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.

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 did a lot of smoker fights and fought pretty much every week since Pat wouldn't let me fight until he was sure I was ready. I was also boxing and so I had 30 unofficial fights or more of those.

I did takwondo from the time I was pretty young and also played I did taekwondo for martial arts and then also played football, baseball, and basketball against older kids because of my brother being older. I learned pretty quickly to not be intimidated and to not back down.

I got a little bit of the Marine mentality from my dad, I guess. You can't but help absorb the culture you're around.

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

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.