Shawne Merriman Talks With MMA's "The Chosen One" Tyron Woodley

football football career. I walk into gym and the first person I see is Tyron Woodley, uh now UFC former champion and UM one of the guys I known for a long time. And we we get into it, man, We get into some of his wins and of his losses, some of the things that he's uh moving on to um you know, post career possibly and he's got a long time before we hang this thing up, man. And one of the things he gets into is he wants to line everybody up he's lost to back to back

no training camps and get right into it. Uh. So we get into a great conversation and ty Ron Woodley, man let's go. Yeah, man, what else been going on? I know you just uh, you just got back in town, right, Yeah, you just got back in town. I've just been bouncing around, man, just Um. I injured my rim in my last fight, so I haven't been able to train. So when I can't train, I can't just be idle. So I've been just tapping into some different business opportunities, um, planning some

seeds and just you know, um, just putting everything together. Yeah. So so one of those planting the seeds. I know you got a uh, you've been heavy into the music, had a couple of couple of dope songs and drop uh and then you gotta you got a couple of artists too, you sign recently, right, Yeah. I got an artist t Double and I got an artist named Andrew Kiss crazy. They both are crazy in their own perspective.

But yeah, I don't. I didn't want to carry a lot of people because I want to make sure I was able to get the time to those artists that they deserve and really put them in the right rooms, in the right situations, and get them in front of the right labels if that's what they want to do. Um. One of them, I think will probably end up being signed to a label. The other one is so independent. I think he's gonna end up independent doing a kind of a distort deal. But nonetheless, I think the pod

is gonna be the same. At the end of the day. Were just doing that stuff and just um to be room. Man. I've been at home, like I think everybody has been adding and switching stuff up in their house. I mean, so I've been kind of doing some little renovations and stuff like that and just chilling out the crib for real. So is that is that kind of like where you

at with everything right now? Because I know, you know, I got I got to the point in my career and I was always doing something where I was playing ball, like I had a little business here. I was doing something on the side. But like my last two years, like when I was playing, that's when I started like, okay, you know what, I'm gonna be like wrapping this thing up soon. So I alled to like venture more on

to doing TV. I actually, um, I actually started doing more TV work when I you know, in in l A. I was like every time on the all season, I was right in front of the camera because I'm like, as soon as that last snap was done in Buffalo, I knew I was gonna write the TV. Is that

kind of where you're at with it? For me, it's like this always playing on generating the wave, right, whether it's throwing a promo and fight or like I just dropped the song or I just did a movie, I'm on the TV show, you see me on the desk and I'm talking about a fight. It's always something to

generate the wave. And after that, if you especially when you win, I mean you still can you know nowadays, and I swear if you go out there and you fight like a terror Gotti or um, you know, had to somebody with a blood bad fight, windows a draw you can hug and you may get more props with respect for losing then you do winning. But you know, I mean, I've always been a fighter that wanted to

hit and not get hit. So the fights that I've been in windows a draw has either been real clean knockouts for me, or it's been tactical fights or been more fights for people like Damn. We know Typer can do more while he's not doing more, but it's never been nobody just finishing it. Throm with my ass. No, it's not been like that so so far. Fact, I wanted to let people know my very first time in the m M A gym. You know, when Jay Glazer

had me good I think it was. I think it was like so when the mid two thousand's, was it two thousand seven or eight or somewhere around there, because I think you were just coming on to right at that same just coming on to I just started hitting that l a real heavy and training that Wilcro boxing and they were like, oh eight or nine something like that. Yes, So that was my my first time so ever been.

I boxed a little bit kind of growing up my uncle, my uncle's and self with professional boxers, and I come from d C and that that uh, that d that d n V area was a bunch of boxing and stuff, but then it may wasn't big. So you know, Jay Glazer was like, yo, you should come out and try to m a out because it'll help with your hands and bolence and opening hips up and stuff like that. So I said, okay, cool, I walk in the gym the first time, and so Randy gatour I the Randy

was in that day. Randy was in the day and then you was in that day. So in my hand, I was like, I didn't know what was Jay gonna plan on, have me scrapple or or spar with somebody them Like, yo, I got no experience. I never sparred when anybody, you know, legally, you know what I'm saying, like you have some fights in the neighborhood, but you never So I'm like, oh, I don't know what's going on.

