Green Light with Chris Long - Shawne Merriman! Chargers Memories, MMA, Marty Schottenheimer Speeches & Philip Rivers & Drew Brees

Episode Date: January 4, 2024

Shawne Merriman tells Chris Long about playing for the Chargers at the peak of their powers, the differences between Philip Rivers and Drew Brees, Marty Schottenheimer's speeches, dealing with injuries in the old NFL and his new MMA career and upcoming fights. (00:00) - Dealing with Injuries and Veterans of the Old NFL (9:35) - Drew Brees and Philip Rivers (13:17) - 2006 Chargers (16:05) - Marty Schottenheimer as HC (22:15) - 2023 NFL MVP (28:30) - LA vs San Diego (32:30) - Buffalo Bills Tenure (38:15) - MMA: Lights Out Extreme Fighting, Upcoming Fights and Jake Paul This podcast is brought to you by Cash App. With multiple tools for saving, spending, and sending, Cash App is the easy way to stay in control of your money. Cash App is a financial platform, not a bank. Banking services provided by Cash App's bank partner(s). Make sure to check out Fax and the King every Wednesday on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FaxAndTheKing Have some interesting takes, some codebreaks or just want to talk to the Green Light Crew? We want to hear from you. Call into the Green Light Hotline and give us your hottest takes, your biggest gripes and general thoughts. Day and night, this hotline is open. Green Light Hotline: ‪[phone]‬ Send any Talent Search submissions to: [e-mail] Include any video of your talents, takes and bits as well as a little bit about yourself. Love hearing from the Green Light fans. Also, check out our paddling partners at Appomattox River Company to get your canoes, kayaks and paddleboards so you're set to hit the river this summer. https://paddleva.com/ Green Light Spotify Music: https://open.spotify.com/user/951jyryv2nu6l4iqz9p81him9?si=17c560d10ff04a9b Spotify Layup Line: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1olmCMKGMEyWwOKaT1Aah3?si=675d445ddb824c42 Green Light Tube YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/GreenLightTube1 Green Light with Chris Long: Subscribe and enjoy weekly content including podcasts, documentaries, live chats, celebrity interviews and more including hot news items, trending discussions from the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, NCAA are just a small part of what we will be sharing with you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

And 99% of time, you're going to listen to him, right? You come in age, 20, 21, 22 years old, and this guy that's already put into work 10 plus years, and they pull into the side, and hey, young fella, this is what you should do when this happens. This is what happened to me. And they automatically go, you know, have your ear. And I think that that's why you're seeing a lot of the childish,

you know, guys dancing in the locker room, smiling after losses. That's there when it took place back when we played. Like, it was no way in hell. You coming back in that locker room smiling when Lorenzo O'Neill is in there. If we lost and you're walking in a smile, one of those old guys is grabbing you up and saying,

we don't do that here. And a lot of that man is missing in today's game, in my opinion. Welcome to the Green Light podcast. A very special episode for you today, Sean Merriman, the former San Diego Charger, back when the Chargers were south of L.A. joins Chris. They're going to talk about the old NFL,

having some intense veteran teammates, playing on the Chargers, one of the best teams to never win the Super Bowl. He played with both Drew Buries and Philip Rivers. He also got coached by Marty Schottenheimer. He tells some great stories of Marty's speeches, his pregame speeches, that players would take bets on. Sean transitioned to the MMA after his football career, so stick around to the end.

It's a pretty interesting conversation by one of the most plugged-in MMA guys out there. So y'all enjoy. We'll be back on Friday with a preview and a free show. All right, here's somebody that used to play for Maryland, and I never liked Maryland. And when I was a little guy, standing on the sidelines, waiting to go in the game, I used to watch this beast, man, for Maryland.

Him and Heath Miller battling. I mean, just some of the ACC legends in my mind, and Sean Merriman is one of them. Welcome to the show, Sean. How you doing, dude? I'm good, bro. You? I'm good, man.

It's good to catch up. I know we've caught up a couple times since we were players. but just was always a big fan of yours and excited to see all the stuff you're doing outside football. And I guess I just want to start there, man. Like we were BS and off camera about like how are you able to do this stuff like pummeling with these strong guys and like the, I know you're not like competing all the time. But just to be doing the MMA stuff after football is crazy to me. I do boxing and I got an arthritic shoulder. and I had to stop like two weeks ago.

I had to start like a rehab plan. Like how the hell do you do it, dude? Honestly, man, it's been consistency. You know, like we talk, man, I think that my biggest fear, like honestly is when I stop, I'm going to start filling the shoulders, the knees, the hips, the lower backs, you know. So for me, man, like when I retired,

I got straight in full-time MMA. I still now, even spar once or twice a week, you know, at an extremely. to a rainy guitar gym or I go to top rank with some of the boxes over there. And I think for me, man, it's been consistency because I think that one day I wake up and all that shit that, you know, that we did,

right? You'll start, remember those big hits, those cut blocks, those like, oh, man, I rolled my ankle. I clothe my back. And I think that if I stop, then one day, you know, it'll catch up to me. You know, it's funny. I was just talking to somebody last night, a guy who plays right now and he has an injury and he was like, you know we were talking about how to treat it because i'd had the same thing and i was like are they giving you toward all shots like do they do that anymore and he was like nah they don't do it anymore like now they'll just give you the pill which is like a half measure in my opinion like i was getting

vitamin t every week before i played and i'm sure that's part of the reason i feel the way i feel now like we both played in the old NFL you know before the new cba before the hits got penalized and all that stuff like what was it was it way different back then in your estimation with how they treated injuries and and the way you treated your pain yeah because remember and i don't know if there's the case with you guys but remember the time when if you had a third party opinion right if you had a doctor outside the organization you had a your own fitness workout team your own like they didn't want you to have back when we played it was like a cardinal sin for you to get a third uh a the third opinion somewhere, or secondary opinion outside the NFL, so outside the team.

And now it's like all these guys, all these guys got the own coaches doing the workout, doing the all season, the own nutritionists, the own doctors. But when we did it, man, they used to frown upon it. And I think that ultimately kind of bit them in the ass because there was like, you know, lawsuit left and right, Torado, for example, right? The Toradole, we all lined up. Remember the training room before? Oh, it was like a line at the carnival to get.

shot in the ass. And your ass is out. Like, everybody's asking that way down for their pants waiting to get a tort ar shot. And I think that because of the information is out there now and the NFL dealing with lawsuits and different things like that, now they're like, okay, we're not doing a tour dog no more. Hey, if you want to go work out with your outside masseuse or therapist or nutritionist,

go ahead because we can't stop it anymore. So the times are definitely different now, man. It's crazy. Yeah, I know. You know, when I got to one of my later, a later chapter in my career and I had a new coach and, you know, new trainers, they came in before the game and I'm like, I pulled my pants down because I wanted to get the shot. And they were like, what are you doing? They were like, we don't give shots. And I was like, well, we don't play. I was like, so you need to go get the coach and talk to the coach about that one because you're going to be down a guy. And so the coach comes in and he looks at the trainers and he catches up on what's going on. And he's like, well, give him a damn tort all shot. So, I mean, you know, like the old NFL has definitely gone by the wayside with the lawsuits and that sort of thing. But it's tough for players now because the game's not less physical.

