Speaker 1: Are you ready for this? Sean Merriman a one hand effect.
Speaker 1: Boom boom boom, out go the lights. This is Lights
Speaker 1: Out with Sean Merriman. What's up, guys. We're back with
Speaker 1: another Lights Out podcast with me, Sean Merriman, and uh
Speaker 1: we bring on the day one of my former competitors,
Speaker 1: one of my favorite guys, but one of my former competitors.
Speaker 1: UM and just all around solid dude, one of my
Speaker 1: favorite guys, man Brandon Marshall. Uh. Just talking about our
Speaker 1: days when I was at the Charges and he was
Speaker 1: playing with the Denver Broncos and our epic battles man
Speaker 1: we used to have UM and the back and forth
Speaker 1: talking with Jay Color and Philip Rivers. We get into Uh.
Speaker 1: We talked about just mental health. We get back into that.
Speaker 1: He's always been a huge advocate of that. UM. Also,
Speaker 1: you know, just the transition from football or sports in general,
Speaker 1: getting into your neck thing. I I tell a lot
Speaker 1: of guys when when you retired, it's it's the hardest
Speaker 1: thing is finding something to do right away, not having
Speaker 1: a downtime. Whatever you you love, whatever your passion is,
Speaker 1: getting into it right away, because that dead space is
Speaker 1: the worst space. That you can be in because we're
Speaker 1: used to competing, We're used to going at it every
Speaker 1: day working out. Brandon also has uh a outstanding jim
Speaker 1: and whole you know, supplement line and everything he's he's building.
Speaker 1: His branding is immaculate. With house of athletes, I still
Speaker 1: gotta get out there to workout. It's gonna be in
Speaker 1: New York and opens up I think beginning of um. So, look,
Speaker 1: you know I'm bringing on Brandon, but man, he has
Speaker 1: a bunch of things sports to go over. Also, could
Speaker 1: he be competing in combat sports? You know? I also
Speaker 1: I said that it's gonna be a ton of former athletes,
Speaker 1: whether it's in NFL, NBA, a rugby hockey, that's going
Speaker 1: to be transitioning from their respective sport and took combat sports.
Speaker 1: You know, these guys who are done in four or
Speaker 1: five years and play had a short career, maybe injury,
Speaker 1: maybe you know, just the way the games go, and
Speaker 1: they still want to get after, they still want to compete.
Speaker 1: So it's Brandon Marshall gonna be entering the world of
Speaker 1: combat sports. You know, I've been a big fan of
Speaker 1: been been training uh M m A and and boxing
Speaker 1: and MUI taie and just recently got into jiu jitsu
Speaker 1: over the last six months, and I think it's a
Speaker 1: discipline that we all can find a way and get into.
Speaker 1: So bringing in my boy Brandon Marshall. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: this is freaking like, it's freaking I hope hopefully we're
Speaker 1: rolling right now there the interview. Should that this whole
Speaker 1: podcast had started already, Has it started? Yeah? We all,
Speaker 1: we all freaking freaking lights out. And he has a
Speaker 1: damn plastic backdrop. Damn lights out. The guy that has
Speaker 1: the probably the number one celebration and all of sports,
Speaker 1: just a monster. I hated going against you. It was
Speaker 1: like we we knew we didn't have a chance in Denver,
Speaker 1: Like we knew, like going into the game, we had
Speaker 1: one second to throw the ball halfway in my route,
Speaker 1: five yards down the field. All you hear is the
Speaker 1: crowd going, I'm looking back seeing j Color just getting
Speaker 1: smashed and flipped and you gotta freaking plastic backdrop. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they killed me that I gotta I gotta two by
Speaker 1: two back here. They smashed me when but you know,
Speaker 1: you know the funny part, the funny part about coming
Speaker 1: down the plane yard when you wear Denver Is when
Speaker 1: Jay colored that was down in Philip him and Philip
Speaker 1: Rivers used to get in it so much so like
Speaker 1: that was that was one of the craziest things I've
Speaker 1: seen because they were standing in the middle of the
Speaker 1: field and I'm like, somebody's gonna throw a punch. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this is getting crazy. Yeah yeah. But the best part
Speaker 1: about it, though, lights is they would actually be on
Speaker 1: the sideline fifty something yards apart, arguing and fighting. I
Speaker 1: remember what we played, you got Sunday night football, Monday
Speaker 1: night football and uh and they did a great job
Speaker 1: of covering it. And all you see is you know,
Speaker 1: a camera, un Phillips face camera camera and Jay's face
Speaker 1: and those two just yelling at each other across the field. Unbelievable.
