From NFL Star to Lights Out Extreme Fighting Founder Shawn Merriman

Hey, everyone. Welcome to on the home front. Today we are talking to someone who's made his mark in the NFL and is now shaking things up in the octagon in a whole new way. Drafted 12th overall by the Chargers in 2005, he made the Pro bowl and earned AP Rookie of the Year in his very first season. His career was packed with hard hits and big plays, earning him the nickname Lights Out. Now he's the founder of Lights Out Extreme Fighting. Please welcome to the show Sean Merriman.

Hey, Jeff. What's up, buddy? How you doing?

Doing so good. Doing so good. Thanks for coming on today. So much in your background to talk about, would you care to just share a little bit about going back to Maryland? How did you choose Maryland as your college to play for?

Well, you know, it's funny, I went to a high school called Frederick Douglass High School up in Marlboro, Maryland, Prince George's County, Maryland, which is about 20 minutes from school from University of Maryland. And when I went, there was no, there was no Division 1 player ever from my high school. Like, there was no, I was the first Division 1 player to go and I wanted to stay home to kind of set an example because all the bigger name players from the D.C. washington, D.C. maryland and Virginia area, they left and went to Penn State or they left and went to Ohio State or Alabama or Florida, they went to a bigger school in, or Texas. And I said, you know what? No, I'll be the first, you know, kind of homegrown, big name guy to stay home. And that was, that was my number one reason. I had offers from just about everybody, right, you know, that you can name. But I thought it was important for me to stay home. And it worked because we had a lot of the other top talent, Vernon Davis, who was from, not too far from where I was from, he stayed home. And B.J. henderson, who won the buckets, he stayed home. It was, it was like, it was a snowball effect of a lot of these players from the D.C. maryland, Virginia area staying home. And that's, that was my main reason for staying home.

Yeah, well, great career there. Transitioned, you know, high draft pick. This was before the cba. So you got a contract, got a good one, and then had a great run with Chargers there. Talk to me a little bit about some of your favorite memories, if you don't mind, from playing with the Chargers.

I think for men, we played on some of the most iconic teams of the 2000s. And I remember walking in the locker room day one and seeing with Danny Thomason and Antonio Gates and Philip Rivers, Lorenzo Neal. It was almost like a Twilight Zone because these all the guys who I kind of watched play before I got to the NFL, and now I'm right across the locker from them. So it was, it was, you know, kind of a surreal moment. But I think, you know, for me, you know, coming out of college with, you know, a nickname like Lights out and have, you know, this big Persona and it was, there was so much expectation, right, because it was all this hype coming from college and that I had to come in to prove myself, you know, which is crazy. You know, first round draft pick, you know, talented guy. You got to come in, you got to come and prove this. You're playing on a team with, you know, four or five different hall of Famers, you gotta, you gotta come in and earn your keep. And when I got there, man, I, I remember the first, the first time we played the Kansas City Chiefs, you know, I went out and got a big hit knocked out, Breeze Holmes. And so I was, I was, you know, playing hard like that because I was trying to earn that, that respect. Because a lot of guys, the older guys, especially Danny Thompson, they didn't want to call me Lights Out. They wanted, they called me rookie of 56, you know, so it's one of those things I had to go and earn my name. But I, I now, looking back on it now, I appreciate, you know, being in that situation where, you know, I didn't, I couldn't walk in the locker room with a big head, I couldn't walk in it with an ego. And I had to really, really earn my keep to be there, man. And those are some of the memories, just trying to earn those guys respect. What was respect? Walking in the locker room, you know, having three or four sacks on Monday night. Those things are fun, man. But just when you're a 20 or 21 year old kid walking into the locker room with that level of greatness and having earned their respect and then get it right and that, that's the biggest part, you know, then earn their respect and then keeping it.

Well, you know, I heard a story about a rookie dinner that you had to buy.

Yeah.

And you know, if they didn't respect you and know who you were, then you wouldn't have been at the table. But yeah, that $32,000 bill is feeding those, feeding those boys.

Hey, look, I wish they did. I wish they didn't know me around, around that time.

