've got nothing but respect for the guy.

Michael Chiesa

I'm in this sport to test myself. I want to see how far I can take this thing.

Michael Chiesa

I'm a huge lightweight.

Michael Chiesa

Bar none, hands down, no matter what division I'm in, I am one of the best fighters in the world.

Michael Chiesa

If you win one fight in the UFC, you're good. If you win two in a row, you're great.

Michael Chiesa

I always want to fight guys that want to test me.

Michael Chiesa

I was the second guy to submit Jim Miller, so I'm up there in catching guys that have been deemed uncatchable.

Michael Chiesa

Cutting weight is always rough, especially for guys like myself that make a significant cut to make a number.

Michael Chiesa

It's never easy to watch. It's never great to see your friend or teammate put himself through hell.

Michael Chiesa

What if I could just focus on fighting? What would that be like? What would it be like to take advantage of all the resources this place has to offer? Because you're not doing it when you're cutting weight all the time.

Michael Chiesa

I'm a blue collar guy from Spokane, Washington, who was raised to just be respectful, be a sportsman, and just speak with your performances, and I'm glad that I'm back to my old ways.

Michael Chiesa

I got as high as being ranked 7th at lightweight and I really believe this deep down to my bones that I was really only fighting to half my potential.

Michael Chiesa

I really feel like going up to 170, I'm going to really be able to show my skill set.

Michael Chiesa

I know deep down I'm destined to be a world champion and maybe it's to be attained in the most prestigious division in the UFC at welterweight.

Michael Chiesa

I was still part of that trend where it was see how low you can get, get as small as you can get, be the biggest guy in your weight class, and it started to burn me out.

Michael Chiesa

Whenever I get matched up with a guy, I always look at who beat him and I've got to be better than those guys.

Michael Chiesa

170 is not a popularity contest. 170 is a working man's weight class where you work hard, you get your rewards whereas at lightweight, it wasn't the same. You could work as hard as you want, win as many fights as you want, and there's no promise what you're going to get out of it.

Michael Chiesa

When I first got into the sport it was all about who could cut the most weight, who could be the biggest on fight night. That's the same era when you're sparring 10 five minute rounds, new partner every two and a half minutes, that era of just really hard weight cutting and really hard full contact training.

Michael Chiesa

I'm letting my coaches take the reins more. Letting them make the decisions on what's going to be a hard practice, what's not going to be a hard practice and also this weight cutting thing. It's the best decision I've made in my entire career.

Michael Chiesa