The former NFL star has opened up about joining MMA following his retirement. Merriman revealed he was offered to battle Greg Hardy–another ex-NFL star.
“About five or six years ago, nobody was going to tell me that I wasn’t going to go fight somebody. You can take me outside the back alley by the trash can, and I’m fighting somebody. I had the mentality that it was going down. The fact is, I talked to Dana about it, and he wanted to put together a fight with me and Greg Hardy. A few years ago… I know he wanted it to happen.”
The former San Diego Chargers linebacker was drafted in 2006 as the 12th overall pick and retired in 2013 after eight seasons at the NFL. During his time in contact sports, the athlete trained with MMA fighters like Randy Couture. He soon fell in love with combat sports and joined the WWE as a pre-show analyst before announcing his MMA promotion, Lights Out Xtreme Fighting.
Merriman spoke about the reason for starting his promotion and how hard the journey has been.
“I started training in the mid-2000s. My first day of training was with Randy Couture. I started training in the offseason to help me with football. I didn’t think I was going to fall into the sport the way I am,” He told Just Scrap Radio on BJPENN.com. “What happened was I started to train with everybody, from the Chuck Liddell’s to the Tito Ortiz’s, a lot of those guys would come to the Chargers games. That was my way into the combat sports. Then, when I retired, I got into TV broadcasting. I understood the TV business more than anything; it was a combination of knowing how TV works and the love of MMA, so I launched Lights Out Xtreme Fighting.
“It’s completely different than what it was a year-and- a-half, two years ago, it’s night and day. Obviously because I played in the NFL they know who I am but they didn’t know the promotion and what we do.”
The promotion has gained popularity over the years and has had many successes. Many local fighters have reached out to the promotion and have seen it as a platform to showcase their stories, including UFC veterans like Jared Vanderaa, who will be competing at the Saturday event.
“We’ve got great fighters, great product–the fans come out,” Merriman said in an interview with MMA Junkie. “We just want to continue to give these up-and-coming guys a place to be seen… We want to be one of the quality ones… It was time for me to launch my promotion, my own league, concentrate on some of these former athletes, and get them to transition over to MMA. It’s going to happen. I’ve been saying it for the last eight years.”
Merriman plans to make Lights Out XF a nationwide event and dreams of becoming the top feeder promotion to the UFC.
“It’s big for us. I got in this space because I wanted to provide a platform to get more guys into the UFC. I know there are very good promotions out there that have been around longer than us. Giving these guys a platform to get to the UFC because we get a lot of viewership. I talk frequently with Dana and everybody knows what we have going on. They know if they come here, they have a real shot at getting signed. That is what this whole thing is about. For me, a successful promotion is we can get as many fighters as possible from us to the UFC. That is a a massive win.”