You know, it's still very physical and all that stuff you mentioned. It's just crazy. It's illuminating when people hear about what it used to be like. The old NFL was crazy. Another thing was we came into our locker room and I know you had, because I looked at your locker room when you were a rookie because I wanted to ask you about some of the guys. Like, and I sorted it by birthday. You play with a guy that was born in 1962. There were like old vets in those rooms because they weren't trying to get those old guys out of the rooms.

And like I walked into a meeting room full of Leonard Little, Fred Robbins, you know, all those guys that had played decades of football. And I think it's a real tool that guys don't get now. You know, like you don't get to learn from those guys. Those are even more valuable than the coaches. I think that's what the NFL and the teams have lost at tremendously. you know, when I came in, I had Randall Goughrey, Donnie Edwards, Jamal Williams, Keenan McCartell

was there, Lorenzo Neal. Like these guys have been 10 plus years in the lead, man. And that, that to me was always invaluable. Because even when my young guys was acting up, we're getting out of line, like those old heads have grabbed you up and say, man, you need to, you need to chill, right?

Or this is what I did when this happened to me. And so I think that's where a lot of these locker rooms are lost at, man. Like, you need that Ohead, you need that enforcer, you need that experience in there because some of these guys, everybody said, and didn't it,

and 99% of the time, you're going to listen to him, right? You come in age 20, 21, 22 years old and this guy that's already put into work 10 plus years, and they pull to your side, man, hey, young fellow, this is what you should do when this happens, this is what happened to me, and they automatically

going to have your ear, and I think that that's why you're seeing a lot of the childish, you know, guys dancing in the locker room, smiling after losses. That still when it took place back when we played. Like, it was no way in hell. You coming back in that locker room and smiling when Lorenzo Nell was in there. If we lost and you're walking in a smile,

one of those old guys is grabbing you up and said, we don't do that here. And a lot of that, man, it's missing in today's game, in my opinion. And also, I think, you know, I'm an oldest brother. Like, I'm the oldest of three. So I never had a big brother. And I had, you know, my dad's, you know, a. big force in my life, but it's something unique about having a big brother. And, you know,

walking in those locker rooms and, you know, like James Hall for me was a guy that played a long time, played in Detroit, was a baller, but never played on good teams. And he was miserable, but he definitely taught me a lot. And it's not just like the football, it's also life. I mean, it's like your finances, the pitfalls for guys that might be single coming in the NFL, like talking about the, you know, the pitfalls of being out on the social scene and things that can happen to you and you got to be careful of this, that, and the third because I think, you know, nowadays these kids are even more visible and they got more money in their pockets right away outside the CBA change and that sort of thing. But like, you're very vulnerable to a lot of people

pulling at you. I think having those older guys is awesome. What was it like in that locker room when you had Breeze and Rivers and like what were guys saying internally about that process? I got spoiled, man. Like, I really did because I didn't, you know, not too often you get a chance to walk into a situation like that. Like, Drew was one of the most locked in, dedicated, focused, laser-driven. He was going straight to the weight room. He was going straight to the film room. He was, like, always on course for his destiny.

That's how locked in he was. Phil was the opposite. Phil would go down the hallway. You hear him talking shit to people walking by, you know, in the, you know, weight room. He's talking this. He never stopped. It was like a competitive thing. No freestyle Fridays.

Phil would jump in and do his little part, man. Like everything. Oh, dude. Did Phil have bars? So this thing with Phil, man. Phil was like, take your hottest radio track, whatever the hottest commercial radio song that was on, right? So we would play it all the time in the locker room before we go out.

And you ever heard like somebody say, don't watch what you say around kids, right? Because they pick everything up. Like, that was Phil. Whatever we did around him, he noticed. picked up on everything. How somebody walk, how they talk, what they, you know, freestyle Fridays, like a term, a slang that we would use.

Where you'd be like, damn, I thought you were out of touch, dude. You've been listening. No, he, he, it was, it's the wildest thing ever. And I got a thousand field stories, man. But I think one that really stick out is, you know, we'll be in a, we'll be in a defensive film room and on a lineback of meeting room. And we're watching film with a previous game or the upcoming game or whatever. and we hear somebody walking down the hallway

and somebody's rapping. We're like, what? And we walked by in this field. And we just burst out, I started laughing at, because it may be the song that we just fed us listening to in a locker room that he just picked up on

and now he's rapping about it. So, but like I said, I don't want to take anything away from Drew because Drew was a, you know, he's a Hall of Fame quarterback, great quarterback. But I think Phil, when we had Phil, it was, Phil was more suited

for the team that we had, right? We was talking a lot, man, we were very, like, you know, flamboyant and, you know, like a big name. And Phil kind of fit right in this thing because he was always going to fire back at all times. Yeah. No, I mean, incredible to have both those guys in the same building, and it worked out for both teams. I actually, I've heard people say that Phil never cusses,

but I know Phil cusses because one time on the field, he called me a cuss word. And so I don't know if you can confirm that you ever heard. Phil Cuss, but I've heard it. I've never heard it. One day we were getting out with them pretty good in practice, turnovers, and we were jumping field space and point at him and touch him and stuff after, you know, play around and piss him off. And I thought that I almost got him to a cuss one time.

He was so mad and he didn't. And that's what I knew that it was no way at that point to get him the curse because I had him to, we had him to the point. We were talking so bad to him in practice, picking the ball off. Crow had an interception, turned around, quit and jamming had an interception. I'm batting down past this from the line of scrimmings and getting this close to his face and pointing at him.

And that one time, I thought he was going to curse. And when he didn't do it then, I figured that nobody was going to get filled with. No, he did it. He did it. He, like, came out of the gate, like, and called me a name. And then we sacked him, like, a bunch. And I sacked him twice. But it was, it was eye-opening for me.

I was like, oh, this guy with the minivan, like, and nine kids really does, like, he does cuss. So, you know, like I've heard he doesn't, but he does. With that 2006 team, you know, I've heard you say this over the last calendar year. I forget when it was, but you were like, we might be the best team that never won the bowl. And I think it's an interesting point you bring up. Why do you think that and how good was that team? And like, what was it that kept you guys from getting there?