Speaker 1: Yeah not those some great times, man, um. And I'll
Speaker 1: never forget to looking during the game, I was looking
Speaker 1: down the field and I saw this big gass dude
Speaker 1: saying that as six foot full plugs, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: hold on, you know, you look like Megan, like like
Speaker 1: some damn superhero on the field, and I think you
Speaker 1: just completed out or something like that out pattern and
Speaker 1: the stiffed on the hell out of one of all guys,
Speaker 1: one of my one of my teammates, Quentin Jammer. I
Speaker 1: want to get Yeah, Quentin Jammer and you guys have
Speaker 1: some crazy ass battles, some epic battles back and forth. Uh,
Speaker 1: And I'm like, I'm getting into that too because he
Speaker 1: um we had. He was my first guest on um
Speaker 1: on for the Lights Out of podcast. And one of
Speaker 1: the things we were talking about, man, that that I
Speaker 1: didn't know what what Quentin and me and Quentin. Quentin
Speaker 1: was tight. You know, we talked all the time. And
Speaker 1: even after I retired, Uh, you know, I would just
Speaker 1: and he retired, I was just calling you, you know,
Speaker 1: do the random check up. How you doing, bro? And
Speaker 1: we're being good and stuff like that. So to me,
Speaker 1: everything was always good. And one of the things I
Speaker 1: just found out doing the podcast with him, probably about
Speaker 1: a year ago, is he was going through his own
Speaker 1: mental health stuff and dealing with a whole lot. He
Speaker 1: got done playing and a man I had, you know,
Speaker 1: because we all we all man, we got this thing
Speaker 1: like we were tough. We're not. We don't complain, we
Speaker 1: don't make excuses, we find a way and we get
Speaker 1: through everything. And I'm always that I talked to Jam
Speaker 1: all the time. I hit him up and he never
Speaker 1: said anything. He never brought anything up. And he talked about,
Speaker 1: you know, contemplating at one point taking his life. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, a few years back, and I was like, man,
Speaker 1: you know what, I'm so glad I check up on
Speaker 1: guys and then I stay in contact with guys because
Speaker 1: you just you never know, man, bro I just got
Speaker 1: goose bumps thinking about that. And and I'm gonna be
Speaker 1: honest with you. It just and I feel guilty because
Speaker 1: I don't think I do a good enough job of
Speaker 1: checking up on my guys. Like I have my guys right,
Speaker 1: you know, to Helvis Doom, Reveals of the World, even
Speaker 1: Jake Cutler. There's just a few guys that I reach
Speaker 1: out to and I stay connected Ryan clayde Um. So
Speaker 1: but when I think about outside of that circle, I
Speaker 1: don't do a good job of checking up on my
Speaker 1: ex teammates. And here I am. I'm this guy that
Speaker 1: you know, you know, I champion mental health. I talked
Speaker 1: about it every man, So you know that that's that's
Speaker 1: inspiring to me. Man, And you know, just hearing you
Speaker 1: talk about that, and you know, and and tell Jam's
Speaker 1: story because there's so many people suffering and just a
Speaker 1: phone call can can help somebody, It can save somebody's life.
Speaker 1: And it sounds, you know, far fetched, but it is true. Man. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and you know I made up. I made a point um.
Speaker 1: And one of the things we talked about is Junior
Speaker 1: say I, you know, in his passing and him uh
Speaker 1: going through when he went through and taking his own life.
Speaker 1: That after that, that was like the thing that where
Speaker 1: I started checking up on everybody I could. If I
Speaker 1: had your number, you know, maybe once every few months,
Speaker 1: I would just shooting your text, yo, dog, everything good.
Speaker 1: How's a fan? You know you do that? You do
Speaker 1: that to me? Yeah? You you you you you're the
Speaker 1: reason why I I mean why we still why we
Speaker 1: have a relationship. You know, like we competed against each other,
Speaker 1: we saw each other at Super Bowls. We saw each
Speaker 1: other at the event, and I just thought it was amazing,
Speaker 1: Like dang, I checked my my my messages and it's like, man,
Speaker 1: lights just hit me up just to say what's up.
Speaker 1: You know. So I didn't know that was a real
Speaker 1: intentional thing. I just thought you was a good dude.
Speaker 1: Now you know, I am. Don't get you know it's
Speaker 1: not like I was just you know, it's a specific
Speaker 1: reason now, but you know, I always feel like there's
Speaker 1: a need to to check up on guys. Man. And
Speaker 1: and you know, sometime somebody gonna tell you everything, all right,
Speaker 1: everything on goodness. Another time, you know, somebody might open
Speaker 1: up to you and say something so that one time somebody,
Speaker 1: you know, you might be looking out and could change
Speaker 1: the course and that actions. And um, it's it's so important, man,
Speaker 1: especially when you get done. Like I tell anybody. I
Speaker 1: was talking to Tonio Gates. This was right when he
Speaker 1: was retiring and about to retire anyway. He was like,
Speaker 1: he wanted he wants to getta doing radio and doing
Speaker 1: broadcasts and stuff like that. I'll get into everything you
Speaker 1: got going on too. And I was like, man, you know, um,
Speaker 1: the best thing to do to do as soon as
Speaker 1: you've done is start rolling into something else, like that
Speaker 1: that blank space that you have, whether it's that year
Speaker 1: or two. I said, no, don't don't take no time off, man,
Speaker 1: don't sit around for a year and try to figure
Speaker 1: it out. Get right into that next thing. Man, I
Speaker 1: think you jump You jumped right into something else. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So two thousand and nine December two thousand nineteen. Um,
Speaker 1: I had an opportunity to play for the Saints. I
Speaker 1: had a cup of team my last stop and I
Speaker 1: was there for a month. UM after practice one day,
Speaker 1: Coach Payton comes into and the receiver room. He asked
Speaker 1: for me, say, hey, brand let me talk to you.
