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What got me into MMA first was that I was a wrestler, and I was a gangbanger getting into trouble a lot and getting into fights. I grew up in a family of 15 in a four-bedroom house. It was dysfunctional, so that alone made me want to be an MMA fighter. It's really the only sport where you gotta basically depend on yourself.

I'm more into MMA than any other sport. I watch a lot of the UFC fights. I have since it first came onto the scene.

When I went to college, I came across MMA. My first reaction was, 'No, I don't want to fight. I just want to learn jujitsu.' I didn't know what UFC was; in my mind it was this violent, ugly sport. But when I watched my first amateur fight, I fell in love with the sport and thought it was beautiful.

There wasn't much money in this sport when I started, but I didn't get into it because of money. I loved to fight, and I loved MMA.

In college, I tried to start wrestling as soon as I could and when it was available to me, as I loved competing, and then got into MMA under Pat Miletich, where I was able to sharpen all my skills and develop into a true fighter.

And I love kick boxing. It's a lot of fun. It gives you a lot of confidence when you can kick somebody in the head.

I'd always told people that I would have liked to pursue some sort of professional fight career. I don't know if I'm quite right for it, since I'm extremely prone to injury. I've been boxing for a couple years, and I've messed around with some Jiu-Jitsu, and I've always felt that there's such a passion in a real fighter's heart.

For me, MMA is like speed chess. It's like I'm herding a person into a certain position. Say my endgame is an arm bar. I'm not gonna actually take you and put you there. What I'm going to do is convince you that it's a good idea to move in the direction I want you to go.

I know MMA isn't for everyone. It is a combat sport; some people don't like watching it, but it is entertainment for some people.