American Ninja Warrior Host Akbar Gbaja-Biamila Joins Shawne Merriman

and it didn't go so well. I'll just say that it didn't go so well, but I tried it. I had a good time. Um, but I think we will will get into that a little bit. So Bar, I don't know if it's true or not. So when I got to spend in two thousand and six, you came in. Did you officially get vetted at that time? Actually I did so because you need you needed four years to Actually I owe you a lot. Actually I don't want to tell people. So I got to spend it in

two thousand six. Everybody to know what for. And so I was out. I've gone four games and out ball came in and he came in. And when you play in the the NFL for a certain period of time, you get vetted after a certain money. It wasn't four years. Yeah, you needed four years to get that that that vet card, so um, and you know that's all the you know, the pension and all of that stuff. So getting that

allowed me to get that fourth year. So I was super grateful because as you know, two thousand six, so I came in, I was with you know, through the UH through summer training camp, got cut and released, and then came back again four us I think it was six games that I came back for because I think you and I crossed over for a little bit again, So it was a total of six weeks. And I

was like, man, that was a blessing. That was a hundred and fifty six thousand dollars under fifty six thousand dollars that I didn't have, because I remember I set

out all of five. So I went oh three oh four with the Raiders, sat out all of oh five, showed up randomly to the charges facility in December of two thousand and five and ran into Marty in the in the in the and right in the entry way right where Georgette desk was and I asked for a job on the spot and he kind of looked at me like, all right, you know what, let me let me talk to the scouting department. And that's how I

ended up on the team. That's crazy, man, because you know, I look back on it and even when somebody asked asked me about the planned days and things like that, like at that time, everything's moving so damn fast, right, and you don't really get even get a chance to enjoy the moment. Like I look back on the now and being outside the locker room, and I'm like, damn, you know I missed such and such, you know, being a clown in the locker room where you've been. You know,

everything's moving so fast. You never get a chance to like enjoy certain moments at certain times. And you look back on it, you need to know almost that sense step away from it so you can kind of sit back and like, damn and that was cool. Yeah, you know. I think what happens is that we we have this model that we live by in the locker room, like this is that moment, this is that time. The coaches, you know, the coach is always like you know, what

else are you gonna make this type of living? And you know this has gotta be your number one focus. So players are just you know, all in, and then I think what ends up happening. You're so serious about it, you forget that it's a child's game still, um, even though you got grown men playing it. And you look back and you reminisce kind of like that song you know, you know, back in the days when I was young.

A yeah, But then you sit back and you wish that you had those moments again, Like I missed those times with you, Coop and you know, sp and coach Monusky going you know in the like those were some good times. But you're so I gotta make the team in you know. You know, for you, you would just signed I think it it was oh six, maye oh five. You would just signed a big contract. And I remember that, and I just remember the feel of that, like that was a life for me as a just slightly older

than you. You know, I'm sitting back and you're seeing the young man's life change like and those things. For me, I've always been this way. I've always been happy for other other people in their success. So it's cool to see people have that type of that change in the in their life, you know, so you look back on it and and I think we talked about a little bit on the phone about guys transitioning right and trying to trying to figure out like the next thing to do.

And I'll tell anybody that I talked to, especially when they're about to be retired, like I just talked with Antonio Gates. I talked with a bunch of guys and they always always asked me, what is it like? And I said, dude, the first year or two you're gonna struggle. I don't care if you got stuff lined up. You know, I went straight into TV. You wentn't straight into TV

and was doing that side. But I still when I got off set and I got done out the gym, I still felt empty in certain ways because that competition, that schedule wasn't there. How was that transition period for you? Man? Like, because you jump right in the you know, on the on screen and start doing your things. Well, it took me a couple of years before I kind of found

my footing. But you know, I liken it to those who kind of like I don't get it because for those who have never played professional sports, they may not get it like you. People see athletes as you make millions of dollars, like you should be happy take the money away, just like let's not bring money into play. I would like it for the young folks listening to

think of. Imagine if you're all tied up in your social media and you've got a hundred thousand followers and all of a sudden you lose fifty three thousand followers. When you wake up the next day, you're gonna be like, oh my gosh, what happened? And you're and you don't like, what did I do? And you're you're trying to figure out and readjust because you're certain you're used to a certain type of engagement. Well, it's the same thing that

