Dream 11 Quoteworthy: Kawajiri Replies to Aoki

“It's just the way things go. I get in the fight and I make sure I want to hurt my opponent, and Bob didn't tap. The referee jumped in before he was defending himself and in those situations, the guy will say, ‘I didn't tap. Why did you stop?’ Usually, I want to make sure the guy taps first, before the referee jumps in. But the referee jumped in before Bob had a chance to tap.” -- Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou on why he insists on punching even after the referee has jumped in and the bell has sounded

“We talked about him saying in the promos that he was thinking of whether he'd retire or not. We're the same age, so I encouraged him to hang in there and do his best for a little while longer.” -- Hiroyuki Takaya on his brief conversation with Hideo Tokoro after smashing him

“I don't think I was in a situation where the match should have been stopped. I trained as hard as I could -- harder than anyone in this tournament -- to win those belts. I will train as hard as possible for this to never happen again. My strategy was to keep pressure on him. It was just a terrible position I got myself into; it'll never happen again. (It's my) third fight. I'm learning every single time. Sorry for losing in front of the audience. I'm not used to losing. It's a new feeling to me. It doesn't feel good. … You'll see me again, I promise, and you won't see any armbars. You'll see violence, and I'm going to stay in peoples' face. Joe Warren's here to stay, and if it takes me two more fights to get those belts, it's gonna happen. I'm taking every belt I can possibly find. You better get used to seeing me around here.” -- Joe Warren, who isn't leaving until he's got a belt

“Well, honestly, I just had my birthday and turned 40, but I don't pay attention to the numbers. Physically, I'm slow to recover after training, but mentally, I think I've become wiser. But I don't think anything in particular when it comes to my age.” -- Kazushi Sakuraba almost coming to the revelation that actual age and relative age are two separate things ... but not quite getting there

“I've been practicing wrestling. I didn't really work on the kicks. I didn't know the kicks would be that hard. I'm a fighter. I'm not a quitter at all. I'd love to challenge him to a boxing match, if I could. I'm going to continue to practice MMA. That's very embarrassing for a fighter of my caliber -- a world-class athlete -- to show a display like that. When I come back to challenge again for MMA, I'm gonna be a much better MMA fighter. I'm sure standing up, no MMA fighter can do anything to me. I was just overwhelmed by the kicks.” -- Rubin Williams, whose next project is learning to check kicks

“Actually, yes. I felt that he was allowed to keep stalling positions a little longer than I would have maybe. I was told to ‘work to finish’ while pinned from under half guard. I know it's hard to get submissions from there, but small things like that.” -- Joachim Hansen, once again peeved at referee Yuji Shimada's in-ring officiating

“He is good at talking. He's a very talkative person, so I can't have a verbal battle with him. So … well, I'd like to battle him in the ring.” -- Tatsuya Kawajiri on champion Aoki's witty retorts

“As he's good at escaping attacks, he's also good at escaping comments.” -- Kawajiri on Aoki's refusal to verbally commit to a title fight with him