UFC Fight Night: Dillashaw vs. Cruz Media Day

We as human beings have a responsibility to try to make a better place for the next generation that’s coming in. I’ve got three kids, so I feel that anything I can do that can show my children, “Hey look – this is how you have to be a giving soul” right? Whether that’s time or energy or resources – whatever that is – I feel we have an obligation to do that.

I feel that those that have the time and can manage the time that don’t think about it – they miss a part of their soul. Because once you start doing things like that, you understand the benefit. The bad part is you also see the negative. The people that milk the system, or take advantage of giving. And you see that, and that can turn against a lot of people. It can hurt a soul.

So I feel that a good amount is good, and a little too much is a bad thing for the individual. So I think that it depends on your own balance. But with that being said, I feel that if you can get involved in it and make the world a better place – just a little bit better – then you made a mark.

It started out because I’m a competitor. It’s something that a good friend of mine – Jayson Werth, he plays for the Washington Nationals – he got me involved. And it was fun; it was a challenge. “Alright, cool. Let’s see what happens. I’m going to bust my ass, give a hundred percent and see what happens.”

And then in early 2010, 2011 – it was a real negative connotation to be a fighter. I would tell people I worked construction instead. And to see that, I understood why. Because you always saw fighters doing dumb shit: getting arrested, doing drugs, whatever else. It was such a negative connotation. And that kind of plays into my first answer as far as charity work or non-profits.

You want to do something so that way you can help give the negative connotation a positive light. You can be like, “Hey, look: we’re not all Neanderthals.” Most of us have college degrees. We think our way through our lives, and we just have a different job. Instead of sitting in an office and trying to hustle somebody out of a couple pennies, we’re fighting in a cage and trying to entertain the masses on a different level.