So that was my first day ever being in the mm A gym, and I saw you and this, So that was I think when you started to come on crazy. Because you know what's funny when I went to the gym, right because Brandy was my manager at the time, Randy has Inspired, they were managing me at the time, and then I that's how I made Ja. We became friends, and then he wanted me to come help out with this the m M athletics program, Right, that's that was you guys. You you Clay you Clay Bathrows and freaking

Mercedes was the thing the first time. And um and I'm like, no, yeah, I slided through, But I didn't recognize that when my coach was actually saying that my manager saying, is that J wanted to train me too.

I didn't know that, so I was doing three or four workouts because I had already had my boxing workout that I would come to the gym and like I'd be ready to train you guys, but He'll had his whole workout plan for me, which was Bruno basically over the top at certain points so he wouldn't ham on me. And it was like, damn not. I had to give

him respect. I had the image problems, and I think I was one of not the first, but one of um one of the fighters of my generation that really gave him the proper doing the credibility for me and the legitimate trainer and have knowledge and martial arts right, and so you know, being being a football play man, I got this theory and I've been saying this ship for about twelve years now and now I got you know,

lightside extreme fighting. I'm doing my own thing. But so so I've really been concentrated on getting former athletes, especially football players that transition over. Like you said, we were in the gym that day was Mercedes Lewis, Clay Matthews, and I think Richard in Carnido even came there. Big che and so by the way, I want to fight Big rich when it retire. Man, I'm just go ahead and put that out there up, I want I want Big Richie's ass. Uh No, But you know we were

in there. So I got this theory, man, where it's gonna be a lot of athletes from other sports transitioning in Like what what do you what did you see that day? You know, like or just being around football players in general. Man, that that can transition, Like do you think that transition is? It's easy once you pick stuff up because you you do it. But you see us on coming, you know, coming from one sport into

the next. When when I look at the transitional athlete coming into him and may I think in the middle like one fifty five inch, if you got somebody coming in from a boxing or a striking a kickboxing weight class, I think they'll be solid in that way because, uh you more of the grapplers in the welterway division, you know what I mean, or the lighter way to the wrestlers. They're all built the same because those were the only sports that they have for those weights, you know what

I mean. But when you started getting into the heavyweight that's when I feel like the football players got a better opportunity because they explosive, they can run, they can they agile. They were already pretty athletic and fast, you can jump, and just pretty just athleticism for whatever their body type was. That's how they managed in the NFL.

So with the discipline that they had to have. From that, the mindset that some some athletices make contact every play, like every single place in make contact, So having a fear of contact may not be there sometimes they maybe you know, I'm not saying every football players are not scared to get question the phase, but you know what I mean that that's one little added value that we may not think about now for sure, and it's gonna happen, man. I think we we got a couple more guys that

we're gonna announce it. And the cornerbacks are the ones that should come over to you know what I say. Cornerbacks. And you got some safeties like safety, That's when I was looking at up yeah and uh so, yeah, that's why you played that's right, strong safety. I was a hitter, that's right. So when you hold on shoe, I thought you so you you know, you played strong safety they bring you up in the box. When you played, I

was like a roverback, so I played strong safety. But I can come up and I can kind of and I complins I can do all this stuff because I read the film so well and I hit so hard. I had like a hundred tackles about saying, here, so what what made you kind of go from from playing football where you because you wrestled. I mean, obviously you're doing were You're doing both at the same time. I was doing both, but I didn't have the real big

offers collegionately for football. My coaches all thought I was gonna be too small and I end up growing into like the perfect d back um. But at that time, I just had to be smart. I couldn't get my feelings hurt because he was pushing for other athletes. I had to go out there and find another West. All Right, well, I'm gonna turn up in this rust and can't nobody tell me I can't do that because it's individual. My team could be garbage because I was a great actor.