Well, a lot of people are saying, I think it was that 07 Patriots team, right? Or whatever. Yeah. Yeah, that 07. So, you know, people compared to that because they were good and they got Super Bowls or whatnot. But if you look at how dominant we were and in all phases of the game and every position in 2006, we didn't have a weak spot. And we wasn't going out and just winning games. We were like, we were beating people pretty bad.

And I think we had, you know, 60-something sacks as a team, almost 70 sacks, something like that. We were up there. You know, Wade Phillips is decor-ordinated. Marty Schotteman was the head coach. Greg Menunsky was my linebacker coach, and the assistant linebacker coach was John Pagano. Like, we were so stacked from the head coach all the way down to the players, man.

It was insane. And, you know, I don't have a lot of regrets. Me, you know, one of my, I guess one of my other regrets would be playing when I wasn't healthy, right? Like, going back out. Yeah. Going back out there, toughening out. If I can change that part of my career,

I would have sat my ass out, got healthy, and got back on the field when I was ready to go instead of, you know, trying to play the warrior spirit game and get back out there, hobbling around. Because they don't care. They don't care. You find that out. You're like, oh, everybody's going to care. You walk around the building. You're like, everybody's looking at me. They think I'm soft. I'm not playing. Even though you know you're not soft, you just you play that game in your head and then you go out there and look like shit and they don't thank you. No. In fact, they'll use it against you, especially when it's time to negotiate, right?

And I tell, I tell any younger guy when I talk to him, I say, listen, if you're not a, if you're not a hundred percent of close to 100%. And you go out there, you're hobbling around the 50% and you hurt yourself. That one week injury turns into a lingering four. No one's going to come up to you and say, man, way to go. Way to get back out there. Way to find the way back on the field.

They're going to say, you know, you didn't make any plays. You've been, you know, been gone. You look different. Because you've been just a body out there. So I tell all these guys, man, get healthy. The other thing is not winning the rate. Like we had a legit shot. I would say between 2005 and 2010.

to win one ring for sure, but possibly two or three. And the fact that we didn't, that part still bothers me, man, because we had Hall of Fame guys, Antonio Gates, and Philip Rivers, L.T. I played with four or five Hall of Famers, right? And for us not to have a range during that time, it still gets out of my skin pretty good. You mentioned Marty Schottenheimer.

and, you know, like, he has a reputation for being fiery. Like, I met him once or twice, and his son, Brian, coached, you know, the Rams for a little bit. So got to be a really nice guy, you know, when I met him. And I just couldn't imagine some of the things that I heard he used to say. And I think Eminem had a lot of cursing at you players like Marty Schottenheimer in one of his raps. And that was the first time I ever heard as a kid that, like, Marty Schottenheimer is a hard ass. He must have a reputation. And then I heard that they based,

this is two pop culture things for him, the movie without Pacino, any given Sunday. They based his speeches off Marty. Now, have you seen the movie? Do you see the similarity? Like, what was Marty talking to the team like? It was so crazy. So Marty, he loves you to death.

You know he cared about you. Well, he was hard, man. Like some days he'll come up right before practice starts, as soon as we get done stretching, he'll tap two guys on the shoulder, Oklahoma drill, just started to practice off. I mean, he was that. Damn, dude.

Yeah, oh yeah, he might come to you like a few days later and training camp after we've had, you know, four or five double days. Remember, we had double days. We had double days. All this one practice, two practice, one practice shit. We didn't, that that was out of the question. We went double days back to back

and see you got that one day off to go to a theme park, water park or whatever. they wanted to do and you turn it to like 11 year old kids the movies the movies right you know hey if this guy catches a punt we're going to the movies and part of me was always like can i just fucking go home right but but you know you go to the movies and it's better than sitting in meetings oh 100 percent and you're like at that point we're all like 11 year old kids out there just got released out the house for the first time right just have to tell them anything sounded better than you know watch a film out of the practice and then uh so marty

he'll come up one day oklahoma drill type you three, four days, five days after you have five good practices in a row, he'll tap you and tell you to stay out of 907 and stay out of the one-on-ones, right, to try to take care of guys. So that's what he was. In fact, man, my rookie year when I had the big hit against Priest's Holmes, I actually had a big hit against Priest Holmes and, you know, he was knocked, him out.

And I got up and I was celebrating because, you know, I'm just a big hit. I'm going, you don't know. Yeah, you don't know. You know, I'm 21 years old. So, man, I'm celebrating, you know, the big hit, got the team excited. And I got over to the sideline and Marty Schottnheimer had grabbed my face mask. And he said, Sean, great hit. But don't forget that this guy's family, his friends are watching.

Because Priest Holmes was still out on the ground. He was still knocked out when I was on the sideline, walked over. And so that's who Marty was. The other thing is, man, I think that what it really come down to, was he had these speeches, and I'm not lying to you, man. I've had tons of really, really good, great coaches. Marty had this way of speaking to have you ready to run through a wall, and I'm not joking.

And his speeches was so damn passionate, and after you get this whole spirit, and he had so many, that he would start to tear up. So after a while, we started to bet in the team meeting room, everybody would bring a couple hundred bucks you know 20s hundreds 50s whatever and so we all had the clock when he talked in the team meeting room was right behind the wall and so we all had a time of how long it was going to take before he teared up that's he teared up his uh his bottom lip man started trembling and so we knew that was that was the forecast and it was coming that he was about to start tearing up so you mind you everybody got the hundreds of money the cash with him and so a minute hit the clock and you hear so we so a minute and a half though

and then he started to tear to cry to tear up and all you heard is the guys in there like oh damn like yeah like dudes are celebrating he's like what the fuck is going on here yeah like bro that's the best man side betting little bullshit

that was like some of my favorite stuff in the NFL And by the way, the plane trips, I know now you can't drink beer on the plane, which I heard, you know, as of last year, it's like a no-no there. We used to drink on the plane. And we used to gamble on the plane. Now, I stayed out of the, the Burey games. And I stayed out of the, you know, but like, yeah, the dominoes. But literally, the minute you walk on the plane, it's like, hey, put your per diem in here. We're going to have the flight attendant read the winning ticket and shit like that.

And then a rookie would win. And Malcolm would get up and be like, no, rookie's not winning. And like the old NFL was a lot of fun. And I wonder like how those plane rides were for you because now I think it's way different. Oh, everything, you know, everything is completely censored. Everything. And the problem is now is that all this is fun, the dominoes, the car games, you know, guys, it was betting. It was nothing but gambling all the time.

