00:00Uh, you know, how are you feeling? How, how does it feel to hear those words? You know, the champion, you know, whenever you're introduced, how does that feel the first couple of days of, uh, having that added to your name now?
00:10It was amazing. It feels amazing. Um, all the hard work and all the dedication paying off. It feels great.
00:18That's great. It was a great win by you. We'll talk about the fight in a second, but you know, for people who may not know you, who haven't seen a bunch of your fights yet on lights out, you know, you've had a couple now in the organization now become the amateur champion.
00:29Uh, tell them about you. You know, you, I see you've got it from Tennessee to Cleveland, now to San Diego, a well-traveled man throughout this country, you know, make, trying to make his dreams come true to give people a little bit of a background on the new champion in the amateur bantamweight division for lights out extreme fighting.
00:45Um, yes, I'm originally from Cleveland, Ohio. Um, I was raised in, uh, Tennessee. I got a, um, a little country, country, uh, stoutiness to me. So, um, and, um, I came to San Diego.
00:59Um, I used to be in the military. I used to be, um, uh, in the Navy. I'm a Navy veteran. And, um, yeah, I came out here and, uh, I fell in love with the weather. I love San Diego. And I just been grinding out here ever since.
01:15Well, thank you very much for your service. We appreciate everything you did to protect this country. Now we're appreciating what you're doing in your second career here as an MMA fighter.
01:24Uh, as you, you know, well, we'll see if it, you know, becomes your main career. Obviously now still an amateur three in one. Uh, you have, you know, you lost your first fight, your first amateur fight there.
01:34Now I've got on a three fight win streak. Uh, what's been the big difference for you as you have progressed now in the beginning of your career here with these amateur fights in the first one, obviously didn't go your way, but now on a three fight win streak, what do you think the biggest changes have been as you learn to make this, uh, what you're doing?
01:48Um, dialing it in dialing everything in. Um, like you said, I didn't, um, get the results that I, uh, I wanted in that first fight. And, uh, I took that as a learning experience and, um, and I, and I just dialed everything and I got sharp, I got more focused. And, um, like, I just, I learned how to channel it, channel that energy into, into greatness.
02:13We've done a great job so far. A couple of, you got a decision in the first one. Now the key TKO in these last two, uh, you know, has anything changed? Has it, you know, been the improvement in your striking as you, you know, get more comfortable in this? Is it just, you know, maybe changing your game plan of how you go out there? You know, was it a little more passive in the early going and now you're just letting it loose? What's been the big change for you that has made your striking so dangerous these last couple of fights?
02:38Um, um, um, I would say it's all mindset. I would say it's all mindset. I mean, he's a very game opponent. All, uh, every, every fighter that comes, uh, out of lights out or two lights out is, is ready and, um, has that dog in them. And it is, is really about the mindset challenging. And then, um, uh, my faith, my faith in myself, my, uh, my confidence in all the work that I put in and, um, putting God first.
03:07And then, uh, a lot of my upbringing is like, um, is it prepared me for moments in, um, these opportunities in these platforms to, to be great.
03:18Well, you, you've been doing a great job, obviously. I'm sure the military prepared you for that as well. You know, you see a lot of former military transition into this career transition into, uh, MMA fighting into all the, you know, different types of combat sports because of, you know, what you need to learn to protect yourself and protect the country. So, uh, you know, that helped you as well.
03:35I'm sure what were, uh, some of the highlights of your military career before you, you know, started doing MMA and started getting to that. And is this where you thought you'd be, you know, as you were still, you know, out there in the Navy, did you think that when you finished up, when you, when you, your service was done, that this would be the transition you make or did it just something you fell into?
03:51Um, absolutely. Absolutely. Um, I knew from a very young age that, um, I had a talent and, um, it was really about, um, how can I show the world this talent? Honestly. Um, and, and, and, um, and being in the military was just like a, it was a stepping stone.
04:13And it, it solidified that like, Hey, I want to be here doing this, um, more. Um, yeah. So yeah, I, I, I always knew that, um, eventually I'll be somewhere, um, putting hands on people.