I had a is your tackles, but we never made it past the game one of the playoffs. But if I would have had three extra games, probably got thirty more tackles. You mean, why wouldn't I be first team All State? Why wouldn't I get the looks? House was to get you know what I mean. But I said, I can't think about that and let me go turn up a wrestling. So I turned up a wrestling. I

want to stay titled. UM placed a couple of times in nationals, and I went, I was like the top five overall recruit of my weight, and I started getting big offers. And that's that's what I took to get to college. To me, it was to get to college, but I wanted to play football. That's what how you came up. Man, it was it was I remember, you know, just reading about it and and all this stuff early on too, when he was growing up. You know, it

was crazy, super crazy, you know when you grew up. Yeah, I mean, Ferguson, it's just just I mean, it wasn't crazy to me at the time. But now I look back, and I we got more visual, You got more visual of what everybody else is doing because of Instagram and social media. But at that time, I thought it was normal to hear gunshots all time. And you know, I mean, here you know, people getting into fights and selling, drug dealing and all this other stufing. I thought it was normal.

But once we started getting a little bit of reflection from the riots and stuff like that, and everybody's basically saying this is not right, then I'm like, damn, that's kind of funked up. I was just like numb to it. So now that that was that was my reason for playing football. Man. When I was a kid, my my my mother didn't want me to play and she when she asked me, I said, uh, why do you want to play football? I said, you I can hurt somebody and not go to jail. You know what I'm saying?

Like that was that was my mentality because I had I had an angry issue from what we were growing up at it in Maryland and Washington, d C. Like I was. It was just it was just turned up in DC right now, I know. I know. Now that's why make my sister didn get a free bare knuckle U far assession. You can just walk out there and just put on the wrong ship and you being a strange crap. But see that's how I see. Okay, So and I was about to take a your knuckle fight

I was. I was actually about to sign up to do that bare knuckle fight because I was telling people that I've been in twenty of those before my life, just you know, at schools, in the streets or whatever. And then I just never really, you know, I just if I wasn't playing football, would have been fighting, Like it was just a given. Man, It's just it was in me to do. But football was always like my

way out. And then and I bring this up because I remember when you you finally made it, you brought your mom the crib and you know, you took k of your family and stuff. Man, I was like that to me was more important than anything. And I was like, okay, fighting at the time wasn't paying. Even I retired, dude, when I retired in two thousand and twelve, two thirteen season,

I was gonna take a fight. Like by two thousand and fifteen and sixteen, I was already kind of training a little bit and just want to stay in shape. But the money wasn't there. Like, the money wasn't there like in twelve or thirteen. Now now cats are getting the guys are getting paid. You know, the money's right, it's a couple of checks out there. I mean, it ain't everybody and getting paid, but it's it's been there's

been a it's been checks out there. I touched a couple, so I can't complain, but there's a lot of people that touched way more and they have way more opportunity to get involved with big paydaggs. But you're right, man, um, I can only imagine I heard could be that paid ten million. I mean, that's the first that's the highest reporting income I've ever seen. We know Connor's getting fifteen twenty, but but they reported ten millions and somebody that's rushing that.

I mean, he wouldn't report probably at least at least as possible, I mean, but to show that the report that who knows what he really walked away with after two million, two million pay per views? So what what do you? So, what do you think with that man? Because I've just seen that when they were talking about could be being pound for pound all this other stuff. Right now, I'm not I'm not knocking him at all and all that. Okay, so it's not even question, but

he needed to get that for what he did. He kept a clean never got into any trouble, you know, what I mean. He was squared straight by the book and he never lost. So if his warmer question to be from one day, it's subjective anyway, it's not real. A one plus one is too anyway, right, and let him happen for a week. John, John don't know why. I ain't even bother but see that. But okay, so that I said, why does John give? Why is he car We all know, yeah, but you know what, people

are not gonna people always gonna hate them. I get even suspended. He got in some off you know, optive cage stuff or whatever. But if we're talking strictly fighting, like, why is that really a conversation? Because to me, the six or seven rounds in his life, including sparring problem. I mean, like he's a special body type. He's a special athlete. He doesn't hesitate, he can do a wide rate of martial arts. He's left handed, but he fights orthodox and he Swiss softball and you forget that he's

actually left handed. He kicking in the leg. If you get you on the ground, he elbow your brains out. You know what I mean. He's not gonna tap out, He's not gonna quit easy. He's been in wars, you know what I mean. So he's beat the goats when they were the best. The show does and the cheat does, the um Vitor Belle first to Rashad Evans or Rampage Jackson. So he got like skeletons of many many great Hall of Fame fighters. Nobody has more Hall of Fame victories