happened in the NFL. Players. You walk in and you're living this life with fifty three other or fifty two other people, and then just like that, that fifty three man roster you no longer have access to and to me. And this is gonna sound funny, but athletes in that locker room are really no different than groupies because the relationship is really lead you know, Uh, how should I say that? It's conditional, right, the relationship is conditional. It

feels like you have a brother. It's as if your brother or your sister isn't really your brother says, it's conditional. As long as you're in this house, you're my brother. But the minute you leave, you're not. So the access that I had to the locker room and say, oh yeah, yeah, let's hang out come to the house. The minute you out, you don't have that access. Nobody wants to be around you. It's almost like you've got you know, leprosy or COVID

or something. You know, nobody nobody wants to hang out with you. And that that's the part that I think puts people into this identity crisis. I would I would just I would just say what I was about to say. People struggle with hav an identity, especially when you don't have other stuff going on, Like that's you identified by a football player. You're identified by what you do and that's what people know the way you and I can't shake it. You'll never be able to shake it, by

the way, because I see how you work out. But your size alone will make people how can you not playing? Like how many times have you gotten that since you retired, Like, how can you not still like you just just do it? Yeah yeah, and you're like, no, I'm no longer that person and you can never shake that or not never, but it's hard to shake that off. And so it was,

you know, two years before I jumped into media. Those two years were in I mean, they were tough, and I was just like I thought I was a nobody. That's what I felt like on the inside. And that sucks when you feel like you're nobody, but you've accomplished so much, so I think the perspective is just jacked up.

And then who do you talk to? You can't go talk to the guy that you just spent you know too three years with because he's playing and he don't want to deal with you because you're on the out right. Who do you go to? You talk to your friends, They can't relate to you because you made millions, you know, so you stuck. You're just like nobody wants to talk. The first thing anybody want to say is, oh, you made millions of dollars. You don't understand like where I'm coming,

Like I see I see people all the time. Even when you see um, you know, certain guys get injured, but they got a guaranteed contract, right, So like, why is he mad he's hurt? He just he making ten millionisies. No matter what's it. That doesn't matter to some guys. Like when that part of you is taken away is different. And also you know when you when you start talking about the identity crisis part of it. You know, guys, even if you're doing something else, the money is different.

And I know it's one thing you said, uh, and I just recently seen that. I don't know where it was. I forgot where I've seen that, but you were talking about being the place of the black superman for uh financial people in the community. And and I and I called you because I didn't know, I knew I thought I knew what you meant, but I didn't know what it meant until I until we talked on the phone. Well so, yeah, after I made that transition and started

to get going, and my my career took off. It took a long time before it took off, but it did. And once I got to a certain point, and again, you know, I've made more money, um in in my post career that I made in my career and the access that you get to the financial advisors and the people that just want to be around you and so

on and so forth. And you look at the wealth the gap, the wealth gap bet for racist and you look at African American is to white counterparts, and you see there's a huge racial wealth gap in this country. And I just wish that there was something that I could do to be able to help uh to close that gap. And I think a lot of that has to come down to, you know, just opportunity, literacy. When I say literacy, most people get off like, what do you mean, we're you know, it's just what you know

about the financial world. I have people who are very very close to me who the highest level of you know, finances that they understand it is perhaps a CD. And the minute you try to maybe exposed to more, there's just resistance and you're trying to fight and it's like hell, Like I've actually been exposed to these things, and I'd love to share it with you to be able to grow because I think now more than ever, there's so many different avenues to be able to get access to investing.

Investing is you know, investing is the quickest way to build your your your wealth, right, and it's is having to access to capital that's really I think we're talking about the wealth gap. It's not like, yeah, of course is we can bring a rac and stuff all that all day, but I think it's really comes down to having the access to capital. I mean, there's a bunch of great businesses out here, especially black owned businesses, and good good things, but you don't even know how to

get to the money. You don't even you don't even understand, like what. And I always that was my biggest problem, right, so I can't you know, I retired, I had some money in the bank, I was good, and I was doing other stuff and I was making even more money. But even then I had a problem with trying to ask an investor for something that's calling for for my light's out of polding brand, right, I'm in eight stores.

