What is a typical training day for you consist of?
Typical training for me consists of 3 separate daily training sessions. First I start off with my cardio session every morning, which is usually a 3-5 mile run. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I have a morning MMA training session that last around 2 ½ hours. Then I come back later in the evening for grappling training followed by 5-8 rounds of sparring. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, training consists of my morning cardio run, followed by an intense 1 ½ hour strength & conditioning session. I also have a 2 hours boxing session on those nights as well.

What or who motivates you?
Living up to my potential, keeping true to my word, and setting the example. Those are the three things that motivate me above all else. They were all lessons that I learned the hard way through the trials and tribulations of life, the tough loss of a loved one, and the overwhelming support I get from family and friends. I spent much of the past 5 years as a single father of 2 boys. That alone has been a huge motivating factor in reaching success. I’ve always wanted to lead them by example. Show them that anything is possible if they were willing to put in the hard work and effort. Another motivating factor for me has been my promise to make my sister proud of me for all of my accomplishments. She was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 26, and after a long 5 year battle, finally passed away while I was deployed to Operation Enduring Freedom serving in Afghanistan. Doctors told her she wouldn’t make it past 30. She called me on her 31st birthday just to tell me that she had proved all of them wrong. That was a testament to her own will power. Even before I was serious about MMA and it was only a hobby of mine, she would tell people that one day I would be a famous MMA fighter. So everyday I wake up and train to keep that dream alive for both her and my 2 sons.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
I can honestly say with a certain amount of confidence that I will be fighting in a major organization (i.e. UFC, WEC, Bellator, or Strikeforce) within the next 5 years. Maybe even sooner than that.

Are you happy with where you are in your MMA Career?
I am very happy with where I am in my MMA career right now. I feel that I’m just starting to get to that point where doors are opening up and more and more people are beginning to notice me. I still have a lot of learning and a lot more growing to do as a fighter. So to say that I deserve to be fighting in any of the major shows right this second might be a little hasty. But I can say that in the near future, when I get my opportunity, I will definitely be ready to take that step.

What do you do to get mentally ready before a fight?
I set aside a few moments to really think about why it is that I’m doing what I do. I really hone in on my sources of motivation. I think about all the preparation I’ve gone through to that point to get ready for that particular fight. And lastly, I take the pressure off of myself by remembering that win or lose, my friends and family will still be my friends and family. That puts my mind at ease and allows me to focus on the task at hand, which is getting in the cage and wrecking shop.

What is your favorite food to eat?
Hahaha...I laugh because anybody that has ever sat down to a meal with me knows that I’ll eat pretty much anything and everything. I’ve been likened to things such as a garbage disposal, a goat, an eating machine, and so on. I love food. Almost as much as I love fighting, if not more. But I guess if I had to pick one favorite, it’d have to be my mom’s homemade chicken enchiladas & Spanish rice. I could live off of that. But I’d probably have to bump up a weight class or two then.

Any tattoos? If so, meanings?
I have a bunch of tattoos all over the place. On my arms, shoulders, upper back, chest, ribs, and calves. Each one represents a significant point in my life. The most meaningful tattoo I have is the one on my right side ribs. It’s a long passage that I wrote for my sister after she passed away. It’s my promise to her. “And they came to me in the dawn of the Afghan morning. And with them came words of death. Words that left me broken and numb. An angel gone before here time. When Janet passed, a piece of me died. But her memory lives in me. So for her, I will run until my feet bleed, train until I collapse, fight until I have nothing left…and in the end we will shake our fists in VICTORY!!”

How important is family support to your training and in life?
Family is everything to me. My family is more important to my fighting than even my daily training regiment is. Of course I’ve mentioned my 2 sons, and my older sister that passed away. But, I also have the support of my 2 younger brothers, my eldest sister, my mom, and my dad. They believe in me, unconditionally and without reproach. Hell, even sometimes when I doubt myself, they’re right there to let me know that I have everything it takes and then some to come out on top. Not just in the cage, but in life as well. I owe every victory, every hard fought practice, and most of all every bit of success to them. They’ve made me the fighter and person I am today.

If you weren’t a fighter, what would you be?
I’ve always been a fighter. I served my country honorably for 12 years in the US Air Force during both peacetime and at war. It was just my time to put that aside and be the MMA fighter I was always destined to be. I haven’t given it all up though. I still serve as a member of the Air National Guard. I guess after my venture as a MMA fighter is done, I’ll go back to serving my country full time in one way or another.

If we grabbed your IPod, what would be the first five songs we’d hear?
You wouldn’t hear anything. I have a Zune. Hahaha. The first five you’d probably hear? I’d have to say Skeleton Song by Sevendust, Undead by Hollywood Undead, Death of Autotune by Jay-Z , Thug by Slim Thug, and Hero by Nas.

Who is your favorite fighter to watch in the Octagon? Why?
It’s kind of a split between 2 fighters. Fedor and GSP. I’ve been keeping up with Fedor long before he became a house hold name in the US. Living in Japan, I watched Pride more than I watched UFC. I always thought that Fedor was just a fighting machine. He always manages to finish fights in a dominate fashion and his win resume reads like a who’s who of the top MMA heavyweights in the world. I like GSP as well because of the fact that he is such a well rounded fighter. He can beat people with any number of weapons. And, he’s humble enough to acknowledge the he’s still in a learning mode during his training and fights.

In your free time, what could we find you doing?
In my free time, you’ll most likely find me either running or watching movies. Running has always been a big part of my life. It’s my stress relief, or as I like to call it, my Zen. So more often than not, I don’t even look at my cardio training as actual training. It’s me partaking in a hobby. And movies have also been a great way for me to disappear from the real world for little while.

What motto do you try to live by?
The motto that through out my life has always made the most sense is a motto that I inspired partially from President Theodore Roosevelt’s famous speech, The Man in the Arena, and the Latin phrase “Sum Fidens”, which literally means without fear. The motto I live my life by is “I am a doer of deeds and I am without fear”.

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