Shawne Merriman would love nothing more than to see Khalil Mack and Derwin James compete in his MMA organization — Lights Out Xtreme Fighting.
The football legend is convinced that a former NFL athlete is going to come over to the sport and become world champion.
Shawne Merriman wants Khalil Mack and Derwin James, to test out their skills in the cage
Shawne Merriman was an animal on the field, developing a reputation for his incredible will to win, which ultimately resulted in him making the Pro Bowl on three occasions.
However, as good at football as he was, the sportsman’s life could’ve taken a very different path had he had more time to dedicate to mixed martial arts.
Earning the nickname ‘Lights Out’ for rendering four people unconscious during a match in his sophomore year of high school, Merriman had the perfect mindset to throw himself into combat sports.
He ultimately fell in love with the UFC in 2005, when he went to Las Vegas to watch Randy Couture vs Chuck Liddell.
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Feeling so inspired, he started training himself with an intention of competing, had TV work not gotten in the way.
However, with a love for the craft he just couldn’t kick, the icon founded Lights Out Xtreme Fighting. with his next event, LXF 21, scheduled to take place tonight at Thunder Studios in Long Beach, California, USA.
The card features an array of epic collisions, including a guaranteed barnburner between Arnold Jimenez and Keenan Lewis.
But as a promoter, Merriman is always looking to push the boundaries, with the 40-year-old admitting that if he had a magic wand, he’d sign two LA Chargers superstars.
In an exclusive interview with Bloody Elbow, he said: “I’m a big fan of Khalil Mack. He’s a guy who’s built different; he’s explosive. I would love to convert him to MMA. Derwin James is another; I’lll start with the Chargers.
“You’ve got some other guys. You saw a massive brawl break out in the Jaguars vs Texan game with Azeez Al-Shair with the big hit on Trevor Lawrence.
“You’ve gotta believe this. I’ve said this before, and maybe it’s not catching on just yet. There’s going to be an up-and-coming former athlete from the NFL—they’re not going to be the guy who played 15 years and made a lot of money; we’re gonna find the guy who had a three or four-year career, who’s pissed off, because he got cut, traded, or a bad coaching staff, maybe he didn’t get the opportunities to get on the field like he wanted—that guy is going to be the champion one day. I guarantee it.
“I say this, because I know the learning curve I had when I started training with a lot of these guys, I was raw and athletic and I could hang in with some of the best of them.
“But I didn’t really have the time to train consistently because I was working with the WWE and doing a lot of TV work with NFL Network and Fox Sports.
“There’s going to be somebody that says, ‘I got released, I’m pi**ed off, and I want to kick somebody’s a**’.
“That’s what’s going to happen because you’ve got a lot of guys that are disgruntled but have the physical ability to come over here and dominate. But they have to take it seriously and find the right camp to work with them.
“A former NFL athlete is going to transition over and become world champion. I guarantee it.”
Shawne Merriman reveals the UFC fighter he gets compared to all the time
With an athletic build and a love of fighting, it makes sense that people would draw comparisons between him and UFC legends.
However, there’s one in particular that comes up more than most.
He told Bloody Elbow that whenever he goes abroad, everyone says he looks like a particular heavyweight great.
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