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 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 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 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.

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.

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 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.