You know, guys whipping out of a company here. Training camp. can forget about it. You'll see, you'll see guys right after that last practice, three, four hours after practice, you'll make playing dominoes, car games, spades, or whatever, thousands, tens of thousands sometimes will just be flowing across the table. And now, you know, you can't even, you can't even do that because if once it get out, you can't even control the narrative or story, you know, some, it'll get out in a bad way. Well, now because gambling is a part of the whole NFL ethos where they got to make a lot of money off gambling and fans can't differentiate.

they think when they hear guys are gambling on the plane and there's $20,000 change in hand, they're thinking, oh, these guys are corrupt. Even though it's not sports gambling, they just don't want you to hear about that stuff, you know? Yeah, that's what I mean. Like, the narrative will get out there, the guys are gambling on the plane, right? Nobody's saying they're playing cars. Nobody's playing it playing dominoes or anything else.

It's gambling. And so people run with that narrative. So I think that in a way, I don't fall a lot of the young guys. even when we talk about the hits and how the style of play guys are now, I don't fault them, man, because when you see Josh Jacobs getting hit for 21 or 22,000 for just lowering his head running a guy over, or you see a safety getting, you know, four-game suspension for just making the play on the ball. Like, how do you want guys to walk that play?

I don't know either. And a lot of people will try to tell you exactly how they would do it, but they don't understand the speed of that game. I think we're both talking about it because he hit. a couple weeks ago where, you know, like, well, you could just take the ball off him. I'm like, the weight of the ball is the body. Like, there's no other way to take that ball off him for those guys. And so, you know, I think it's tough now.

I mean, it really is. And in a lot of ways, the NFL is easier, but the NFL's become harder in some ways. And I think that's one of them. When you talk about the 2016, though, I think it's a very relevant conversation right now with the MVP conversation because the MVP more than any time I've ever been alive, feels like the Heisman trophy, where, you know, if you play one bad game at the wrong time late in the season, you probably don't win that award anymore. And the way we pile on quarterbacks week to week, the narratives, the way they change week to week, it really does change the whole

the odds on MVP, the whole thing. And right now, it feels like because of the process of elimination, you could end up in a situation where if Lamar plays bad this weekend, we could be looking at Christian McCaffrey. We could be looking at Cheetah. And, you know, you always think of it as a quarterback award, but in 2006, L.T. won it. And he deserved it. And I wonder if you see anybody in the NFL today that you think is deserving outside of a quarterback, would you give it to a quarterback this year? Would you give it to somebody like an L.T? Yeah, I'm going with Christian McCaffrey or Tyree Hill. And the reason I'm saying is because next year, somebody's going to have Dax numbers. Next year, somebody's going to have Pachevall's numbers. Next year, somebody's going to have Lamar Jackson's

numbers. Right. So if those numbers, you're going to have Daxon numbers, right? So if, if, if those numbers, are easier or easily attainable. More normal. Yeah, you have to start looking somewhere else, right? Like you just do. And, you know, if Tyree Hill didn't get hurt, he may be 2,000 yards plus in receiving Christmas. Which is once in a lifetime.

Which is once in a lifetime. So I hope that whoever's on that vote committee, whatever they're doing over there, they start to look outside of somebody in the quarterback position because honestly, the quarterback position this year, there's nobody that's standing out, amongst everybody where it's a clear-cut win. This is the first year, probably in a long time

where you can't say, hey, that's the MVP and they ain't even close. Well, that's what happens when Mahomes got a bunch of guys outside who aren't doing anything right, and then you've got Joe Burrow hurt and all these guys hurt and the whole thing. Actually, another thing is, like a guy would mention would be Josh Allen. Like, he could be a dark horse if he plays lights out the next two weeks and the other guys play poorly.

That's a team that would have to go win it the hard way. And in 2006, and I remember this, I was in college, and I remember the exact playoff scenario and the whole thing. Like Pittsburgh was like a wildcar team, and they had to go on the road and win that thing in Seattle against the Seahawks in Detroit. I think that's where the Super Bowl was as fucking weird as a Super Bowl place ever. But do you think there's a team like that this year that could go on the road and win the whole thing?

Lions. I don't know if the Lions are on the road. Do they? No, well, I mean, they might have to be on the road. the road at least once for San Francisco and they got the tie break with Philly but that could change if they lose to Dallas. I say it before the season I like the lines because of how they finished the last season how they kind of rolled into it. Their lines are the team that you don't want to face. Now you won't say that as a player. You won't say it publicly. But they're the team you really don't want to face right. Playing tough defense, running the ball well, very physical. And their style of play

as a team that you don't want to play. It was almost like last year with the Jags when they kicked when they kick the charges out. You don't like to play those type of teams, man, because they're gritty. They're not going to make a whole lot of mistakes. They're going to play you hard for four-quarter. You're going to get their best for four-quarters. They ain't no letting up, right?

They're going to pound the ball, three, four yards, five yards, two yards, quick passes, turnovers on defense. Those are the teams you don't want to play. Like, you know what you're going to get out of Dallas Cowboys. You know what you're going to get out of the 49ers. We've seen them have a couple of spots. Philly, man. And I was, I was on Philly's, you know, kind of

bandwagon the whole entire year because I felt that they were just disrespected. They were like the most disrespected 10 and 1 team we ever seen in the next year. Because it's so hard to come off of a Super Bowl, whether you win or lose it and be any good the next year. Yeah, because for one, the target is on your back, right? You're the defending

Super Bowl playing team. You're walking to every week, and every week somebody's getting up. You're getting everybody's best every single week. And so that's why when people were on Philly, I was like, dude, relax. Now, we've seen a couple of games where they got, they got some chinks in the hour. They got some holes there that they need to patch up. But all in all, man, that was like, when people were talking trash about them at 10 and 1, I'm like, how many teams in the NFL will barely like to win at 10 and 1?

I mean, exactly. I mean, I said that on my pod last week because there's a lot of Eagles fans to listen to this and the whole thing. And I'm just like, hey, man, you know, five, If eight years ago you were 10 and three or whatever it is and you know, you got a chance to win the division, maybe you're not the best team in the league, but you've got a fight and chance. And I think with the NFL, the ceiling is lower. You know, when you talk about the chiefs this year, because I was pounding on the table for the chiefs, it doesn't look like they're going to be able to figure it out. But the point is, yeah, the chiefs are down, but so is the field.

And, you know, a lot of these teams can look at the field and say, hey, a bunch of these quarterbacks got hurt. There's a path for us. And so I think it's interesting that way. And when you talk about the Chargers, I think you and I have one thing in common for sure, and that's we both played for organizations that have since moved. And, you know, like, for me, it was like I got cut my eighth year, got hurt, got cut, you know, went to New England, and that very off season, the Rams moved to L.A.

