My new favorite line in mixed martial arts (MMA) interviews these days would have to be, "I don't want to make any excuses but..."
It's almost as though these athletes believe that the disclaimer makes the contradiction acceptable. This kind of cognitive dissonance used to be reserved mainly for Brazilian fighters, who would blame something being lost in translation. But these days everybody is doing it.
The latest person is Chris Weidman, the former UFC middleweight champion who was thoroughly and completely trounced by Luke Rockhold in the co-main event of UFC 194 on Dec.