The Week in Quotes: October 17th - 23rd

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WELCOME TO THE BROWN PRIDE ERA

"He's 8-0, he's a legitimate heavyweight contender, but Cain Velasquez is not the guy that's going to beat Brock Lesnar. Not tonight." - Brock Lesnar (UFC Telecast)

"I'm the most dangerous heavyweight contender." - Cain Velasquez

"We expect this is going five rounds, and we expect him to be there all five rounds." - AKA lead trainer Javier Mendez (Yahoo!)

"I trained for a five round fight, and that's what I was hoping for." - Velasquez

"It kind of surprised me how much pressure [Lesnar] did put in, he did surprise me with that." - Velasquez, on Lesnar reverting to the Bald Bull style he demonstrated in his UFC debut against Frank Mir. (MMA Fighting)

"I didn't think he was hurt, I think he was trying to catch his balance, so I wasn't going to go in super aggressive." - Velasquez, on the exchange leading up to the finish. (MMA Torch)

"I was in a perfect position and didn't need to go crazy and go wild. It was kind of hard because he was covering up well." - Velasquez, who implemented measured strikes when he had Lesnar hurt on the fence.

"I expected nothing less, you know. He's a great fighter. I knew I had a great challenge in front of me. Congratulations, Cain." - Lesnar, TKO'd at 4:12 of round one.

"He did hit me with a good right hand, and that was another thing, I wasn't completely relaxed to where it was a perfect fight for me. That's one thing I'll look back and learn from and get better." - Velasquez, finding imperfection in a perfect performance.

"I think the next time I face him he will be a lot better, so all my fights now are going to be much tougher and I just need to be ready for that." - Velasquez

"That's what a champion does, right?" - Lesnar

I WANT YOU ALL TO IMAGINE THIS MAN DRUNK, REGRETFUL, AND IMAGINING "WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN..."

"What Cain did is what great fighters do, they learn from what they can study. How would have my fight turned out if I had let Brock stand and knock him down again and again? It really doesn't matter about what happened last night or in July the only thing that matters is what is to be." - Shane Carwin. "The only thing that matters is what is to be." Beautiful Zen poetry? Raging lunacy? Lactic acidosis trip? (Shane-Carwin.com)

"Those of you writing Brock off don't. The man walked into the UFC at the top level (who does that?) and won and defended the UFC HWT Belt." - Carwin

"He took a beating from me and came back and found a way to win, he nearly lost his life and he came back and found a way to win, he is 4-2 in MMA and some of the wins are UFC title DEFENSES." - Carwin. Remember: drunk, regretful, etc.

"He is a real champion, a real warrior and as long as he keeps training and learning MMA he will continue to be a force." - Carwin

"Every great champion will lose the great ones rise again and it would not surprise me to see Brock defending a title again one day. Win or lose he should be respected for being the warrior he is." - Carwin

"The UFC HWT division has an amazing crop of fighters right now with four worthy title holders (Cain, Brock, JDS and myself) and a lot of amazing talent knocking on door to get their name on the list for a title shot... This is going to be the era of the UFC HWTS and I am here to make a impact." - Carwin, tilting the hell out of me with his refusal to spell out the word "heavyweight."

ON TITLE SHOTS AND WELTERWEIGHTS

"The next title shot is going to be four-to-six months after the Koscheck vs. GSP fight in December. That's a long time for the top guys not to be fighting." - Jon Fitch, who was promised a title shot if he beat Thiago Alves at UFC 117. And then had it taken away by... (ESPN UK)

"I gotta go out there and win, try to finish him and make it exciting. It's my UFC debut, I need to make fans, I need to make Dana say yeah he deserves a title shot." - Jake Shields, who was promised a title shot if he beat Martin Kampmann at UFC 121. (Pro MMA Radio)

"I would like to fight the winner of that [Shields v Kampmann] fight." - Fitch

"A fight with me and Fitch would definitely make sense and a fight with GSP would be a huge opportunity for me, I definitely wouldn’t turn it down." - Carlos Condit, who knocked out the last welterweight title challenger, Dan Hardy, at UFC 120. (Fighter's Only)

"I don't want to make excuses, but it was my first time at 170 in while. I cut 20 pounds in a day. I'll never do that again." - Shields, who squeaked a decision victory over Kampmann. (MMA Weekly)

GSPALEONTOLOGIST

"I don't really watch sports. I watch the Canadian version of the Discovery Channel." - Georges St. Pierre, who can tell you everything you need to know about how to make poutine, French mapper/explorer Pierre-Esprit Radisson, and the beautiful and glorious creature we know as the moose. (ESPN)

"Seriously, I'm into paleontology. That's the study of prehistoric life. I'm into philosophy. And psychology, too." - St-Pierre, pretty much into anything ending in "-ology."

"You know that the Tyrannosaurus Rex was found with feathers? Yes, feathers!" - St-Pierre. Oh, Canada.

"When I train, I love to take time off and fly to the Natural History Museum or an exhibition. I just love that. When you know your past, it will help you with your future." - St-Pierre. All joking aside, I'm glad I know about this side of GSP.

WHITE NOISE

"Me personally, what I think, is when one guy says, 'Oh he's my friend I won't fight him,' that means I train with this guy and this guy's probably going to kick my ass. That's what I get out of that. I'm not confident enough to fight this guy." - Dana White, who now has to root hard for Mauricio Rua to beat Rashad Evans. Foreshadowing! (MMA Weekly)

"Me personally, what I think, is when one guy says, 'Oh he's my friend I won't fight him,' that means I train with this guy and this guy's probably going to kick my ass. That's what I get out of that. I'm not confident enough to fight this guy." - White

"We have problems with that out of the Greg Jackson camp and AKA, it drives me nuts. So it's refreshing to hear a kid like Carlos Condit say, ‘Love Georges St. Pierre he is a great guy, but I would love to have his title, I’d fight him.'" - White. Carlos Condit, what a brown nose. (Fighter's Only)

PARTING SHOTS

"If Rashad Evans won the belt, which I'm hoping he does, my only goal would be to be the toughest contender there is, and keep whipping butt without being champion." - Jon Jones (ESPN UK)

"I only went for one takedown but Bisping's body was really slippery. Even if I do say so myself." - Yoshihiro Akiyama, who can spot a greaser from across the cage. (MMA Fighting)

"The face of our sport is Dana White and out here in conservative New York, the way people think, bald-headed, tattoo'd, swearing people are just not a good representative of our brand and unfortunately people think that Dana White speaks for MMA, and they're confused." - Frank Shamrock. It worked for Vince McMahon in the last half of the nineties. (MMA Fighting)

"My take on it is that it was something of a simple, honest mistake. He looked to me like he was reaching between Browne’s legs looking to get a position for a high-crotch or something, but just coming away with a handful of shorts each time." - Wolfslair Muay Thai coach Dave Jackson. Even if I give you the high-crotch argument that doesn't explain the other 50 examples of Kongo grabbing on to the outsides of Travis Browne's shorts. (Fighter's Only)

"Tito should retire. He should retire. I was up there yelling at him like, get your old ass out of the Octagon." - Josh Koscheck, how I love you so. (TMZ)

"I finally hit puberty and I just wanted to try it. No, It's wintertime, I'm going hunting, and I'm from Minnesota. It's that time of year. We just grow beards." - Brock Lesnar. Minnesotan women, too. (MMA Fighting)