I was funding everything myself when I retired, because I just I felt a certain way about asking for money, asking for capital, because my whole entire life, especially my whole entire adult life, has been me providing for everyone else. So I felt I felt weird. I felt weird even asking for money, and I so my first I'm never forgetting my first retail stores at the bank off the that was uh, you know, was in units to a retail store that was in um in the south part

of the country, in the southeast part of the country. Um. And you're talking about seventy but maybe seventy five thousand or a hundred thousand dollars out of my pocket. Now a lot of these places don't uh, they do like a net thirty on net forty five, some of them a net sixty. So now I'm I'm out a hundred

thousand dollars for sixty days and my own money. And so when I started to understand and learn how to ask for capital and sit down with people, uh and and and and show them that this is something you should invest in, I got a great business. I it took me years to feel comfortable to sit down and act for capital because my whole entire life, everybody was

depending on me. So that has a lot to do again with literacy, like I was going back and forth on So that's why I say that about literally, because it's not about being dumb. It's it's it's that was that's so that's illiterate in a way, it's an education process.

We all have it. I have it. I'm not I'm no expert, right, I'm just but the more information that I get, it's just like I'm the type of person that if I get something, I want to hook the next person up, Like, Yo, I got this, let me show you this, Like just basic basic levels of investments. No matter if you have ten thousand dollars, five thousand dollars in the bank, or a million dollars in the bank, you could have that. I mean, how many players do we know that came You know, a lot of us

came from the same type of background they got. I remember this one guy player that I played with had four million dollars sitting in a checking account. What bro Like, hold on, let me, let me, let me, let me talk to you all of a sudden. I'm not trying to shame you, but you know how much money this four million by itself can produce for you. That's the type of stuff. And people always want to say, oh, athletes are dumb. No, it's not a it's not an

athlete thing. Where in our formal education do we ever learn about finances? Right, We've been groomed the entire educational system grooms us to make money, but never grooms us to take care of money to be able to learn those things. So it is a to me athletes are only a microcosm of the world. The same thing you see in the locker room is the same thing that

happens outside of the locker room. Excuse me, but we get the most amount of attention because we make the most amount of money, and so we're then demonized for our inability to you know, to educate or whatever. So anyways, if I could do it, I would love to be the black financial Superman and go into each and every neighborhood and show people exactly how to do it, turn ten thousand into fifty thousand and build from there. Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation.

Catch all of our shows at Fox sports Radio dot com and within the I Heart Radio app search f s R to listen live. You know, it's funny. It's funny you said that because at the end of the day, you never really stopped learning. There's so many things when it comes through taxes, so many, so many different you know, I'm even now, I'm still and I know so much and I'm around uh so many wealthy people. So when you sit down, the starts talking about him and they say, oh,

you can do this or you can do that. This is what I do. And I'm like, really, what, hey know? I got I tax guys, I have attorneys, I have financial you know, I have a team. But it's also learning. You know, somebody instead of taking a point out of your you know, portfolio, they should be taking half a point or point you know. So just little things just sitting around and you're like, what the hell is going on?

And you constantly finding things out and so for that, you know, that's humbling learning hearing that from you, Because I still remember walking down the strand um in in San Diego, and I'll never forget I saw this black construction um little thing on the fence and it said lights out construction. I'm going this guy's baby Magic Johnson over here. I mean this it's got lights out construction.

But you you of anyone, and I remember, you know, when we're locking on, we would have some conversations and I just thought for you, like the your ability to be able to know that you were bigger your brand,

you had brand awareness before you actually had the crash. Course, like you created your own like your own essentially lesson planned, and you started to you know, I'm sure you took your lumps, like you talked about, but the fact that you had to wherewithal at twenty seven years old to have a company, a construction company, and then to have a T shirt company, and you had all these different things going on. I was like, man, good on you. And I remember here is some of the chatter like, oh,

he's doing too much. And I remember there's somebody that I kind of was eavesdropping and trying to compare you to Marcellus Wiley and saying that you had too much going on and you weren't focused on football. It was it was actually it was an article in the and and uh Union tribute and A. J. Smith is one of who who said that in the Union and it