Sean, I want to get your opinion on something. So, yeah, I played college Football. I was on the offensive side of the ball. My son was a defender. He played Division 1 college football. Tackling your style of play was the way that we were all. Now, I played in the. In the late 80s and early 90s. Right. But, you know, we. We were taught to block. We were taught to tackle a certain way. We used our head. I mean, it was on center. If you slid up and you got underneath somebody's chin, that was. That was all good, right?

Yeah.

And the more. The bigger impact that you could create and the more damage that we could inflict. But tackling has changed. Now they teach the Gator role. You know, they put their head back, like on an angle tackle. They're teaching kids to put their head behind the runner, then across the chest. Like how. What do you think about that? Would you have been able to adjust to that style of play with the type of physical nature and the type of dominating hits that you. You were so well known for?

You know, I make a joke that if I played in today's era, I'll be playing for free. Right. Because all the fines I rack up. But the truth is that I could adjust and I would be able to adjust because those are rules. But I think that the NFL has done everything to make the game safer, Right? Yeah. Like take, for example, the crackback blocks. I mean, those crackback blocks back in the day, from wide receiver to a guy that can't see you was just brutal. And so they've taken that away. They've taken away the helmet to helmet contact. Let a wide receiver come down with the football before you go and attack them in the air. I think the NFL has done everything they possibly can to make the game safe. I think that.

What do you think. What do you think of the new kickoffs?

It's going to take some time to get you. We. We're not used to seeing it. Right. And so I think that it's going to be weird for some time. I don't really. I don't look at it as a big deal. It's just more one of those things going to take time to get used to. But 100%, I could adjust my game today only because the rules would have allowed it. But hey, what I'll tell. I'll say this. I wouldn't have played, in my opinion, I wouldn't have played with the same amount of passion. Because if all the things that you named right, being a knock somebody out of that big hit or get somebody up under their chin, all those things drove me to like do it again and do more of it. You know, see inflicting pain right on someone else. Yeah. Take it, you know, taking somebody else's will another. And I always said, as I said, man, you got to be a bad mother to, to go and take another grown man's will from him. They, he's looking at you from across. He just doesn't want anymore. Right. Yeah. And you know, that's what made football football. So, yes, I would have been able to adjust, but I don't think I would have had the same passion doing it.

Yeah, they, you know, they play standing up now. There's a lot of engagement. You know, you, you want to tie up, you want to, you want to keep a body on a body. Um, I mean, I played fullback and you know, there'd be 10 or 15 times in a game in an ISO where it's just you and that middle linebacker and it was, it was just face mask on. It was who could get lower, who could, who could hit harder. And you know, just, it was a war of attrition really. And you know, it's really changed a lot. But I think it's for the better. I mean, I had, I know there's a question about having your kids play. Both my kids start playing football at 7 years old and, and I think athletics has been one of the most formative things in their lives in terms of discipline and teamwork and perseverance and all that kind of stuff. And man, football is just, I think it's the greatest game that's ever been invented.

I do too. And I feel the same way. And I got a 14 year old son as well. And so, you know, he plays quarterback. When he was first starting out, playing around like 10, I think was around 10 years old. That question also came up too, because I still talk to a lot of kids where the parents are like, hey, I got a, I got a nine year old kid, I got a ten year old kid, would you let them play football? And I say, you know, that same thing I told my son. I said, I'll tell them about the dangers, right? Because it is, it's a brutal, it's a violent sport. So I'll tell you about the dangers of it, but I also tell you how to protect yourself. But I would not, I would not, I would not replace what I've learned playing football for any amount. No injury, no, nothing at all. Because the values that has taught me in business, the values has taught me in life is unprecedented. Like, you can't, you can't even pay. You know, you talk to some people who, who don't know adversity, who don't know what it's like in that, in that, that one on one ISO with that feeling you getting having to do that 10 times a game or, or training camp when you guys are running those gases, those 100 yard sprints and it's 100 plus outside and you got to find a way to push through or, you know, your fingers out of place or your shoulder. He got a shoulder stinger. You got to go back in the game. That's a level of toughness that is not that this world is missing, truthfully. And I know we, I know we're living in a different time and I'm not like the old school guy. Like, oh, back in the day we were. No, no, I'm not that. It's just that. No, it. Yeah. And you know, so. And there's nothing wrong. And for me, I just, I'm able to kind of transfer my mind and keep up with the times. Like I'm not so very old school. Even though I played very old school. I'm not old school. Like, I do think you got to move with the times. But that level of adversity and obstacles that you have to deal with made business and life much easier because I see people who never endured those things. They can't manage, they can't handle, they fold. They fold under pressure. They can't handle a bad day or adversity. Adversity or obstacles or, you know, any kind of trials and tribulations. They can't deal with it because they haven't been down that path before, man. So, you know, I got two shoulder surgeries. I had left knee, right Achilles finger. And guess what? I'll do it again for the life lessons that I've been taught from this game on not to quit. You know, teamwork, you know, pushing through those things, man, is invaluable.

