Yesterday, Jim Ross was interviewed on "MMA Hour" by Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting.com, and the two talked about a number of topics including JR's recent departure from WWE. The following are some highlight quotes from Ross, and you can check out the entire interview in the video player below:

On his WWE departure:

"I've had a very blessed 39-year run in the sports entertainment world, the world of pro wrestling, so it seemed like a time to give with some other opportunities knocking on the door to give them a shot. No regrets. It's all been great and more adventures ahead, hopefully."

On whether or not he was forced out of WWE:

"After a good discussion and expressing myself and things I'd like to do and just the timing of everything I think it was... when you say mutual it means partially to somebody that you've been forced out the door or been treated poorly or what have you, which really wasn't the case. It was something that we had talked about kind of casually and it just seemed like with the lay of the land, it was good timing.

I'm not really a negative guy. You and I have talked a few times and I'm pretty upbeat. I've always looked at the glass as half full as opposed than half empty. I had some health issues and thank God I'm over those. I'm taking good care of myself... I just think it was the right time. With everything presented as it was, it was just the very best decision to make and now we're going to move on to the next thing."