I did start wrestling after I moved to Iowa, I think in the seventh grade. It's really a part of the Iowa culture so it's hard not to do it if you like sports.

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

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

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

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 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.