I’m going to beat Alexis Davis then take a nap.
I kind of like to think of myself as the bad girl Olympian that would get kicked out of the Miss America pageant.
Strong and healthy is the new sexy.
The thing that gets me up in the morning is that I’m really not ready to see someone that I know I can beat holding my belt.
My one fear is failure and that’s one fear I have to face all the time. Yes, it’s uncomfortable to be scared but I’m finally comfortable being uncomfortable.
I think that Floyd Mayweather is the best boxer that’s ever lived; like actual technical boxer.
The Olympics is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. I was lucky enough to go twice, but most people only get one chance. And in judo you can train your whole life and it’ll come down to a split second: You can lose everything or win anything.
My first injury ever was a broken toe, and my mother made me run laps around the mat for the rest of the night. She said she wanted me to know that even if I was hurt, I was still fine.
The way that I like to fight is I like to paint myself into a corner and so the only way is for me to win.
Do I ever get tired of being the first female everything? Not really, I just happened to be in a position where the job that I wanted was not really there for me. I had to create an opportunity instead of waiting for an opportunity.
The whole ‘bad girl’ thing allows me to mess up sometimes. And I have freedom to say more of what I want to.
As an athlete you’re taught to be selfish. When I’m training, it’s usually all about me.
Look at my face. Does it look like I can take a good hit?
Even before I was a fighter, I was a daddy’s girl.
The Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue really sets the social standard for what people expect the perfect woman’s body to look like, and a lot of those bodies usually look the same.
Sports Illustrated is very serious about their covers. They’ll never say, like, ‘Oh you got it.’
When you’re doing something like body paint or a nude shoot, you’re making yourself very vulnerable, and you’re really trusting people to really take care of you and make sure everything is very professional.
It was a very bold step for Sports Illustrated, and a lot of people are taking notice. I want it to be so normal that people don’t even notice anymore.
I’m not a full model like those other girls. Mostly I was surprised that I could hang.
The reaction has been amazing because there is no woman that could look at these covers and not be like, ‘That’s what I could look like,’ or, ‘I pretty much already look like one of these chicks.’ It really makes beauty seem so much more attainable to people.