I know Army combatives uses a lot of jiu-jitsu. How much influence did your military hand-to-hand combatives training experience have on your decision to begin training in mixed martial arts?
It was huge. The Marine Corps Martial Arts program is a great program. The instructors are very motivated, and they really focus a lot on the mental aspect and the character aspect. That’s really what intrigued me, because I wanted to know — as a young man who was about to go to Iraq — how I would respond to the mental challenges. Knowing that I’m going to have a fight in two months, that it’s going to happen. And then the day before the fight, seeing your opponent and walking into the cage. There is a lot of mental stresses that are involved with that. There’s a very small percentage of people that can actually go into a cage and fight. There are a lot of times at smaller shows where a guy will show up to weigh-ins but then won’t show up to a fight.
That really intrigued me. The Marine Corps really focuses a lot on our mental attitude and our martial culture. We pride ourselves in that, and that’s why we fight the way we do and why we overcome certain odds. It made me want to get into mixed martial arts, to learn more about myself. That’s really what this journey has been all about. With each fight I learn a little bit more about myself.
You mentioned that your story was somewhat exploited to build a brand. Were you happy about that or was it just something you went along with?
I didn’t really have a choice. I certainly had my fans and I had plenty of critics, but I never tried to pretend that I was anything that I’m not. I was a very raw mixed martial artist who trained himself because I didn’t have coaches at the time. My regimental commander at the time, a gentleman by the name of Colonel Love, talked to me about it. He said “listen, Brian, this is a good opportunity for you to use them and to exploit them right back, to talk about the positive things that are coming out of these conflicts overseas. Whether people agree with the war or not, I can use it as an opportunity to talk about these young men and women and the great things they do every day.
I remember having the opportunity to be on the Howard Stern show. I had no idea what he was going to ask me, but I forged my way into an opportunity to talk about what a day in the life of a Marine in Iraq is like. There was a very positive response to it. It increased their perspective. People don’t hear about that side of the story. They always watch Fox News or CNN and they hear about suicide bombers or someone dying, but they don’t get an awful lot of the real stories, the stories about a young kid from Indiana serving over there. They don’t get to see what kinds of men and women are serving in our Armed Forces.
Yeah, you don’t hear much about having to wake up at 5am and it’s already 120 degrees outside.
No, they don’t. And that goes hand in hand with what I’m doing with Hire Heroes. A lot of these employers, when they get a veteran in front of them to interview of they get a veteran’s resume, they are dealing with things they are unfamiliar with. It’s natural for people to stray away from that. Part of what we do is to try and recruit companies and familiarize them with the skillsets. We show them that they aren’t doing a charitable deed by hiring a veteran — you’re actually making an investment in a young man or women that has been infused with certain tangible skills that you can’t get out of college graduates.
Shifting to present day for a second — you faced Phil Davis back in February and lost a unanimous decision. What went wrong in that fight?
On a personal level, I think that in the first round, once he took me down, his base was incredible. I realized I couldn’t get up. Phil was known as a great rider in college, and that was exactly what he was doing to me. He has excellent top control. In the second and third rounds, I really concerned myself with what he was doing instead of my own offense, and that allowed him the advantage the rest of the way.
What went wrong overall? I got into a wrestling match with a four-time All American and national champion. I could have wrestled for ten years before that fight and there’s still no way I would have been able to out-wrestle him.
If I had a dollar for every person who asked me why I took the fight, I’d be a rich man. But I saw it as a true challenge. It was the perfect style to match up against my style because I knew it was the hardest challenge out there. I wanted to try it. Unfortunately, I was unsuccessful. Phil is an amazing athlete. He’s gonna beat a lot more guys like that, so I won’t be the only one.
Is the challenge that drives you?
Absolutely. I love this sport in its purest form. I love the strategy that goes behind it. I’ve only really been training for two years, so I’m still trying to acquire new skills. That’s a really fun challenge for me. It was never something that I said I wanted to do for a living. I always look at it as a journey. I’ve always maintained a full-time job because I have to. I have two children. I can’t afford to take a chance and then I get hurt, and suddenly I have nothing to fall back on. I’m not driven by the fame or any of that stuff. I don’t care about endorsement deals or if I’m on the undercard or the main card. It’s about the journey.
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