Speaker 1: Pulls me out in the hallway and literally got right
Speaker 1: to it and he's like, hey, we're gonna let you go.
Speaker 1: This kid came available on the waiver wire. We didn't
Speaker 1: think we were going to get them. We put in
Speaker 1: the claim, we gotta make space. We're gonna let you go.
Speaker 1: We're gonna try to get you back. Anyways, that that
Speaker 1: was the last. That was the last time I stepped
Speaker 1: foot in any NFL locker room in any NFL a building.
Speaker 1: And that was it for me. And I was preparing
Speaker 1: for that moment, Like in two thousand and fifteen, I
Speaker 1: put together this plan to do exactly what you said,
Speaker 1: to roll into the next thing television. I had my
Speaker 1: facility already open. I was rolling and I said, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be prepared for this moment because it won't
Speaker 1: be me. And literally for four four days, man, I
Speaker 1: was laid in bed. I didn't get out of bed.
Speaker 1: My wife and kids were still in Seattle because I
Speaker 1: started the season there in in in Seattle planning for
Speaker 1: the Seahawks. Cut went to the Saints. So my wife
Speaker 1: and kids are there and they're on their way down.
Speaker 1: They're they're getting ready to come and spend the holidays
Speaker 1: in New Orleans. And for four days after Coach Payton
Speaker 1: told me that they were letting me go, I laid
Speaker 1: in bed. I didn't take a shower. I didn't even
Speaker 1: I think I may have gotten up to just get
Speaker 1: some water. And it wasn't like I was depressed. I
Speaker 1: just had this out of body experience where I was like,
Speaker 1: this is what they're talking about when it's over. You know,
Speaker 1: we we hear about these stories all the time. How
Speaker 1: are guys are suffering? How are guys you know, even
Speaker 1: the horror stories like Junior say, how were they complete suicide?
Speaker 1: And I just remember thinking like, wow, I prepared for
Speaker 1: this moment, and I'm still not prepared. And the only
Speaker 1: thing that got me out of bed was me having
Speaker 1: to go to the airport to pick up my my
Speaker 1: kids and my wife, um and then obviously having them there.
Speaker 1: You know, I was able to snap out of it.
Speaker 1: But I just thought it was out of body experience.
Speaker 1: And if it wasn't four House of the Athletes, bro,
Speaker 1: I'm telling you, I would be hurting right now, just
Speaker 1: like a lot of our guys. But this has been
Speaker 1: a huge distraction for me because I'm super in love
Speaker 1: with what I'm doing. I'm passionate. To me. It is
Speaker 1: mental health, is what I tried to do on my
Speaker 1: non profit side. So you're so right, man. You gotta
Speaker 1: jump into something right away, something that's gonna you know,
Speaker 1: you know, distract, you take your mind off of things
Speaker 1: or something that you just love now and you hit
Speaker 1: it right on the head man. Um. And I'm gonna
Speaker 1: ask a couple of things about House and A because
Speaker 1: I still gotta get my ass out there, and I
Speaker 1: still I spent a lot of time on the East Coast. Um.
Speaker 1: But you know, when the pandemic hit, I didn't. You know,
Speaker 1: we talked about depression all that stuff and talking about
Speaker 1: going through it. I never really and I've gone through
Speaker 1: a ton of I've been through it, man, but I
Speaker 1: never went through this where the gyms were shut down. Um,
Speaker 1: there was no outlet. I'm sitting around like waiting, waiting
Speaker 1: to find out what's gonna happen, because working out for
Speaker 1: me was and people asked all the day or were
Speaker 1: you training for You're gonna fight? And I'm like, yeah, maybe,
Speaker 1: you know, it's it's a possibility that I might go
Speaker 1: take and fight in my league and lights out of
Speaker 1: you know, extreme fighting. Yeah I could. I can fight,
Speaker 1: you know, give me three or four months ago training,
Speaker 1: I can go take a fight. But more importantly, this
Speaker 1: is my therapy. This is what gets me through my
Speaker 1: days and keeps me violence. And so when I see
Speaker 1: you over the building House of Athlete, man, I'm like,
Speaker 1: you know, it's all kinds of things run through my head.
Speaker 1: I'm like getting ideas watching you know, not only the
Speaker 1: workout part of in the facility, but the products right,
Speaker 1: the different supplements you building one House of Athlete and
Speaker 1: just talk about, man, how how that whole branding is
Speaker 1: for you and what you've done in you know, on
Speaker 1: this last year or so with it. Bro. I mean,
Speaker 1: you literally just hit everything that we try to be
Speaker 1: and who we are. I realized that it's just almost
Speaker 1: impossible to in the stigma around mental health where we
Speaker 1: are today in the mental health world is where the
Speaker 1: cancer community was forty years ago. This this highly stigmatized
Speaker 1: taboo topic. Now we are having these discussions is at
Speaker 1: the forefront of our a lot of our discussions in
Speaker 1: the media and at home. So we've we've we've made
Speaker 1: a lot of headway. But what I realized is it's
Speaker 1: easier to have that conversation around how are you mentally?
