I kept doing my own thing, working out with weights, wrestling, and doing other spots until I graduated from high school. Then I made a conscious decision to pursue MMA seriously and full time.

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.

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

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

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.