Yeah, man. I have both my knees replaced. Three years ago, I left my knees on the field at App State. But it's, you know, but feedback on the football field, man, it's just, it's honest and it's immediate and it's truth and it's. And people will let you know if you, if you're not, if you're not doing your job well. Awesome. I'd love to talk a little bit as we transition into what you're doing now, maybe about NFL player transitions. I'm in the franchise business. We have several NFL players that have joined our franchise Systems. How have you been able to transition so successfully into business? And then what are some of the things that are available to players to help them maybe get into business today or, or help them? Because, you know, if you have a three to five year career, that's one thing. If you have a 10 or 12 year career, that's probably another thing financially. But you know, most people still have to do something after that. And if it's not in the booth or on the sideline or you know, that kind of stuff, then it's going to be something in business. What kind of resources are available and maybe what are the challenges that you see some of these players today?

I think, I think the biggest thing is, and I tell a lot of guys this, whatever you plan on doing after that, you want to do after start while you're playing, right? Don't, don't try to sit back and wait and say, oh, I'm going to start doing this when I'm done. That's not what you want to do. And I talked to a lot of guys this and said, look, year, two years, three years before you thinking about retiring, start doing already because you have this period of window when you retire to when you start doing it, that is a very, very lonely and depressing time where you're trying to adjust to being a, you know, a regular person out here, right? A normal, you're trying to be a citizen, a normal person that you don't have that regimen, that regimen is gone, that you've been doing for the last 20 plus years of your life is gone. And so you got this dark spot where you're like, okay, that whistle's not blowing anymore. No more, you know, mandatory film sessions or practices. And now you're trying to catch up and get into something new that you don't know anything about. So I would say prepare the first thing to do, start looking into and actually doing what you want to do years before you retire. That's one, two. You have to. That same passion got you to run out the tunnel. 70,000 people, a strip stack, force fumble, a big hit, a catch, a touchdown, you find something. And I say this about athletes and I know you can kind of relate to this. Once we find out where we're passionate, that thing that made us go on the field, we're going to dominate in life because all we know is, is discipline and dedication and structure and regimen. Those are all the things you need to be successful. And believe it or not, most people don't have it, especially business Owners, when they starting out, you know, being disciplined on your, their time, time management, there's no hanging out, going with your friends to brunches and kind of kicking it. No, your business owner, your life is that, that's what you do around the clock. And very few people get lost into trying to do something early on because they don't have the business, the, the, the discipline and structure to do that. So that's, that's the thing. One, start doing that before you start looking into whatever you want to do after and then two, find out whatever your passion is because once you figure out that, that passion to get you up in the morning, you're going to be successful because that, that, that same passion is running front, running through you. That was on the field.

Yeah, I think that's good advice for anybody. Not just players, college students. Get a side hustle, don't wait. Wait is a four letter word. You know, get after it. First things first, second things never. So you, you're very successful in business now. You also do production in house with the network and you're in the entertainment business. Who were some of the influences or mentors that you were able to find through your NFL career that helped you like, see what it could be in, in what you're doing right now to help create the vision for that.

