I also watched boxing all the time and Tuesday Night Fights on USA and just kept hitting my heavy back in the garage.

I had never thought about being a professional fighter but meeting Pat [ Militich ] and the guys just pushed me in that direction.

My parents were divorced and my dad was in the Marines. I lived in California until I was 10 then we moved to Bettendorf, Iowa when I was in the fourth grade. I had an older brother so it made it a little easier to adjust to things.

A lot of military kids make a lot of moves but I only made the one, so it wasn't really an issue for me.

I also watched boxing all the time and Tuesday Night Fights on USA and just kept hitting my heavy back in the garage.

I remember coming across some DVDs of the UFC and so I started watching that and became a fan of it. It was a little boring because of all the grabbing and holding and I fast-forwarded through a lot of it, but I still watched because I like martial arts.

I just started training with the best fighters in the world trying to get better. I was a pretty good athlete so I did pretty well with the team and that gave me confidence that I would be able to compete with people.