I just came across this pre-TUF Peta2.com interview with Mac Danzig, where the former King of the Cage lightweight champ discusses his career and his conversion to veganism. Some highlights:

What made you go vegan? How long has it been?
Ever since I can remember, I’ve always had a profound respect and interest in nature and animals. I remember being 13 and seeing a truck on the interstate filled with pigs all headed to the slaughterhouse. One of them made eye contact with me for a while. It was one of the saddest moments I can remember. There was so much intelligence and spirit in him, and here he was, being sent to an awful death…I experimented with a vegan diet for about a year, but once I started training full-time for fighting, I believed what certain people said and started eating chicken again because I thought that I had to have some kind of animal protein in order to be a successful athlete…about 2 years ago, I read a Mike Mahler article on an animal rights Web site where he explained his vegan diet for training in detail, and I said, “That’s it—I can do it too,” and I started 100 percent vegan again for life and I’ve never looked back. I feel great.

Has being vegan helped your training and helped you maintain your weight class?
Absolutely. When I decided to go vegan, I was able to make the 155-pound weight class much easier, and I haven’t lost an ounce of muscle. I’m leaner than I used to be, and I have much more energy than I used to.

What are your favorite vegan foods generally, and what do you eat when you’re training?
When I’m not in training, I eat Soy Delicious ice cream and vegan chocolate chip cookies like they’re going out of style. There’s also some awesome vegan restaurants out here in L.A., like Native Foods, that have great vegan pizza. When I’m in training, I eat a lot of brown rice, tofu, oatmeal, and of course lots of vegetables and fruit.

I already knew that tofu makes babies gay…but could it also be responsible for Mac’s famous mood swings and sociopathic lack of sympathy? In the absence of any kind of data, I’m gonna go with “probably.” Plus, I don’t trust anyone who doesn’t enjoy a good cheeseburger…