Speaker 1: How are you doing when you when you talk about
Speaker 1: wellness instead of impairment. So there's two sides of the spectrum,
Speaker 1: impairment and performance. So on the nonprofit side, with a
Speaker 1: lot of people work over here and they're like, we
Speaker 1: gotta do some work here because it's a serious uh
Speaker 1: issues that it's a it's a pandemic, it's an epidemic
Speaker 1: here in our country, in the world. But when you
Speaker 1: come on this side and say, look, let's just get
Speaker 1: in shape, let's cut our body fat in half, let's
Speaker 1: get our b M I in check, you know, let's
Speaker 1: let's see if our collector or cholesterol is at and
Speaker 1: then you start the conversation of wellness of lifestyle. You know,
Speaker 1: how are you mentally? That's eighty percent of sport, that's
Speaker 1: eighty percent of of of of of life. Then it's
Speaker 1: easier for people to open up and talk. So that's
Speaker 1: what house of athlete is. It's like, you know, the
Speaker 1: five things that we believe will help you unlock your
Speaker 1: full potential and be your best self. Is one. We
Speaker 1: all got a train. It's not a fat it's not
Speaker 1: a trend. But we were built to move. We need
Speaker 1: to train every single day because of what happens in
Speaker 1: our body when we do move and we sweat. Okay,
Speaker 1: the hormones that are released, it's just scientific. It's it's
Speaker 1: scientifically proven that when we move and when we work out,
Speaker 1: we feel better. The second thing is fuel. Do we
Speaker 1: understand how to track our macro nutrients? Ideally we want
Speaker 1: to get all of our macro nutrients through food, but
Speaker 1: it's impossible. So that's where the products come in at
Speaker 1: and that's why supplementing is so crucial. The third is
Speaker 1: being mentally fit. As a pro athlete, we know how
Speaker 1: to approach a lot of us know how to approach
Speaker 1: both ends of the spectrum. We know one day we
Speaker 1: could be hanging from the rafters because we win the
Speaker 1: next day we could lose the game by dropping the
Speaker 1: ball or missing that shot and having our head down
Speaker 1: and dealing with the media, so you gotta have a
Speaker 1: plan for both. The fourth is recovering, like if you're
Speaker 1: hurt and banged up, you know life could be held,
Speaker 1: so we gotta understand what that is. And the fifth
Speaker 1: thing is tried community. Like us, the thing that helped
Speaker 1: us out is the people around us. We didn't get
Speaker 1: to where we were not having a team of people
Speaker 1: that we do life with. And what I realized, um
Speaker 1: and building this is you know when a pro athlete
Speaker 1: come in the guys like me and you to retire
Speaker 1: guys and like, why why did you go from working
Speaker 1: out every single day to now not doing anything and
Speaker 1: eating like crap? And you wonder why you feel the
Speaker 1: way you feel. I see you. You already have the
Speaker 1: things that we all need, like you've been doing it
Speaker 1: for twenty plus years. Then that's why you made it,
Speaker 1: That's why you are who you are, that's why you
Speaker 1: were healthy. So just tap back into that, get back
Speaker 1: to training, get back to eating right. So those five pillars, man,
Speaker 1: is really derived from you know, what we've done to
Speaker 1: make it to the peak of of our industry and
Speaker 1: then trying to take that and scale it to the
Speaker 1: general Parker. Yeah, you know, it's it's so crazy that
Speaker 1: you said one of these things about the thing that
Speaker 1: can drive us is being hurt or being taken away,
Speaker 1: and that's a part of the mental aspect of it.
Speaker 1: And I see the other day with Dak getting hurt
Speaker 1: right and be not being able to do something to
Speaker 1: see right now, you know, if I if I want
Speaker 1: to go out and compete, I'll go spar three days Monday, Wednesday, Friday.
Speaker 1: I'm sparring. I'm doing jiu jitsu. I'm doing I'm staying active.
Speaker 1: Like you said that we staying active. You stay mentally shocked.
Speaker 1: And it's one thing to look good, it's another thing
Speaker 1: to feel good. Man. I'm like, yeah, having muscles and
Speaker 1: all that is great, but man, like every day I'm
Speaker 1: ready to go, I roll out of bed. Man, I'm gone,
Speaker 1: I'm out, and I feel good every day. But you know,
Speaker 1: talking the reason w I brought up doc is being
Speaker 1: being hurt man, um and having that taken away from God.
Speaker 1: That was that was some of the you know when
Speaker 1: I hurt my when I got hurt in two thousand
Speaker 1: and eight, Um, that was the first time I really
Speaker 1: experienced I've been stressed out and we all go on
Speaker 1: through self but depression. Man, while I was like, yo,
Speaker 1: I couldn't do something anymore. And the first thing that
Speaker 1: everybody thinking like, oh, you know you're making such and
Speaker 1: such money that year, you're getting guarantee money. But that's
Speaker 1: not if you're if you're a true warrior and a
Speaker 1: champion and competitor, like that doesn't really do a whole
Speaker 1: lot for you when you can't go and compete, you know.
Speaker 1: So when that when I looked at Doc man, he
Speaker 1: got hurt, and first of all, I saw that that
Speaker 1: his ankle on they showed his ankle do I I
Speaker 1: turned away. I can't still to this day, I can't.