piste me off. And I'll tell you why it did, because essentially it was trying to put you in this place and saying I don't want you to learn anything else but football, and then when you leave here whatever, I'm like, hold on, why shouldn't because the biggest platform you have is when you are not the biggest, but it is a you would be silly not to utilize the platform of being a professional player. I tell players

this all the time. I go when you, I don't care if you're the man on the roster or the top guy on the roster. If you say, hey, I played for the Los Angeles Chargers, I'd like to meet with the CEO from whatever company. Chances are you're gonna get that meeting that you'd be one day removed from that roster. And see how long it takes you to get that meeting. You see how long it takes you

to get that meeting. So so for someone to say in the front office that you shouldn't do these things and you're not focused on it, it was a way to shame you, to put you in your place. And I love how you still stayed above it. Yeah, and you and you have to it. I tell guys all the time, especially and for me, the reason why I really started to turn it on and get that way. I've always had that, but it was the first big injury I have when I missed two thousand and eight.

When that happened, I said, hold on, I'm not superman, like this thing could be over for me. Because I never at that point have I ever missed any extended period of time in my life. And so I'm sitting around. I'm sitting around, and you know, you go to rehab, you work out, and and you try to be a part of the team as much as possible. But at the end of the day, you start realizing what normal life is, you know, a couple hours a day and

then you're done. And so at that point I really started kind of turning on and put on this this hat that man, this thing is could be over any given day. So I turned it onto another notch. And so that's why I wanted to ask you about because you know, normally a lot of guys when they get done with UH, with their with football, especially, they to go coach or do something around the game. You got into the American, which my favorite mane American and Ninja woya.

How now, how did that happen? Do they have you to come out in audition or like, who reached out? Who gave you the idea to go and do that? Yeah, So I'll take you through a quick little timeline. So after I got done, I went to UH the local you remember Jim Laslavic in San Diego, And I went to the k NBC down in San Diego, local San Diego station, and I knocked on the door and I said, Hey, can I do the post game for the Chargers and

the Aztecs. They're like yeah, and I said, I'll do it for free, but in turn, you guys will give me my take so I could learn. Because I knew I didn't have a big enough name, like I didn't have a name like my brother, So no one's just gonna go, yeah, you can cop on television because you know, I was a no name guy, right, So I had to create my own, you know, value. So I did that locally in a small market, grew that. That led to me calling UM college football games for CBS College

Sports for twenty six thousand dollars a year. The next year I made twenty eight thousand, five hundred. The third year, I signed with NBC Sports which just changed from Versus to NBC Sports UM, and then I started doing the Pack twelve at that time. That was the first year Pack twelve, uh, making thirty five thousand dollars a year, and then I get the job at the Inn. In fact, before then, there's a gap in between. I actually took a year off to sell artificial turf because at that

time I had left the NFL. And I wrote this in my book, Everyone Can Be a Ninja. I had left the NFL with three hundred thousand dollars to my name. That was it, That's all I had. I got down to my last forty thousand dollars and I'm like, oh shoot. My wife was like, you know, like, are you chasing a pipe dream like this? This? You know? So I said, you know, let me sell this turf for seventy thousand dollars a year. I did that for a little bit,

but it just it took me a long time. And then all of a sudden, I got this audition call for the NFL Network NFL Network in two thousand twelve. Somebody saw me, say you should audition for American Ninja Warrior. And at that time I had gone out on a hundred auditions, and everybody says, oh, yeah, we liked you, but you know, we decided to go a different direction. So when I walked into the audition for American Ninja Warrior, I actually was kind of numb to being rejected. So

I said, I'm just gonna act to food. I picked up the mic, and just started freestyle and like I was on w w oh look at him? Go are you kidding me? Look at that guy? And I'm just having fun. And I walked out and shook everybody's hand. Didn't even call my agent and asked if I got it, And he called me like a week and a half later, he says, hey, congratulations, except for what I forgot that audition. So, uh, congratulations, You're the new host, you know, co host of American