than he does. Second to him is your on Saint Pierre. But so it's not even it's not even contestable because even the way that could be, you've got his belt. I mean, he didn't take down Connor McGregory. He didn't take down Eddie Alvarez. He fought al alc Winter. I mean he never him and him and Tony Ferguson never did their thing and got that fight out the way. He's dope, but he ain't the best. And and the reason why I think they support him so much obviously

because of his you know, he's super cultured. You know, he's always been super respectful to everybody else, so they that's who they choose to support and want to put the stamp on him. I would say John, I would say John John this, George Saint Pierre, then Demitrius Johnson. Then hearing to Hudo, then Amanda is okay, and then you'll put you'll put kabebe at like six or seven. I could be right at the Manda Noons. In my mind,

Amanda Nowdaz is over. Could be she'd be Cide Born, she'd be Rynn the Rossie, She'd be Miss Mischa Tate, she'd be Holly Home. Didn't she randomly um who was a champion, she'd beat Sheepschenko twice, who was a champion, who was dominant as a champion. He not even above the Manda Noons and the Bond. Let's be real, they didn't. They neither give her respect, and she should be in the top three easy, she's not. And it could be could be only what defended his his belt what two

or three times? Or someone like he was just so dumb. That's what beat people. That he's just so dominant. And the only time the wrestler's gonna get loved if they dominant and they just got a vicious grinding found and they just overwhelmingly put somebody into the pointment they just scared to give up. And that person that's giving up, we're not used to seeing them giving up. So now something magnetic U sudden. But but if you do it as slower, if you do it at slower pace, let's volume. Man.

You don't put as much pressure on. People are gonna buoy you. That's that's my thing, right, Because you had like the last couple of fights, and I know you got hands with it like I think it wasn't It wasn't usman, because I was looking at watching the fight and I wondered if you hurt your hand or hurt something more because whenever I whenever I see you not taking certain things, I know you normally would take the

first the first thing. I started thinking, it's like, okay, ship his his hand or his wrestle or showed his shoulder, because I remember we talked about it in the gym even before the fight. And I don't know what people understand the notice because I've seen you before that fight, and I know your shoulder was messed up because we talked about you having surgery possible. I think it was in the gym that day and you had either taped

up consian you have something on your shoulder. I was asking about your shoulder and I said, okay, and did you say you were still gonna go go forward and fight. So I'm sitting there thinking like I had both my shoulders done, so I know what that rotator feel like. I know what that labor feel like because both of mine have been done, but you didn't have the surgery. So I'm like, Okay, cool, it must be the must be that. So where are you at? Man? Physically? You

know what I'm saying, Like where do you think? Like? Where where's your body at physically? Man? And and being back on being back at being able to get after it again, I'm getting close. You know I'm not there, but I'm not in the rush. I'm not in the Russia yom out. I fought real quick, back to back bone to bone. Um. To be honest, I'm not even gonna sit on a like an injury. None of those injuries preventing me from being victorious in my fight. Like

I I walked in all my fights and injuries. But I've always said, once I signed a contract, if I walked through there, and then if I take the fight, I can never win to lose. I can never say nothing of my injuries. Like when I knocked out Robbie, I thought I had a torn growing you know, my foot felt broken. I said, was gonna fight. I had. I told my labor room the first punch of um Dami and maya fight. And I still want. I still

want against Kevin Gastin. I still want against Arrettil. So you can't pick and choose when you want to be like the injury heard it help you sometimes to make you dig into a different layer, like when I heard my ship in um the fight against dar until I never I had only throw the two elbows in my life. Remember earlier I said I elbowed um um um daily and I elbowed him hard, right, yeah, I stopped. I didn't do it again, like oh ship I fucked. I

opened the shift out him. And it was like at that time, like I don't really dislike the dude, like, but say, oh bow, motherfucker. You gotta be wired in different ways to help him. Elbowed him once and Terrik Safforny one time I had two total elbows landing in the history of my fighting. And then I met my hand up against Till and I just flipped the switch and I went bloodthirsty for like for the elbows, like a million elbows, Like my elbow was burning the funny

bone hit and I just kept doing it. My hand was hurt and kept punching, so I just went to a different zone, you know, a different different bubble. So it's not it's never it's not the injury. It's just something that didn't happen. I don't know what it is, you know what I mean, something that didn't click. I trained my ass off. I'll have no regret. And like actually the preparation and trained and what I did, who