Speaker 1: I think it was me seeing Willis mcgahey's injury long yeah,
Speaker 1: dude that I speesed me. I said, oh no, and
Speaker 1: I turned my head because I think the long time ago,
Speaker 1: when I saw Willis mcgahey's knee when he got hurt
Speaker 1: in college, like that did something to me. And from
Speaker 1: that point on, I could never see guys get hurt
Speaker 1: like that. And I've seen Dax Dax ankle and the
Speaker 1: first thing I started to think about is mental health.
Speaker 1: This dude, like with you know with his mental mentality
Speaker 1: is going to be like going forward and first thing
Speaker 1: everybody says that's the hardest part. It's the hardest part.
Speaker 1: That's the hardest. You know, there's so many layers to it.
Speaker 1: One one of one of the you know, the things
Speaker 1: that we overlook is like we're the center of the
Speaker 1: locker room, where there where the one of the faces
Speaker 1: of our organization. And then you go from the guy
Speaker 1: that's at the back of the line or nobody's even
Speaker 1: talking to. So you go from talking every single Tuesday
Speaker 1: and having thirty different cameras and and people want to
Speaker 1: beat with their microphones in your face to now sitting
Speaker 1: in a training room with just a trainer, and your
Speaker 1: guys are out on the field, your guys are laughing
Speaker 1: in the lock from your guys are in the cafeteria,
Speaker 1: and so you you feel like you're isolated, You don't
Speaker 1: feel a part of it. So that that messes with
Speaker 1: the athletes mind. But the hardest part about this, you know,
Speaker 1: us coming back from these injuries is the mental right
Speaker 1: like that last phase can I still do it? Or
Speaker 1: that last phase of you know, it's like, man, am
Speaker 1: I going to get back to where I was because
Speaker 1: a lot of us, our identity is wrapped up in
Speaker 1: what we do. But then there's some of us it's
Speaker 1: like super passionate and we want to be great, like
Speaker 1: when we get on the field, being average is not
Speaker 1: good enough. So for Dad, you know, I thought about
Speaker 1: the same thing. You know, mental health, do this process.
Speaker 1: He needs to talk to someone every single week to
Speaker 1: make sure that you know, he's in tune with what's
Speaker 1: going on in his body and his mind. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: I and I tell people, I said, those tears that
Speaker 1: he had when he was getting off that field and
Speaker 1: he's being caught it off. He had nothing to do
Speaker 1: with his contract because you look on you look on
Speaker 1: social media, and the the first thing, oh he should have signed.
Speaker 1: He should have signed money, money, money, I said, when
Speaker 1: those tears came down, those wasn't tears that he didn't
Speaker 1: sign a big contract. Those were tears he couldn't play
Speaker 1: anymore and he knew it. Yeah, that's right, that's right,
Speaker 1: hey man. So I had a couple of surgeries, just
Speaker 1: like all like anybody plead football, But I had three
Speaker 1: hip surgeries and after my third one is two thousand
Speaker 1: and fourteen, planning for the Chicago bears Um. For some reason,
Speaker 1: this one was harder to recover from. And we were
Speaker 1: approaching camp, were a month out and I literally couldn't
Speaker 1: run a route. Um. I couldn't get out of bed
Speaker 1: without feeling the pinch or some type of pain or
Speaker 1: weakness in my head. And all I could think about
Speaker 1: is I'm not going to be able to play. And
Speaker 1: the only thing that I I in in that moment,
Speaker 1: what I thought I could do to ease the pain
Speaker 1: was go run. Now think about that. I can't run
Speaker 1: a route now, I could draw. I can't move without pain,
Speaker 1: and the only thing I could think about doing was
Speaker 1: go run, and bro I never ran this far in
Speaker 1: my life. I ran ten miles lights and the whole
Speaker 1: time I was crying. I was volving and I couldn't
Speaker 1: understand why, you know. And and I remember finishing that
Speaker 1: running calling my agent just like man, it's over, it's over.
Speaker 1: I gotta retire. I don't feel good. And he was
Speaker 1: looking at me like I was crazy, Like Brandon, like
Speaker 1: you'll be okay. You just take the time that you need.
Speaker 1: But in that moment, man, you just don't know. And
Speaker 1: I think that that is overlooked with a lot of
Speaker 1: athletes recovering from a major injury. Yeah, Hunter, And I
Speaker 1: think he'll be back, um, you know, back to herself.
Speaker 1: But like it is, it's a business. They're gonna you're
Speaker 1: gonna sit upt that contract table and they're gonna say, oh,
Speaker 1: you know, we gotta wait and see what your ankle
Speaker 1: is gonna do and have that talk or whatever. But um,
Speaker 1: you know, he'll be fine. But so another thing I
Speaker 1: want to talk to you about, man, one of the uh,
Speaker 1: the things that talked about. And I gotta and I
Speaker 1: gotta ask you this serious straight up what what the hell?
Speaker 1: What the hell was going on about? Was it really
Speaker 1: possible to you gonna fight? Take a fight? At one
Speaker 1: point I saw you training for boxing and what was
Speaker 1: the whole thing behind it? Because I'm this is my thing,
Speaker 1: I'm interested. I think that's what's gonna happen over the
Speaker 1: next couple of years. And this is why I came in.
Speaker 1: Now I have the light side of train fighting and
Speaker 1: then Fox Sports, the Fox Sports picked us up last May.