Ninja Warrior, and my just dropped. That was March two thousand, two thousand thirteen. And so the crazy part about that is, so I remember the episode that I did, and so I saw that they were uh, I saw that they were doing this, and they had different parts of the country they were doing. I don't know it was the two thousand six team. Maybe I think you did. You came in two thousand, two thousand. I think it was

the season six of American. It was a couple of it was a couple of years after you, after you came on, and so you know, I watched the show. No, I didn't watch it that much before, but I started watching and when you came on there something like you know what I'm gonna go and get get this a shot. And so they had all these parts of the country, but some of the dates didn't match up. The only date to match up what I could do it was in Denver, was in Colorado, and so I said, you

know what, I'm gonna go and do that. So I've been watching the show. I know the obstacle courseing like, I'm strong, I can do this. I played football in the NFL. Ain't nobody could tell me Ship, right, so something they're like, don't, I'm gonna knock this out. So in fact, you know, I started doing uh, I started doing a cross fit right because I'm like that was the closest. This was when CrossFit was like really getting

hot or hot at the moment. So I said, you know what, I'm gonna go do some cross fit and I'm this is the closest thing that I'm gonna get to doing American Man Warrior. So I go in there. I dropped fifteen pounds. I'm feeling good, right, I mean, you couldn't tell me Ship. I know that I'm about to go out and kill this course. And I've been

working out. I feel good and so I get down there flying to Denver and I'm standing in the hotel and I come out the next day and everybody warming up and they got cameras out there, and so for the first time, I'm getting nervous, right, So, I'm getting nervous. I'm started seeing like people doing some crazy, crazy stuff out there. So I'm like, yo, this is crazy. So mind you. I got in my head that I did I did this cross fit. I'm in shape. I feel good,

I can do this, do that, do that. And I'm doing the interview and in the an interview, an interview, somebody else get an interview behind me, and I heard somebody said, yeah, man, I just uh, I just finished up Ninja school. And I'm like, what Ninja school? What what do you they got to school for this? I'm like, you know, and people are building out actual stuff and they you know, an obstacle course in their backyard, and they got gyms like this is for real. I'm getting

down them everywhere. They got gyms everywhere. So I'm really thinking in my head, I'm ready. I'm about to go tear this thing up. You can't tell me nothing. I played in the NFL. Yeah, y'all know who I am about. To get out here and killing this course, right. I go in and when he's when I heard Ninja school, my heart dropped to my socks. I just knew I was in trouble. I go out, and I'm comfortable being in front of crowds and stuff like that, when I'm

not comfortable doing this, failing in front of crowds. So I'm getting nervous now. So I go out and my heart is raising about the jump clean out of my shirt and I go. When I'm going and I'm passed the first part, past the second part. I got it. I'm goodt yeah, yeah, I'm feeling good. You couldn't. I'm like, I'm about to knock all these out. And so the third one was when I you run and you jump off of the trampoline onto the ropes. Now I'm looking at that, that's the easy one for me. In my head.

I jumped on the trampoline. I forgot that I'm two fifty plus at the time. The trampoline touched the bottom of the ground and I didn't get high enough to get to the ropes. I go and I reached the ropes. I'm not there yet. I splash all the way down big and then not only that, now my leg is caught in the ropes. I'm damn I'm an drown you know, not only not only I didn't get to the roles, but I got drowned on National TV. Right So I'm sitting there thinking like, yo, my life is over. That's it,

that this is it for me right now. And I got up and I was so piste off. At the same time, I was glad it was over because I said, man, that's that's not built for nobody our size. It's just that that type of stuff there is well, I will think you season four four camera but here, but that's not I did. I did a challenge on MTV with him. That dude. It's like like that's what he did. Like I haven't had too many shoulder surgeries. And I'm like, no, no,

I'm good, bro, I'm good. You know, it really isn't. Jordan Babano came out, John Ryan, Cameron Wimbley. Uh, And we've had a couple other yourself bringing the other I am Badajia. He came out, and it's just it's a different type of muscle. I got humbled, like I did it, but for three months. Yeah, I trained for three months and I did two days with the Ninjas because I had the same thing you had. I was like, I

can't fail. And like the day I stepped on that course, my heart was beating so fast, Like it was beating so fast. I called my brother just to kind of give me a pep talk to kind of just calm me down, because I'm like, I don't know why I'm

so deep nervous, but I'm like, I don't. But it's the same thing, like I don't want to fell in front of all these people because there is a certain gloss that you get when you have that title former NFL player, no matter how good you know or sorry you were in the league, you made pay yeah yeah yeah, and you don't want that gloss to be raised. And I was like, oh, man, man, when I hit that buzzer and I said, and then people ask me, will you run again? No, I got lucky to hit that buzzard.