You know, I was, I was in a very fortunate situation because, you know, when you, when you play out playing the NFL, people know who you are. You can at least get in the door, right? You can pick up the phone and be, hey, I got, I got this idea, I got this thing that I want to do. I want to invest here. I want to, I want to build this, you know, MMA league. I want to build this streaming service, whatever it is. And so you can pick up the phone and, and you know, I can call an exec from Fox Sports or ESPN or you know, Paramount or Lionsgate. I could get, you know, say, and if they don't know what I'm looking for, they'll put me in touch. And that's, that goes back to having relationships and, and just really getting information. And that would, that's the third thing. I would say that what we just talked about, the third thing is get with somebody who got more experience than you. Like just, you know, a lot of people go on a venture out and they start dumping money into, especially players because you got money when you try, most have, you know, good amount of money when you retire. So you start dumping money into things you don't understand. That's how you lose it. And so what I always did. What if I was looking to get into the streaming business, I stayed in the streaming business with other people, the successful, you know, billion dollar companies and you know, bringing in, you know, ridiculous amounts of revenue and different kind of technology. I stayed around those people all the time. So by the time I was ready to go and launch my own, I was able to do it because I already knew the course of action. I already knew how to execute because I've been around it for a few years. So tell any, any guy out there, anybody that that's retiring those three things, man, if you start doing those, I would, I would guess that you're going to have most guys that are, are successful. They're not.

Yeah. So through line for you was martial arts. I picked up on that early with my son. He was a wrestler and then he started doing some MMA and man, he became a much better tackler when you know how to grapple and things like that. So you, you, you came to the martial arts while you were playing, helped you as a player, especially with hand work on the outside, you know, just, just everything. Pass rushing, right hand fighting, all of it. How did, how did that help you in football? Number one and then number two, how did you decide that was something you wanted to do after football? And maybe we, let's, let's move a little bit towards the Extreme Fighting League.

Yeah, so I, I grew up in Prince George's County, Maryland and my had family members who were professional boxers. So naturally I just grew up around boxers. So I kind of already knew how to. My standard game in striking was already pretty good. I was in the gym, Jake Glazing Gym, actually a Fox. The broadcaster over at Fox Sports, good friend of mine, he saw me hitting the mitch one day. He said man, you got, you can box. Would you learn how to box from. And I said hey, you know, my family's, you know, got a couple boxes in my family, blah, blah, whatever. He said hey, I think if you tried MMA out, it would help you in football. So I said sure, if it's gonna help me in football, let me know what I need to do. So he gave me an address. The next day I show up at the gym and I got Jay Glazer here on my left, I got Randy Couture on my right. So my first day training anything in the May was with Randy Couture, one of the best has ever done it. And I saw a couple of things that it did. First of all, first of all it humbled me, I mean, that, that it just, you know, you walking in a big strong guy, you're athletic, explosive, and somebody half your size can literally kick your ass. And it is, it's one of those things, man. You're like, man, it's just a humbling sport. The second part is, is that hand combat, you know, being able to get the big offensive lineman off you and be very violent and active with your hands as outside linebacker and pass rusher, and you starting to see a lot of these guys during the off season pick up some kind of combat sport. You know, I was just kind of 10 plus 10, 15 years ahead of my time. But I think that the discipline, that, and then last but not least, man, the endurance, the, I mean, you, you three rounds, three three minute rounds or three five minute rounds is a lifetime. And there's nothing like somebody on top of you and they're good at Jiu jitsu and they got this amount of pressure and you're trying to get up and you're trying to explode your hips to get off the ground and just get back up, standing on your feet and you can't. I mean, there's nothing more exhausting. You're in a hot little sweaty room. It is demoralizing, man. It really, really does something for you. And I came out the next year late, late NFL and sacks, you know, I, I, you know, I, it helped me out that much where I was able to use my hands, being able to open my hips and turn the corners against those big offensive linemen.

Yeah. Wasn't Ronnie lot like a black belt? Is that right?

Yeah, he was one of those, one.

Of those early guys. That was so good. Yeah, I think it was, I think it was him. So let's talk about the Lights Out Extreme Fighting Network. What, what opportunity did you see in the marketplace for athletes maybe that were interested in moving into mma, that you met that opportunity with this network? How did, how did you come up with that?

So I got Lights Out Extreme Fighting, which is my MMA league and promotion a lot. Our last, I think five or six champions all went to the ufc, if I'm not mistaken.

Okay.

So, you know, think of us as a, you know, kind of a farm system, right, for, for the ufc. And we are on Lights Out Sports tv, which is my streaming platform.

Right.