And that's a little different than, I guess, San Diego moving to L.A. But there's nowhere for me to go home to, you know what I mean? And I don't know about you. how normal does it feel right now with the Chargers playing in L.A.? It's only an hour away, but it feels like a world away, I'm sure, for fans. Yeah, and, you know, the fan bases are different, right? Because San Diego fans and people don't like L.A. people. And that was the biggest, it wasn't even the distance.

It was just that San Diego people fans didn't like. You get my team. Where the fuck do you get off getting my team? Right. And it was a slap in the face to San Diego fans. ended up, they, they did a great job at rebuilding the LA fan base because it wasn't like that. Like, when they went to that soccer stadium, it was 50-50 in there. Dude, we went, they were on silent count when we went there in 18.

We went to, with the Eagles, we went to Stubhub, and they were on silent count. I was getting a great jump off the ball, and we're on the road. Right. No, and so they did a great job at doing it. I think that for me, man, because of the proximity was so close, I was always in LA doing a ton of TV and sitcoms and TV shows and, you know, doing a broadcasting day on the sports network. So I was already there.

So when they made that transition, it was almost like it's the same fan base to watch me play at least in San Diego, watched a lot of us play in San Diego, like Antonio Gates and L.T. You know, Philip came back for the first time for Antonio Gates, you know, for his Hall of Fame Induction, yeah. So, you know, Phillip Rivers came back and it was good to see him. But it was, it's almost the same fan base. A lot of, a lot of fans still came up. And obviously, they did a really good job rebuilding that L.A. fan base because it wasn't always like that.

Yeah. And for me, it's like, I got to be careful. I don't have anything against the L.A. Rams. You know, I don't, I guess it's still got buddies on that team. You know, as years go by, it's just Aaron Donald now. But, you know, it's hard for me to go show up to that game and put on a jersey and sit in the stands. because people in St. Louis, they took it so viscerally. You know, it's like they have Super Bowl parties without the game on.

That's how much they hate the NFL. And so, you know, like, that's really hard. And I know for you, you're working in it. And it's a little bit different, but it is a weird feeling. You know, like for me, you kind of feel like NFL homeless. But for you, being so close, maybe it's better. Yeah, I think the hardest thing with me was when they had me to announce the draft. I think those 2000s that

The one that was in Tennessee And you know You're going out there's a hundred plus thousand people out there So the first thing you're already thinking like Okay let me not mess this up Right let me not mess this whole thing up And

You got I got a hard name And Nassir Adelie Right? The safety they did The DP they drive The Seer Adelie so I got a hard name And I got to remember Not to say San Diego Chargers You know that's the hardest one

That was the hardest one And we've seen people go out there And misspelled Jets right like when you get out there it's like oh shit there's a hundred plus thousand people out there let me not screw this thing up so i got the card i'm i keep saying that sidenadilly miss it's i got that down all right next don't say san diego charges and i think for a lot of people even in national media still right now once in a while you'll still catch some of these guys saying i do it on my show i do it on my show sometimes yeah so i mean that's tough man fuck man i mean like

San Diego fans, I don't know much about that fan base, but I know it's hard for any fan base. And then, like, for you going, you played in probably two of the most polar opposite places, like temperature, city, like, you know, quote unquote quality of life. But it seems like Buffalo, if you play up there when they're good, like the quality of life's pretty good for a player. Now, you know, what was it like going from San Diego to Buffalo and how cool is that place, like, when it comes to football and how different is it when it comes to life? So I didn't want to go.

Right. I was literally I was scratching and screaming not to go. So Buddy Nix, who was a general manager there with the bills, he actually was number two behind AJ Smith with the Chargers. Buddy Nix actually is the one who drafted me with the Chargers. And so when I was getting waived by the Chargers, I had like four or five teams to claim. I think me and Randy Moss was on the waivers that same year.

And we had the most teams ever to pick the kind of, We put our names in the hat. And so I was playing by like three other teams that I really wanted to go to. Dolphins being one of them and I talked to Stephen Ross. Stephen Ross, he called me and we talked in the phone for like 20, 30 minutes. Great conversations. Like, man, we want you down here. And I was like, perfect.

I'm going to Miami. But Buffalo had the worst record. You know, when you get waived, their worst record get first hips. And I think Buffalo was like 0 and 5, 0 and 6. Buddy Nix called me. He said, he said, Sean, you know, we want to. We want you out here. We want you in the locker room. And I know you're not the player you once was.

You have some injuries, whatever. But I think you can really help this team out. And you're going to love Buffalo. Trust me. I said, buddy Nix, I love you. I'm not coming. This is what I told him. I said, tell Ralph Wilson and the Wilson family.

I apologize. I don't want to do respect. There's no disrespect. And it wasn't even there was Buffalo. It was a combination of it being Buffalo and the O and 6. They had no path to the playoffs. Yeah. And so I said, buddy, I love you.

I said after the season, I'll come and see you guys because I'll finish the rest of the season out, but give me a chance to go somewhere where we at least going to have a chance going to the playoffs. He said, Sean, I hear what you're saying, but I'm putting in your contract and you're coming here to Buffalo.

Trust me, you're going to love it. I said, buddy, trust me, I'm not coming, right? And, dude, I swore by now. I hung up the phone. I hung up the phone with Buddy Nix and Mr. Wilson. Right? I hung it up, and I hung it up. and I was so pissed off because I was telling them

that I was like, I didn't want to come. They called me back 15 minutes later and said, hey, we put your contract in, we'll see you soon. I said, well, I don't give a shit what y'all do because I'm not coming, right? They said, Sean, if you don't show up, it's $25,000 fine a day. You got to retire.

You got to retire. I said, look, what time that plane going to be here? Yeah, 25. That's 25, dude. They said, it was on Tuesday, they said, we'll send on Wednesday. I said, could you guys do me a favor and send a plane on Thursday?

And it was one of the best things that ever happened to me, seriously, because we had a great fan base with the charges, but we also had stars to the team that we won a lot of games, right? You got one of the best runnerbacks of all time. You got the best tight end of all time. You got one of the best quarterbacks.

It wasn't hard to come to see us play. We won a lot of games. Buffalo, they were showing up regardless. No matter. No matter what. I showed up there. They were 06, I believe, and I looked into the stadium, and it were people out, 55 plus thousands still.