I'm not doing it again. No. Yeah, now that I'll tell him, I will. Yeah. No, that that was one of done for me. Dude. I'm like, look, if you want to mother me to come out and promote some stuff for doing it, but if there's no way I'm touching another trampoline in my life. And you know who hit me up about that, Aaron Rodgers. Yeah, I wanted to do the course. He was like, yeah, he said I can't because at the time he and Olivia were together and they would watch the show together and he

was telling me. He was like, man, I can come out there. I'd say, yeah, but you you're too expensive, like like you cost too much money. I don't think. I don't want the packers up on on Ninja Warter, But it would be nice to see Eric come out there. It'd be crazy if you went out there through a hell Mary and just hit that buzzard, that'd be great.

Oh deal. And all you can think of in your head is is like he's doing one of the course and then the shoulder slip out, you know on like something like that happened that everybody's just gonna pass out. You can't even stay in that. So what what's what's the next steps? Man? What else you got going on? Because I know the pandemic kind of hit hit all of us. And did you guys, did you guys shut down you you shut down production for a while, right,

we did? We did. We We were getting ready to shoot last March, and we shut it down for like four months and then we came back up. But we filmed what we call a special season, season twelve. We shot eight episodes, so it's a special season. We created a Ninja bubble. We're getting ready to go back into production. We'll have another uh like you know, it's a reduced season. It won't be the same full thing, but it's the same protocol where we will have the Ninja bubble to

kind of protect everybody. We didn't have any incidents last year. Hopen to again have that same type of thing going on this year. Of course there's like vaccines and stuff like that being pumped out, but yeah, I'm excited about that. And for me, like you know, people ask me all the time, what's next, I'm just I'm very happy where

I am right now, just doing the Ninja thing. Being a father's been a lot of time at home and that's been the silver lining, is just being able to be at home, be more involved with the kids, um instead of just you know, jet jet setting across the country. Taking the advantage of all the different opportunities. But I think for this, I mean, if if anything next, I probably want to stay in the game, the game show family and kind of do that. I've talked to Michael.

Michael's done, you know, straight hand has done an amazing job of really I mean he is like that that blueprint if you want to take that to the next step exactly hundred percent. Man, Well, look, I appreciate it. Due for coming on. Um. You know, we talked a little bit earlier just just off about some of the stuff we've got going on. We we gotta figure somebody at some point in time to uh, you know, maybe create a show, will come up with some good content somewhere. Man.

I'm I'm I'm down for it. But I do have a question for you because I gotta keep it real like as I trained. I got you know, Jim here at the house, and I'm just you know, trying to stay in shape and whatever. I'm starting of feeling because I'm not mistaking you with your thirties seven? Do you yeah, we're both may I made six your matekay? Yeah? Yeah,

So so be honest. Do you feel because you played at a high level now impact everything when you go for a jog, when you go to sprint, do you feel it in your joints or you feel nothing at thirty. My my lower body's fine. My knees and I had the knee and I had the achilles. If anything, I would say lingers that I feel probably the most in here. And there is my shoulder, right my. I have shoulder stuff.

And obviously you know, once you have surgery, you lose a couple of degrees in your range and that stuff like that. So it's a constant. I still get. I still get therapy. I said, can rehab, you know, once once a week or once every other week, to just go in there and and and and clean everything out my shoulders, make sure I can keep my range, because I'll tell anybody this. And and when you were tired from anything as brutal as we did that it becomes

a lifelong thing. Like you can't just stop this thing is I'm getting rehab and therapy for the rest of my life. It's just it is what it is. But also it allows me to go out and I still spar man like that'spar today, you know, I think, you know, so on on that part of it, I feel great. On that part of it. I feel then I'm blessed enough to still do what I what I do, and I can scrap, and I like to scrap because it keeps me violence. That keeps me saying, it keeps me even.

