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

I lived in Iowa for pretty much the rest of my life, but I just moved to St. Louis and opened up a gym and MMA training center.

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

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.

I met Pat Militich when I was a junior in high school when I was 16 and just started training and went from there. I went to the same high school that Pat had attended and he would bring some of his fighters out to wrestling practice to work out and I got to know him that way. I immediately like it.

I'd always done martial arts I was always interested in fighting.

You don't really realize the effect those things have on you when you're growing up but then when you look back you can see how they molded you.