I brought in. You know how much time I dedicated my focus when I gave energy to I had all that ship on point. I was chopping off toxic ship, pushing everything to the side. I really only did a couple of things that made sense for me to do. On the other, you know, entertainment side, come in. But if it's all right, I'm gonna do the the tighten games with the rock. I gotta do that. Come on out.

I'm doing that. I mean, I mean, because it go back to what we said, you gotta you gotta set yourself up to man, because you don't you don't know when you're gonna be done, you know what I mean. So I know you got the music. I know you've done you know a bunch of team. What I've seen, I've seen. I was watching something the other day, Um, whether it was Hulus, I think it was that thing that my being on that was. What was that? Yeah? What was that movie called? It was cut Throw City,

Cut Throw City. I just watched. I was believable, though. You felt like I was from from my from down, Yeah, from down like that. Boy, I don't even like that. No, that was dope, man. So I mean you lined up already for when you're done, When you're done with the fight gangs, you know, I mean everybody father time won't catch up what everybody don't care who you are, You're gonna be done at some point. You wish all the time on me because I'm stealing that guy, I know.

That's what I'm saying. No, no, I think you got you still. No, No, I think you got you got a couple more year for sure, But it did. It really depends on what you want to do, Like what what do you want to do? What was real? To be real? Like somebody asked me, I'm like if I when because I did played a lot of you, I had all these savens and threes happened. So I'm like, I feel lucky, right, So I said to myself, if I won this thing, what am I gonna do? Am

I gonna stop fighting? Am I gonna advances? Am I gonna go on the retreat? Am I gonna say? If everybody is just ball out, what am I really gonna do? And I'm like, um, I always just definitely take the money up front, you ahad, give me the lumps and take the little tax shot out boom. Then from that point I want to fight everybody I lost too, because I know I never lost to somebody that I was fighting. So I want to fight everybody quick to I don't want to longs run. They just knock these out. If

I'm a little bit hurt. No training camps, just straight in there. I'm done. When can we get to go? Whether I'm in shape or not, I'm just gonna fight. I'm not gonna think about it like a training deal. I want to see for myself if I made a hundred and a hundred, I want them at a hundred, no injuries. I want them to have a four camp full knowledge of fighting me, and I want them to give everything they got and shout, turn my head off,

and I want to see if I'm on. If I met thinking for some more, I don't think any of them would beat me, and I would wanted to prove it to myself. So that tells me that I'm still in it. You mean, if I say I'm gonna go out and buy a guy and I'm just gonna start my cigar line and freaking you know what I mean, do that, then I didn't never tell me why I was at so I'm selling it. I'm a dog anyway, so you ain't gonna tell me, man, So hey, dude, I appreciate it. Man. I'm gonna let you go and

and uh I'll hit you up in a minute. Man. I know y'all see you in all black in the chain over there, so I know you're about to go. Relax somewhere, crack one of those cigars open. Alright, my dude, I appreciate it, man. Thanks all right, Thanks guys for tuning in to another lights Out podcast with me, Seawan Merriman, and uh t would Man. T Wool is the man. He's been doing it for a long time and UM got a lot of things going outside of the cage. Obviously, we've seen him in a big screen. Um hell of

an actor. I was just watching the other day, uh something which was produced by the Risin, Uh the Risin, and he did a hell of a job in it. But he has a lot of fight still left in him and just talking about we've come from and where he's at now, and man, this has been a long time knowing that to do for almost twelve years now, so I can't wait to see hit the rest of his career on him get back on top again. Anyway, thanks for coming on to you what I appreciate you.

Thank you guys for listening in to another lights Out podcast with me Sean Maramon. Keep listening to us, review us, uh, leave some comments, leave some good reviews. Man, you guys been doing that so I appreciate it. But next week we'll be back with another one, so keep tuning in.