But yeah, man, I got my days. I used to think because I'm from christiaw I was like, shoot, man, if lights come up talking some mess, man, I take them mom from the hood. Now I'm not evenna lie dog. When I see the only thing, I was like, I will never fight him. All that stuff you're doing in an octagon and I'm like, no, if you come up to me ask me for my car, Like yo, man, happy birthday, it's me and you know how it is.

And everybody because we had so we had so much of a competitive spirit that once that take is taken away from you, you're like still trying to find that itch. You're still trying to So for me, I'll go and spar too. Three days, I'll train some type of mmy or something three four days a week. I'll still hit

the weights. I'll do different stuff. But that, to me is is my way of still staying competitive and kind of keeping the violence and the good body are for you ten million dollars right now to step in the ring, not with the biggest fighter right now. But you know, maybe you have like your lights out circuit and they say, hey, look we're gonna do look kind of like what they did with that Tyson celebrity thing for big money? Do you step in on a national platform right like you know,

direct TV, whatever, pay per view? Would you step in the ring for ten million dollars? I'll do it with Logan Paul, I'll do it for way less. Wait, okay, would you get in a ring with Logan Paul? Easy? But I wouldn't even I wouldn't even do that to Logan. I'm like, you know what I mean, Like I like I like them too much, him and his boy and his brother Jake. Now, I like them. So if he ever did that, it'll be a big problem and not

for me. And so you know my and I'm serious about that, man, Like for me, Um, it's not I hope you know you didn't even blink. You're you're getting ready to ask me the next question already. But but it's it's the truth. It's the truth because I scraped all the time, and these guys I'm going against a real guys. I mean ninety guys I trained with are all professional, right, and then you got some days you're going and you're just getting some work and you're just

getting a good sweat. You're just going and just working with a guy. But you got some guys in the gyms I go to, who in the hell not gonna want to put hands on Sean Mormon? You know, somebody somebody wanna, you know, somebody want to take it to that level. But I'm always willing to go there. And the fact is, and this is the truth, I'll fight somebody right now on side of the seven leven right now.

The fight isn't the problem. It's the It's the training, right It's the It's the two you know, you're getting in the camp for eight to ten weeks. It's the training, and it's what else I gotta step away from. Like I've been talking, I talked to Dana White at least three or four times about fighting Greg Hardy. We've talked talked at least three or four times. We talked about fighting and me fighting in general. But it's not the fight.

It's the training that is gonna take away. And you're running, You're you're running, I mean a big time incorporating me. You've got a pretty Obviously you've got the your your your clothing brand, but then you've got the whole, you know, the fighting thing. Like me, You've you've got a lot of things going on, so uh, that would take a lot. You'd be like Vince McMahon trying to step out, step out and get into the ring. Not to answer your question,

I whoop Locus asked in like two seconds. But Oka and Jake two Jake to Jake, wanted both my love you know what. I love him boys death man, they're cool, but I put hands no problem. You know that's gonna go Virol. You know they're gonna That's fine, that's good, but that's it's nothing. I won't pick up the phone and tell them. You know that's not it. So you know I'm telling it right now. I'm buying. I'm buying front Row Sea. Yeah, we'll be in. We'll be in. Man, Hey, dude,

I appreciate it. I know you've got stuff to do, man, so I appreciate you taking a couple of minutes and then up. That's definitely let's wrapping and put it together, all right, man, Thanks for having Bro. You got him any time, any time, Bro, Thank you thanks guys for tuning in to another lights Out podcast. Me Sean Merriman. And uh, how funny was that story about American and Joya. I mean, seriously, how funny? And look I trained for it. I did all this cross fit and I lost fifteen

pounds and I just you couldn't tell me nothing. I'm going to just destroy this course. And uh, I took a swan dive in the pond. Uh. You guys can check that up on YouTube somewhere. But anyway, it was great talking to our bar han't talked to him uh in some time, at least on camera, and UM talk about the transition and how well he's doing and how some other guys can find a way to transition, and we got it to financial literacy and all. Man, it

was really good conversation with me. So thank you, guys, always, thank you. I appreciate it for listening in. Uh to another lights Out podcast. Me Sean Merriman. Don't forget to subscribe. Leave those great reviews. I read all the reviews you guys leave, so I appreciate that. Next week we're gonna fire off another beat.