The Week in Quotes: October 10th - 16th

DAN HARDY GOT KNOCKED OUT BY THE GUY WHO PLAYED ROGER MARIS?

"When you talk yourself up that high, you fall further if you lose." - Carlos Condit, on UFC 120 opponent and noted trash talker Dan Hardy. (MMA Fighting)

"I tend to find that Greg Jackson's guys are more interested in the win bonus than the knockout." - Hardy, who has all of one knockout in six UFC fights. (MMA Fighting)

"He's not gonna hurt me with his striking, if he even lands a punch. ... I could close my eyes and throw a punch in any direction and it would still hit him in the face." - Hardy, who was knocked out by a Condit left hook that was just that much quicker and more accurate than his own. (ESPN UK)

"I got punched in the face." - Hardy, when asked by Joe Rogan to explain the knockout. (UFC Telecast)

"There's nothing but monsters in this end of the division." - Condit, looking ahead.

THIS SHOULD END WELL

"I think I can be something really positive for the MMA world." - Former WWE superstar Dave Bautista, inching closer to a fight deal with Strikeforce. (MMA Junkie)

"My thing is I want to do a multi-fight deal. I want to have a guarantee of at least three fights. I want a tune-up fight, I want a big fight, and I want a pay-per-view fight." - Bautista. I'll set the over/under on Bautista's MMA career at 1.5 and pound the under like Ben Roethlisberger with a coed in a dive bar bathroom.

"I've got all the tools. I'm 41 years old now, but I can go and train for one or two hours nonstop, and I don't have a problem. The reason I was successful in wrestling is because I stayed in shape nonstop. I have the durability. I just have to put it all together and get the skill." - Bautista. Searching for "injury" or "injured" brings up 19 results on Bautista's wikipedia page.

"I told my mom I wanted to get into fighting. She was scared to death. I said, 'Mom, the last few years I was an inch away from breaking my neck every night and now you're worried abut me being punched in the face?'" - Bautista. And mom, he will be punched in the face. A lot. (MMA Fighting)

"I just think that in this sport, sometimes you have to take a step backward to take two steps forward." - Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker (Sherdog)

ADD ANOTHER TO THE "WRESTLERS TRYING TO DISCREDIT GSP" LIST

"The only person that he really out-wrestled who is good is Josh Koscheck. And Koscheck was way too worried about keeping his hands up by his ears and not getting hit in the head to defend his legs." - Ben Askren, coming to the defense of a fellow fro-head. (MMA Torch)

"So just because you can take someone down when their hands are at their head doesn't mean you're a good wrestler." - Askren

"If me and Georges were in a wrestling match, it wouldn't be close." - Askren

WHITE NOISE

"I don't know how he doesn't have every blue-chip sponsor in Canada. I had this debate the other day, this is the most popular athete to ever come out of Canada. Ever!" - UFC President Dana White, on Georges St-Pierre's popularity. (Cagewriter)

"Some guy started to argue with me about Gretzky and all these others ... do people care about Gretzky when he shows up in the Philippines or the U.K. or all the other countries?" - White. Oh, well, GSP beats Gretzky's popularity in two non-hockey playing countries. Game over, I guess.

"A lot of people were saying that, 'You must have been happy when Fedor [lost].' To be honest with you, I'm as much of a fight fan as all you guys are." - White (MMA Weekly)

"They know what I did, they know where I went, they know what I offered, and they still didn't take the fight. It takes two to make a deal." - White, with arguably the most reasonable explanation about the failed UFC-Fedor negotiations from either side.

"The other thing with Fedor is I never say never." - White

PARTING SHOTS

"Fifty percent, if not more." - Cheick Kongo, on the percentage of his fights in which he lands a low blow. Or his estimate on the percentage of fighters on steroids. Or both? (Riddum)

"I'm all for legal immigration ... but I'm here to talk about a fight Oct. 23. I ain't got time to talk about my nationality." - Brock Lesnar, transcending race and national boundaries. (LA Times)

"I told myself I would never take a fight like I did last year ever again. ... The last time I felt like this was when I had my world title." - Tito Ortiz, reading from a script. (USA Today)

"Now, thanks God, if my girlfriend says: 'Baby, I want to eat a cheeseburger with salad today', I can afford it." - Charles Oliveira, proving the point that more money equals more problems. (MMA Mania)

"Basically, all I knew about it from what I had heard was that you had to be able to walk around in a bikini and I said, ‘OK, I can handle that.'" - Arianny Celeste. The career decisions of attractive women... (Yahoo! Sports)