Shirts off, screaming, going nuts. And I never saw anything like that before my life. And I actually got really close to the fans. Do the fans there in Buffalo treats you like, like you're a second or third cousin? They'll see you and be like, yo, what's up, Likes? I'm like, damn. But it was a best, it was a best.

best thing that could have happened to me, man, because I wish everybody could experience that at least one time in their lifetime. You guys had to go to Toronto some to get out in the nightlife, right? I was every Friday. You were in Toronto every Friday. You were leaving the country every Friday night. And the drinking on Fridays,

the hanging out on Fridays, like, that never bothered you because I tried it once earlier in my career fucking with those old heads. They're like, we're going to the hotel bar. We were up in Seattle and, and, you know, had a couple cran in Vakkas, I'll never forget. And Saturday, I was like, man, I feel like shit. So you guys were hitting the streets on Fridays.

Every Friday. And you know what in fact, in fact, I try to do the opposite, right? Because I think AJ Smith, the general manager there, has something to come out in the papers about, you know, me not in particular, not being focused on football. And I was, you know, celebrity and I care about TV and all this other shit. So I say, you know what? I'm not going out no more.

And I'm just straight in there, row. I'm going to stay in the house, go watch film, you know, whatever. I did that shit for two weeks. I was miserable. Really? I was miserable. You were conditioned to have a hangover on Saturday during the walkthrough. That was part of the normal routine for you.

Yeah, I was off if I didn't, you know. So good, dude. I mean, it's so funny to me thinking about guys in Buffalo, I just feel like Buffalo is a place where if you don't go to Toronto and you stay in Buffalo, you probably get drunker in Buffalo than any city because it just seems like a good drinking city. you know like i would i would love to hit a couple of the dive bars in buffalo what's the best bar in buffalo uh downtown on chippewa okay downtown chippewa loaded loaded with nice bars and lounges and i mean yeah i just what i remember going up there to play and it was all overcast and dreary late in the

year and sitting in the hotel on saturday and being like i just have this urge to go get fucked up like this city just does it to you right like you just want to go out drinking with these people one of these days i'm going to get there i'll let them throw me through a table We'll do that for the pod. We'll go up to Buffalo, guys. All right, so with MMA, I guess my big question is, number one, lights out extreme fighting, January 6th, big fight, Nakatani and Marte. Okay, so I'm excited. I'm going to check it out.

You can catch it on Fubo sports. I got like five smart TV apps. I don't know how to use. I got to figure out how to use Fubo. But my whole thing is with the mentality that these fighters have, and I've trained with a couple of them. and they're different dudes. Like, do you see commonalities between the NFL guys and fighters? And what can you teach a guy?

Like, if a guy doesn't have that mentality, can you make him a fighter? No, no. But this is why we transition as far as football players, transition well, more than any other sport, right, over to combat sports. Because we're already used to contact. We're not afraid to start to learn and be, you know, pick up things on a repetitive basis, right? because we just treats us a habit of wanting to get better or something.

I believe, and I got a couple big guys, former guys, once you were both champ, big D-Lyman, then I'm going to make a contract offer to right after the holiday. And it's confidential right now. Yeah, it's confidential. Can I get three guesses? You know, I love guessing shit. I want three guesses.

I need one hint. Okay, so he was a Super Bowl champion, D-Lyman. Yep. All right. So he probably's got length. All right. So he's probably an edge guy. Okay. Interior, yeah, the edge, but mostly interior.

Yep. Okay, okay. And he's still playing or he's not playing? He's retired. Okay, and he won a Super Bowl. With the NFC or the AFC? AFC. AFC.

Okay, so the Broncos could be a team, newly retired. Broncos. Who else won the Super Bowl the last couple of years? I'm going to look this up here, Sean, before we get Super Bowl. champions i don't think it's a new england guy um list the super bowl champion he just he i missed that there was a there was a body language cue there i missed okay we've got super bowl champions okay we got the the bucks won it the rams won it the chiefs won it okay but i don't i can't think of anybody the new england we i think it's a denver bronco okay i think it might be a denver

for Bronco, dude. I'm going to go through the roster later, and I'm going to text you and see if I'm right. Oh, yeah. So what's the number one thing? To get back on it, what's the number one thing you're looking for with guys? I know people got the own personal feelings towards Greg Hardy, right? But if you look at Greg, Greg actually looked pretty damn good, but it's early on in the UFC. And this is a guy that only been trained in two years before he took a fight against a championship fighter. He fought championship rounds. And the only thing about Greg, Greg was lazy as shit, he got overweight, he didn't, you know, really train, he wasn't consistent.

There's going to be a heavyweight champ. There's going to be a light heavyweight champ or, you know, that's going to happen here in MMA within the next six or 12 months or at least 12 months, a champion that was a former NFL guy or former Alabama or former Florida state or Florida. Like there's going to be a former football player that's going to be a world champion shortly. I guarantee because, for one, there's money in the sport. Like, when I retired, you know, people ask me all the time why I didn't fight. They were offering peanuts when I retired in 2013. And I was like, I was ahead of the game because I said, look, I got a name from playing football. I've been around the sport and fighting for a long time.

I remember the money I asked for. They looked at me crazy. And I said, dude, this is going to get a half a million. Yeah. A half a million. And so I said, look, it's going to be worth. it want to promote the hell out of it put me against a former w wb e guy a former football player and we'll sell the shit out of this thing we'll get after you put on the hell of a show for all

the fans and i actually have a million that they were like their jaw dropped now for a big name guy to have that size fight on a pay-per-view that's that's a starting point yeah i think nate robinson probably made more money you know i mean i think they made between four 600 thousand out i think you made closer to 700 000 crazy yeah you know and so the money and opportunity is there so that's why you save all these guys transitioning and from football into the ms and some of them you know only played three or four years they're like this through they're not like us man it got beat up you know i've searched search yeah i killies you got some of these guys are pretty damn fresh is getting into it yeah dude i mean uh i i i can imagine there's probably an age where

where you can't start after that age. For a guy off the street and for football players, I bet those are different ages. Yeah, yeah, it is because you walking in, and athletically, most football players are going to look good, even against a guy that's been training for a long time. Now, they're always going to lose at the end because of the skill set.

Guys are just way more skilled to you. But I'm telling you, man, I had a guy, I had a guy that if he kept out of, he's not fighting anymore, he's just got married kids and all that stuff. He got on to fight this. but Chris McCain, who played outside linebacker for the charges, D.N, played for the coach.

And this dude was built like John Jones. If he kept at it, I believe he would have been a world chance. So he decided to go another path, but you're going to have these new guys come around and really take this thing serious and become the next world champ. Is it Antonio Smith? No. But boy, I would love to see Antonio Smith fight.