And, you know, we got 26 channels in there from fishing, hunting, wildlife, wrestling, gosh, chess, which I've never thought that I would love. Chess is so much World poker tours on there as well. She got cards and we got 250 sports movies and documentaries is on there and it's free. And we're on every major smart TV in the world. So you got a smart TV with air, you can download lights out sports tv. And I'm constantly now working on adding more live sports. I mean, live sports right now is where it's at. And I wanted to make it free. That was the biggest thing for me, man. I wanted to make it free. I didn't want to be another subscription, another bill that somebody got to work. Oh, now I gotta, you know, spend 5, 10, 10 more dollars for this service completely free. But again, we talked about, you know, when I retired, I got straight into tv. I was at NFL Network for a couple years and Fox Sports and ESPN and WWE Network. And you know, I, I got the, the, the privilege, man, of seeing the inner workings of these multi, multi, multi billion dollar networks and businesses and understanding how the TV business work and now how streaming is going. And so I just thought that it was important that a former athlete owned and ran all sports streaming service has never been done. And you know, it's also too, you got to understand both sides of the spectrum. Sometimes I think that people may own something in sports or run something in sports, but never played sports, you know, never played, you know, and it always, it baffles me that, you know, so, yeah, you know, go back to the Olympic Games, right? I mean, just the opening, the closing, it's like this artsy. That's people, people in sports don't care about that, man. We don't. You don't want to see that. You know, we don't. We're not looking to see nothing artsy. I mean, we're just not. And so, you know, I started looking around, I said, man, who has this ever been done? The question, the answer is no. But also understanding the market and understanding the tech side and understanding what things are going, understanding CTV and how things worked with ads and just the business and also athlete ranch. So it was important for me to launch something like this because I started seeing all these other people that ran sports networks and never played sports. I said, how are you going to know what people like in sports if you never played it? And for me, man, it's like it was important. It's my pat again. We talk about passion. It's one of these things that get you up, get me up in the morning where I'm like, okay, I need to get out to bed because that whistle's about to blow. That, that gives me that, that same feeling again.

So where can people find the programming?

You can find lights out sports TV on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon, Fire TV, iOS, Android, Philips, LGs, Vizio just launched last week, Comcast, Zumo. So any one of the major TV platforms, we're there.

Okay. So like I've got a Samsung and when I pull it up, they have all this free programming on there. So it's like that. I don't know if you're on Samsung or not, but yeah, we're on Samsung, but it's just like, okay, well, you know, I've probably been watching it then. Awesome. So does your, you got a 14 year old. Is he looking to follow your footsteps in athletics? Is it a, is it a, is it a passion or is it a hobby?

He, he plays quarterback. So I don't, don't. He's not. Definitely not following my steps doing that.

Okay.

He is the number one quarterback coming out of New Jersey, class of 20, 29. So yeah, I, I always, and I talked to him about this sometime and more. More so when he was younger, when you got a parent that people know that played the sport, like you have enough pressure already. So I, you know, even when I was, you know, when he was younger and I go to the games or I'll go to the practices, the coaches wanted me to speak and saying, I'm like, guys, I'm just here, like just let every other parent, you know, I just want to sit, you know, kind of stay in the background even with him. I said the only thing I, that I care about with him is his, his work ethic, the time he put in and how hard he goes in his work ethic. I said, if you go out there and throw an interception or two, I don't care that happens. If you, if you go out there and have a bad game, I don't care if that happens. If you don't go out there and give me maximum effort, I care about that. That's the only thing I care about is whether you gave everything you had and if you did, you didn't have that great of a game. I can live with that. But if you didn't, that I can't live with. And so yeah, it's cool, man, to see, you know, now that the game has changed. We talked about how old school and how things like they're looking at these colleges, looking at kids, eighth, ninth grade now. It's, yeah. You know, it's different times.

Yeah. And you'll, you'll have to provide some counsel to him probably about things like Nil and transfer portal that maybe you didn't, we didn't have to deal with.

Right? Yeah. And it makes, it's tough, man, because you got kids in a sense, anybody that's 18 or under, there's still kids. Kids, right. And they're, they're in a position to make these adult decisions. Right. Because it, the. The money that's involved and things like that. So yeah, step in to, you know, kind of advise on what I think should happen. But ultimately, ultimately, man, I, I give him a lot of leeway just to make his own decisions. And I tell him, I said, whatever decision you make, you live with it, you follow it through, but you can make it, you know. And so I've always kept that same attitude with it.