Speaker 1: What I think it's gonna happen is we're gonna have
Speaker 1: a lot of athletes transition it over the combat sports,
Speaker 1: whether it's boxing, whether it's m m A. Because, like
Speaker 1: we just talked about, there's a lot of athletes whose
Speaker 1: careers get cut short. You know, you have four or
Speaker 1: five years, something happened, maybe a coaching staff, the scheme
Speaker 1: they didn't fit in, the coach didn't really give him enough. Look,
Speaker 1: you know, all kinds of things happening. These dudes get
Speaker 1: out the league and at four or five, six years
Speaker 1: in and they're still ready to go. You know, there's
Speaker 1: gonna be guys transition. What happened? Man with you? Because
Speaker 1: I'd like, I say, I'm going to this day and fight.
Speaker 1: I say, b marsh fighting, I'm gonna be at that fight.
Speaker 1: You're gonna you're you're gonna come all right? Cool. So
Speaker 1: here's the deal, bro. I look at the heavyweight division, Um,
Speaker 1: Joshua goes down the way he went down against Ruise.
Speaker 1: And then I look at Wilder and I'm like, man,
Speaker 1: you know, if if I'm fundamentally sound, I can probably
Speaker 1: take him down easy. Um. I see the opportunity. So
Speaker 1: for me, I'm waiting for that opportunity. Um, you may
Speaker 1: see some things coming out soon where I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: you may see some things coming out soon. That's that's
Speaker 1: what I'm gonna say there's opportunity, like I have a chin.
Speaker 1: That's the thing. That's what you gotta understand is you
Speaker 1: know I can. I've been boxing for years. I got
Speaker 1: the technique down. But what I what if you If
Speaker 1: you have the technique and you can't take a punch,
Speaker 1: then you ain't got a chance. So for me, I
Speaker 1: believe in my chin. I'm tough, i'mna being the best shape.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna outwork anybody. You know, I take the ring
Speaker 1: against So I'm betting on me. So we'll see what happens. Um.
Speaker 1: You know a lot of people think that, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm just sitting back here, Uh, just just throwing words
Speaker 1: out there. But I'm working right now. And I say
Speaker 1: it all the time. I said, we are built different.
Speaker 1: We are built different. You have the mm A fighters
Speaker 1: out that you've got boxes, they've been doing it a
Speaker 1: lot longer than we have. But one thing that we
Speaker 1: walk into a ring or a cage or anything like that,
Speaker 1: we're not walking in with two left feet were. We're
Speaker 1: disciplined as hell, and we know how to push through
Speaker 1: and we know how to learn. You know, I just
Speaker 1: started to do jiu jitsu. I was about right, maybe
Speaker 1: right before the pandemic started. And I hate being on
Speaker 1: the ground. Been boxing them more tie and all this
Speaker 1: stuff for twelve thirteen years, fourteen years, and I just
Speaker 1: started to get on the ground. Now the first couple
Speaker 1: of sessions not going there. You know you're gonna get
Speaker 1: your ass kicked and look bad and all that other stuff.
Speaker 1: But you give me three four weeks in now now
Speaker 1: you know, man, Look, look, look man, Connor McGregor winning,
Speaker 1: He took, he took, he took the ring with Floyd
Speaker 1: and come on, man, like you know he was able
Speaker 1: to last And that was trash to me. What what
Speaker 1: you know? That performance? And for me, with the technique
Speaker 1: that I have and then the conditioning that I'm gonna bring, um,
Speaker 1: I'll be able to last with anyone. Now obviously, you
Speaker 1: know I got a lot of guys with a lot
Speaker 1: of punching power. They you know, that's what they do
Speaker 1: for a living. Now you can't you can't go in
Speaker 1: there and thinking as right like I mean, like I mean,
Speaker 1: you can die in the ring. Um. I went to
Speaker 1: the Anthony Joshua Clinch co fight in London. A hundred
Speaker 1: and twenty thousand people live sitting ringside. I felt those punches.
Speaker 1: I understand that, but they got to be ready to
Speaker 1: move for twelve rounds because I'm not gonna stop. I
Speaker 1: can't wait, man, I'm gonna be there. I know what's
Speaker 1: gonna happen. I can't wait for it to come out.
Speaker 1: And I'm watching from a distance. And people don't understand
Speaker 1: the difference in somebody talking. And because they don't, they
Speaker 1: don't see you working everything. It's not like you're putting
Speaker 1: out everything you're doing every day, so they think it's sweet.
Speaker 1: They think there's not going on. I said, look, his
Speaker 1: dudes is working behind the scenes. You're not seeing it.
Speaker 1: But when it happens, don't be shocked. Are We're gonna
Speaker 1: get them? Maybe we do my Maybe my exhibition would
Speaker 1: be uh in your league. We may have a big
Speaker 1: announcement here in the next week or two with um,
Speaker 1: you know, maybe a legend that you know, I may
Speaker 1: get in a ring with first, just to get my
Speaker 1: feet wet, you know, get touched on the chain before
Speaker 1: I go out there. Yeah, man, yeah, man, that's awesome. Man.