That dude is awesome. I love Antonio Smith. Yeah, but he's another one. Yeah, yeah. Well, okay, so, you know, when it comes to these fighters, who's the scariest guy on an NFL field now that you're like, that guy should be fighting when he finishes? I think any one of those inside line back is for the Ravens,

Queen of the Rolls-Rockewarm Smith. Aaron Donald could kill somebody. Aaron Donald, I've seen Aaron Donald. I've seen Aaron Donald fight in practice. bro his hands are incredible I mean they're just like you know some guys got hands on the field but maybe they don't it don't translate this dude is one of the most violent people I've ever seen

I mean it's incredible and also I throw in the hat there Mercedes-Luess because that dude's got length and has been doing it a long time so I've trained with Mercedes-Lewis long time ago and we used to train a lot and I tell people now you'll find a younger see Marseigne would in the 17th 18th year you know something like that he's not

He made a ton of money. A little bit older, yeah. Yeah, he made a ton of money, long career. You're not going to get these guys. You're going to get a younger Mercedes-Louis that was done at five or six years, didn't get another shot and say, you know what? I can go make money to build a career doing this. Aaron Donald's another one.

I say it all the time. Eraddonald probably, what, 285, 290, you put him in there with anybody his size at 265, he dropped 20 pounds. He going to kill anybody because he's used to going against 350-pound line. it. And so... And he can wrestle. And he can wrestle. And so you get these guys with a wrestling background, that violent, that strong, that athletic, to learn how to punch and take people to the ground, nobody's going to beat them.

Bro, Robert Quinn was like an all-American wrestler and has length and the whole thing, like, super athlete. There's so many of these guys. I mean, it's just so interesting to me because what would, like, Aaron Donald purse be, say Aaron Donald retired this year and wanted to fight a high-profile guy like we is are we talking we're talking millions right yeah we can probably get them between a half million to a million dollars the first time out of cash and then he would if his pay-per-view they would have points and things like done on the paper view side so yeah he can definitely walk away with seven figures for sure jeez that's crazy and and as far as like we talk about the NFL guys have you been in a room with an mMA guy that you're like that's a scary guy like you know

obviously they're scary but there's like another level like who's the scariest mMA guy that you spent time with. Sean Strickland. Oh, I know who that is. A white dude? Yeah. Yeah, Sean Strickland, the champ right now. He trains over the extreme tour, and I'm, and I bump into him a lot.

I'm training next to him. I look over him like, man, this cat off. You know, I love to death. He's great. I think he's great for the sport. But that cat is off. That dude is off, man. And he's somebody, you don't want to run across in a dark alley.

or you want to start some shit with because he's a type that you would have to do something really bad to him to get him to stop, right? Yeah, it seems like a lot of these guys. I mean, what's the weight cutting thing? Like, you know, for that process. Because that's really interesting to me,

not just in boxing, but in MMA. Like, how intense does it get when you got to cut weight and what are some of the craziest things you've heard about guys and maybe unhealthy things when it comes to cutting weight? Yeah, that's, a unhealthy and a healthy way of cutting weight, especially when you're fighting. I mean, the small ones died the whole camp, and then they only got to trim down, you know, 10 pounds or so because you're going to have 10 pounds of water. That's just you're not drinking water for 24 hours,

sauna, you know, light cardio, you're going to drop 10 pounds easy. It's the ones like Pereira, right, that fought Izzy. You know, Pereira probably, I think they fought at, what, 185 or something like that. I think he fought at 185. Pereira walks around. to like 225. So that kind of cutting is scary and it's very hard to do. But you have these guys, man, and just bodies

are their training. And that's the difference to now. See, there's money in the sport. We are used, as a football player, we're custom off-season workouts, OTS, mini-camps. We got about two months off max. And I'm not even

completely off. Just two months of the year off and went back to it. now it's money in the sports. These guys now are off-season training. They used to get in shape for their fight. That's it. They used to walk around guys to play video games, eating and drinking and shit, and then they get ready for a fight.

Now it's real money in their sport. These guys got therapists and chiropractors and trainers, nutritionists. It wasn't like that in MMA, but now the money is real, so these guys are taking the series. What's the deal with this with MMA, with doing a little smoking? Is they, do they test guys for that now, or do a lot of the fighters turn to the plant? They're pretty lenient. They're pretty lenient on it.

Yeah, they're pretty lenient. But, you know, all that, all that shit, even with football, the NFL, do, it's just old-school thinking. It's image. It's behind the curve because you look at, you know, marijuana and weed as a drug. But we all know, and I play with guys. I wasn't a smoking like that, but I know that it didn't help out a lot of guys. Help me. Fuck.

Yeah. I help out a lot of guys. Yeah. Yeah. No, I mean, the pain's one thing, but then, you know, like when you're somebody like me, I'm not going to sleep. Like, I'm going to sleep like two hours. You know, I'm going to lay in bed for four hours until I can't remember when I fell asleep.

And, you know, if it's not for that, like, how do I recover, you know, as a player? How do I do any of that stuff? So when you think about, like, performance enhancing, like, yeah, it does for some people. It can help you in a good, clean way. And so I just imagine fighters with the amount of conflict that they, deal with the amount of you know the amount of pressure it's a one man sport like the pressure there has got to be crazy also freeing a little bit because when we used to fuck up you had to answer to 52 other guys but like if you fuck up it's just you so that's a different mentality but just the

pressure they're under um i could imagine that that would help them yeah it's not in day man you got to think too these guys are wired different right like when you're when you're training for a fight and you're in a fight camp you're walking around on edge. Your mind is in a different place. I think the guys are able to smoke and go that route, it's going to ease you a lot more. You cannot walk around with that mentality. I even joke about it now and I see the difference. Maybe I'm just older and you step away from the game a little bit. But even then, I was on just as mindset was like going out there and crushing people and you kind of start living a lifestyle like that and you're always competing. So I think that's the

That's the hardest thing, dude, about retirement. I think that's what I'm starting to figure out is like we needed a rock to hammer at, you know, whether it was like competing or football or we needed the conflict. I think a lot of guys struggle because they don't have anything to take it out on. And for you, like, it's good that you have that avenue, right? Like, not only as a business owner and somebody who's trying to get something going, but like you can get in the gym and you've got something you can compete at. Yeah, man, that's why even if guys don't find.

right if that take an actual fight i think that every every guy should pick up some form of boxing muitai jiu jitzu pumpling rolling something because we we got a different thing with us man that we can't just go work next being that cubicle it'll never happen that mentality is what what drives people crazy or what why guys have problems when they're done because that switch just don't turn off like that now you can dim you know we got the light you can kind of dim that light down a little bit more over time but to go from what we did to turn that switch completely off i think it's unsafe i think it's fucking awesome that mr lights out is talking about dimming a light and turning a light back on that's perfect if anybody knows lights it's sean merrimmon here's the the other thing i'm wondering

do we do we look at these way ins and the the promo for fights and what percentage of the time is it played up like how much of these guys really hate each other and does it ever spill outside. Yeah, no, big time. Because you got, just like every field, every industry, you got the asshole, right, and you got the person that needs to be the asshole. It's no different that Skip Bayliss going on TV, being

anti, you know, whatever. Whatever. You need that guy. So you can feel whatever you want to about these type of guys, Kobe Covington. I mean, he said the most ridiculous shit about Leon Edwards dad before that fight about his dad being a murderer and all like, that was a, that was

an asshole move, right? But let's be honest, he sold that fight. And as bad as what he did, which I don't condone, I don't condone bring anybody's family to it. But if you need those, you need those Jay Pauls, you need those type of people in this sport, because ultimately you got a good guy, you got a bad guy. You got people to like that person.