Look, man, they make it, they own it. Teach them how to think, not what, not what to think and let them make mistakes and they will find their way if, if they want to. Do you have an opinion on things like the transfer portal and Nil and the impact on college football?

Yeah, I think it's great. But I think it's going to end up being a little bit of the wild, wild west, if it hasn't already. And I've always said this, you can.

Build a team overnight now.

Yeah. And the problem is what happened is these kids aren't loyal. Right. And I'm not saying loyal to the university. I'm loyal to the guy that's next to you that's bleeding and breaking his bones and tearing his hamstrings and quads and rolling his ankles with you. Right. There's no loyalty to that because they just jumping for dollar. Now the problem I have with that is, and by the way, I've always said that they should get paid. I thought that they should have been getting a stipend, something monthly, maybe let them make money doing autograph signings. It should have been something, they should have been getting paid a long time ago and they didn't. So now they got to deal with this whole nil and all the things that come with it there certain colleges even suing, now they're suing the NCAA for stepping in with these Nils. So there's a lot going on. I think that like, like when Nick Saban, I want to, I want to use him for the prime example. People are so mad at him saying, oh yeah, he's retiring because of what's going on now in, in sports, in college football. I agree with him. I mean, I can't imagine a 17 year old kid sitting across from me saying, I'm not coming here unless I give me a half a million bucks. You don't even know how this kid's gonna pan out, right? I mean, he might be all world in high school, he hasn't done nothing in college yet to even require or request that type of money. And you got somebody like Nick Saban, who's one of the greatest and winning college coaches of all time, and you're talking to him, telling what you going to do, will and won't do. I, that part I just really can't get with.

Yeah, I mean, I understand how he, he's, he does not want to make that adjustment at this point in his career, nor should he have to. I mean, he, he's, he's laid it down and you know, his record stands for itself. There's, but there's a whole new dynamic coming out and, and I mean, at the end of the day, I mean, it wasn't as pervasive, but players did get paid before nil. I mean, you know, certain players didn't get paid.

No doubt. It was, it was one of those meet, meet me in the back alley with a brown paper bag paid. But you know, it's not how they.

Get paid now or, you know, or even just a car for the. Some, you know, something, you know, just a little something here and there. But, but it's nice to see it out in the open. It's nice to see it on an even playing field. And you know, now the boosters can just put their money in a thing and the coach can instead of having to, you know, give people a job at the oil rig for a thousand dollars an hour. Okay. Or whatever. You know, I saw a documentary or something, but. All right. Well, hey, Sean, this has been great. I know, I know you're up against it, but really enjoyed having you on today. Thank you so much. Super excited for the Lights Out Network and really excited for the opportunity given some of these young athletes to really show their stuff and to give them just another avenue to get out and to be around great people like you. People that can mentor them and kind of give them a path for success. There's not, I'm, we're huge into young people here. I mean, I coached over 30 seasons of my kids sports, man. I just, I think anything we can do to invest in young people and, and, and give them vision and, and talk to them. Which leads me to the last question. Sean, for you, if you had one sentence to speak to make an impact into somebody's life, what would that be.

I would just say consistency, man. Just stay consistent for as long as you can. And I think that just staying consistent is going to allow you to. To pass up a lot of people who just quit, a lot of people who just deter themselves from their dreams or don't think that things are working out and pivot or go backwards or go another direction. If you just stay consistency wins every single time. And that's one thing that's been a key component in my life, is that some days you're going to get up, not feeling that great. You're not going to want to do everything. And I know this Instagram is showing everybody smiling and jumping up and down these positive workouts every day, but trust me, they don't show the days that they sit at the edge of the bed and they're tired. They, you know, stressed out, they got anxiety or they got depressed. They don't show those things. But I guarantee if you stay consistent long enough, you'll break through.

Yeah, man. The best way to win the next opportunity is to succeed in the one that you're in right now and stick with it.

That's right.

Fantastic. I am Jeff Duden, and we have been with the great Sean Merriman, and we have been on the home front. Sean, thank you so much for being on.