Speaker 1: So look, man, I appreciate it. I know you gotta
Speaker 1: get going. Um. One thing I wanted to talk about
Speaker 1: house out house the athlete before you got to get
Speaker 1: out of here, is is there some kind of franchising
Speaker 1: opportunities or something, Cause I know you've got the location
Speaker 1: out there, um, but I know you guys are some
Speaker 1: kind of franchising opportunities that people can get involved in,
Speaker 1: maybe other athletes or something like that that you guys
Speaker 1: are doing this you can at least talk about. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, we talked about this transition. And one of
Speaker 1: the things that you know, um, I'm looking at as
Speaker 1: a as a way to get back and help is
Speaker 1: our guys. A lot of us we get into this
Speaker 1: fitness world and this athletic performance space, but we don't
Speaker 1: have the team or the structure, so I won't be franchising.
Speaker 1: But I have connected with a bunch of our you know,
Speaker 1: our ex teammates and and and and and competitors on
Speaker 1: you know, how they could potentially come in and part
Speaker 1: with me when I go to new territories. So we'll
Speaker 1: be opened up forty three locations and the biggest economies
Speaker 1: in the world. Uh. And when we go to new territories,
Speaker 1: I will you know, have conversations with a few of
Speaker 1: our guys that's already in the space that may need
Speaker 1: as little extra boost, you know. So we have the structure,
Speaker 1: we have the team, so you know, excited about what
Speaker 1: we're doing here brick and mortar and then the supplements.
Speaker 1: You know, Um, we have our work cut out for us.
Speaker 1: But it's a forty two trillion dollar industry lights and
Speaker 1: it's owned by the top one percent and no one
Speaker 1: has ever scaled athletic performance. And what I tell people
Speaker 1: all the time is we are the healthiest people on
Speaker 1: the planet, athletes, So why don't you train like us?
Speaker 1: You know, when you were getting ready for for for
Speaker 1: the season you had the years that you had, you
Speaker 1: weren't you know, running on the treadmill every day. You
Speaker 1: weren't on a bike every day, right, Like, there's a
Speaker 1: specific way that you trained, an approach the off season.
Speaker 1: And all we're doing is modifying that for the gym.
Speaker 1: Pop when we're you back on the first thing first. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So we're we're on every every every every morning for
Speaker 1: seven thirty nine thirty East Coast. So I was cracking
Speaker 1: up the other day. He's talking about Levan Bell and
Speaker 1: and and that whole thing, and and just because you
Speaker 1: you look at it man and and Uh, I don't
Speaker 1: know if it was Chris or or whoever it was,
Speaker 1: and he was. You guys are talking about lean him
Speaker 1: not being a fit, right he wasn't. You know. It
Speaker 1: goes back to like I think it made what twenty
Speaker 1: million dollars or something like that in what eighteen months
Speaker 1: or how long he was there. But man, you you
Speaker 1: know you've been there, um, and you're talking to see
Speaker 1: him back in Pittsburgh. Yeah, you think you want to
Speaker 1: see him back in Pittsburgh. You think that happened. You
Speaker 1: think they'll let you know, you think they'll smooth that over,
Speaker 1: so you go back to Pittsburgh. Well, I don't think
Speaker 1: it was ever a personality thing. You know. I think
Speaker 1: there was some you know, some distractions with his music,
Speaker 1: but it was never like he's a bad guy, he's
Speaker 1: disrupting what we're doing in the locker room. It was
Speaker 1: about the money they wanted to sign him. Um Connor
Speaker 1: is running the ball really well right now. He's averaging
Speaker 1: four point nine yards to carry and and they're back
Speaker 1: to the Pittsburgh of old um. So there, you know
Speaker 1: he would have to go in and share uh you know,
Speaker 1: those those those opportunities, But that four point nine that
Speaker 1: Connor's gaming. That can easily be five point five six
Speaker 1: yards for lady on and then all you gotta also
Speaker 1: look at you know what he's capable of doing in
Speaker 1: the in the in the passing game as a wide receiver.
Speaker 1: Remember what he was doing when he was with Pittsburgh.
Speaker 1: So he has a lot of gas left in the tank.
Speaker 1: It was a terrible fit in New York. I like
Speaker 1: him in Pittsburgh. That would be my number one choice.
Speaker 1: The number two choice for me would be um the
Speaker 1: Bears Naggy for the last two years has struggled to
Speaker 1: get the run game going. They are twenty seven in
Speaker 1: the league and in rushing yards all right, they have
Speaker 1: no running back. They're running back went down, perfect fit
Speaker 1: for him. You know it might it might be number one,
Speaker 1: but I just like the you know the whole you
Speaker 1: know correct, Yeah, going back to Pittsburgh, that type of story. Yeah,
Speaker 1: no doubt. Hey, my dude, man, I appreciate you. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna get my ass out there. I promise to get
Speaker 1: me a good work out. My my son is in
Speaker 1: Jersey too, so because you got what you guys what
Speaker 1: Jersey isn't. So we'll be we'll be opening in um
Speaker 1: in the city next year, in the city next year. Okay, cool,
Speaker 1: I'm in there, bro. I appreciate you. Man, thanks for
Speaker 1: coming on. All right, Like, hold on a quick question,
Speaker 1: bro before we leave. Yeah, bro, please tell me real
Speaker 1: quick man, how you this whole lights out name came like?