You got people that don't like them. And that's what ultimately sells a fight. So who's a heel, so to speak, in MMA that's actually really fucking cool? Um, no, I think in a way, man, I think like, Izzy, Izzy, is he, is he? Israel is telling me. Oh, see, I love him. See, I, I, I think of him, and maybe it's personal, depending on the guy, but I, I think Izzy's cool as shit. Like, and some people get frustrated with his style of fight, you know, but, but I, I'm like, he's the hero, whoever he's fighting is the villain. So I guess it depends on who's watching. It's the same thing of, like, the rock, right? I mean, the rock was the best heel of we other in the WWE. He was joked on everybody,

talk shit to everybody. I mean, you know, the commentators are broadcasters taking mics out of their phone. He was doing hill shit, but we loved it. We all love, we all love a good hill.

Whether people want to admit it or not, the nice guys, you should have cool. You need that. So the heartwarming people like get a kind of emotional attachment to them. But the heels are, is what drive,

sports man in entertainment yeah i agree with you the other one for me is you you mentioned jake paul and a lot of these boxing matches that are like really kind of celebrity or crossover boxing matches i felt like for a long time jake paul was just picking dudes that couldn't stand up right but like now i think he's actually a pretty good boxer man and i got to give him respect in the beginning i was like this seems gimmicky but i got to respect that grind and his willingness to put himself out there. I um so Shane Mosley you know yeah boxer um it was a really good friend of mine and so he called me I think it's in 2018 19 somewhere around there he called me and said hey Sean come come up to my place in Big Bear uh Jake Paul and the crew it was like one of Jake Paul's first fight first or second

fight and uh I was like shit man okay cool so I went up to and stayed at Shane Mosley's house for the week up in Big Bear and I got there dude and I and I saw Jay Paul working. Yeah. Hey, you know, we've been around, we know the workers. Guys are, like, just locked in, fucking just go at it, really work hard, bust the guys. We used to seeing that being around professional athletes are basically our whole life. So when I saw him, I said, man, this dude is going to be real.

Somebody asked me, after I said, this dude's going to be really good one day. The way he was running heels, he was sparring actually like other pro boxers. And he was getting his ass kicked a little bit, hunk in there, took it, you know, taking big shots, returning big shots. return the big shots and i literally after um after that i've told everybody every interview that i said listen this this kid jake paul now you can call him a florencher calling me a florencher calling me a YouTuber all this other other shit but i'm just telling you if you play his cards right he's going to be really big one day yeah you were right about that that guy's got money and uh and i

respect it uh the other one was in ganu fighting tyson and that's 100% a real fight now i don't know if Tyson's not training very hard or what, but like, you know, my boxing gym I go to talking to my trainer, George, he's like, he fought pro and he's like, man, I just, like, if there's anybody can teach, you know, in Ganu how to do this, it's going to be Tyson, but I just don't see it. Like, it's going to be really hard to fight a fighter this technical and take your first boxing match and look good and he really looked good. Is that kind of the way you think about football players, you know, in Ghanu, the combat sport, changing combat sports. You know, you know he's a striker, but that's a totally different sport.

You know, the athleticism, the power, that guy could play in the NFL. So is that kind of the analogy there? And then were you surprised? 100%. And for sure, I was surprised as hell. And I don't care how long, how much you know about combat sports, boxing, M&A, whatever. Nobody.

And I mean, absolutely nobody would have predicted what happened. And I don't want to take anything away from Francis. I do think that Tyson walked in probably wasn't training like that. They thought he was going to walk through the guy. He already scheduled a fight after that fight. Yeah, which was kind of disrespectful. Oh, it was disrespectful as hell. And I think that Francis took it that way.

But you got to understand, too, man. Like, if you look at Francis, he's trained over at extreme tour, I remember the day that I met him a couple years ago and he walked in for Sparring. And it reminds you, Francis is black as hell, right? man francis black as hell and he came in he had like all blue like this light blue and i looked at him man i said this dude is built like a dn yeah that's like you know shoulder shoulder wise neck how you know his is just really brolic right and i was like man this dude's built like a d a dan d slas you know three technique five technique type like he's a big ass dude and i saw a move and i said

man, he can kill somebody, literally. And so you start looking at, you know, some of these guys is in the NFL right now saying, man, you know what? If you got two years of training, then you can make some real money. And that's, I'm on the path of that right now, trying to transition some of these guys. What do you think he walks around at his heaviest, Inganu? 300.

God, dog, dude. Fuck that guy's a beast. All right, well, maybe we'll see another Francis Ngano out of the NFL and hopefully it's with lights out. Is there anything else you want people to know about what you got going? No, that's it, man. You know, we, you know, very excited because we just jumped 90% viewership on football. And those type of numbers are unprecedented, man.

Like, nobody's really doing that. And it's really just having the opportunity to come on on platforms like this and talk about it. But I think the other thing, too, man, I've been around this sport for a long time. I've been in TV because, you know, I was at Fox Sports and NFL Network and ESPN. So understanding production and TV. So when I jumped in it, man, we got after pretty fast. And this growth that we're having is never really been seen in this sport. You know, as big as the UFC is, we love when the fighters get a chance to go to the UFC.

That's great for us. It makes us, you know, kind of give us more of an official stamp, I guess, a little bit. But yeah, for everybody just watched Saturday, January 6th on Football TV, Football Sports, man, and all the information for our fight to lights out except.com. Howie Long's birthday, January 6th, I'm going to have Pops watching the fight then. So, Sean, I appreciate you, man. Always love watching you play. You're the best, dude.

I'm wishing you well and hope this stuff keeps taking off. Thanks, brother. Appreciate it, man. You too, man. Keep doing your thing, killing it.