Speaker 1: I I didn't just say that just to say it
Speaker 1: to me. I hated seeing you doing that. When I
Speaker 1: played in Denver, playing against you twice a year, it
Speaker 1: was like, one, he's winning his game by himself, and two,
Speaker 1: this dude has the best damn celebration I have ever seen.
Speaker 1: How did this thing come about? I know the story
Speaker 1: is out there, but I don't think i've heard it before. Yeah. No,
Speaker 1: So you know it's funny. Man. We we creative as hell,
Speaker 1: and we started the brand and you know everything about branding.
Speaker 1: And when I was sixteen years old, man, I knocked
Speaker 1: out four kids in one game, my school school game
Speaker 1: three three in the first half. Kids. It's the true.
Speaker 1: I knocked out four dudes, and I got on VHS
Speaker 1: in there somewhere. I gotta dig that thing up, but
Speaker 1: I knocked out. I knocked these dudes out in the game.
Speaker 1: And then after the game my twenties. Students come run
Speaker 1: up to me like, oh, yeah, you knocked these guys
Speaker 1: lights Out, and so you know, I just played the part.
Speaker 1: I was like, yeah, you know, call me lights Out,
Speaker 1: and that name stuck with me. I didn't think it
Speaker 1: was gonna stick. And I got to school Monday in
Speaker 1: high school and everybody was like yeah lights out. Lights
Speaker 1: Out said to ship. You know, everybody liked his name,
Speaker 1: and I had it. And I got in college. My
Speaker 1: my freshman year, we were playing national TV game. I went,
Speaker 1: I came off the bench, I knocked walkings out Georgia
Speaker 1: Tech coming across the uh, coming across this field. And
Speaker 1: I got up and I got a tattoo on my
Speaker 1: right forearm of a light switch right when my sophomore
Speaker 1: in high school with the end like kind of putting
Speaker 1: a finger. So I had this, Uh, I kind of
Speaker 1: I knew what I wanted to do, right, I knew,
Speaker 1: you know, kind of what the brand and stuff I
Speaker 1: was builting for my sophomore year in high school. I
Speaker 1: got this light switch. I begged my mother to to
Speaker 1: to put this light switch to let me get a tattoo,
Speaker 1: and she was like, hell no, I'm not doing it.
Speaker 1: I said, Mom, it's gonna be a thing one day,
Speaker 1: like people were calling at night time. I want to
Speaker 1: get this lights out of tattoo and show enough. Man.
Speaker 1: I knocked. I hit the wide receiver coming across the field.
Speaker 1: I was dropping in the flats and I got up
Speaker 1: like I was switching the light switch up and down,
Speaker 1: just like that, and the crowd got loud. And when
Speaker 1: they got loud, I got excited and I started to
Speaker 1: jump with it and they went crazy, and I got
Speaker 1: on the sideline coach freegan my head. The head coach
Speaker 1: at the time, ship, if you ever do that ship
Speaker 1: again here, you'll never play. And I said, I put
Speaker 1: my head down like a ten year old between my
Speaker 1: legs and walking on the sideline and my the defense
Speaker 1: according and my teammates are smacking me on the head, smacking, Yo,
Speaker 1: what was that thing? I was like, Yeah, that's the
Speaker 1: lights out of dance. I just made it up there
Speaker 1: on the spot. So I kept that. I kept that
Speaker 1: ship the whole time. Man. So that's how the lights
Speaker 1: out thing came about. But it was cool, man. You know,
Speaker 1: it's part of Brandon and having you know, you know,
Speaker 1: kind of a persona a character almost like a w W
Speaker 1: W guy that was on the field. And I just
Speaker 1: I had this vision for it and and and it
Speaker 1: started back when I was sixteen, And you know, you
Speaker 1: got this vision for where you're doing. Uh. So, Man,
Speaker 1: good luck, man. I definitely want to support come out there,
Speaker 1: and I'm getting I'm getting some working when I get
Speaker 1: to these coach man, I was doing alright, My dude,
Speaker 1: my dude. Man, appreciate you alright, bro, love wow. Uh.
Speaker 1: I appreciate Brandon Marshall for coming on, um Man. He
Speaker 1: has a lot of great things going on, as you
Speaker 1: can tell. Man, he's articulate as hell. Was able to
Speaker 1: talk about things openly and free freely with his own
Speaker 1: personal battles for mental health and and and most of
Speaker 1: US athletes who go through it, who have been through
Speaker 1: something also. Uh. He's made a hell of a transition
Speaker 1: with House of Athletes and his supplements and everything he's building.
Speaker 1: Um And I can't wait to see what he's going
Speaker 1: through there. And he just broke the news to us
Speaker 1: man about him possibly getting into combat sports, maybe having
Speaker 1: a fight coming up. So I can't wait for it.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be there. I'll be ringing side hopefully we
Speaker 1: can get Brandon Marshall fighting and Lights Out Extreme fighting.
Speaker 1: Why not, we get it, We get after it over there.
Speaker 1: So I appreciate you guys listening to another great episode
Speaker 1: of Lights Out with me Sean Merriman, and keep listening,
Speaker 1: keep subscribing, uh leave us and reviews, downloads, and we'll
Speaker 1: keep getting After next week we heat up again, so
Speaker 1: stay tuned. Appreciate you guys to tuning in