SIMMONS: For former NFL star Shawne Merriman the show must go on in MMA

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This is fight week for Shawne Merriman, which is almost every week of his life.

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He used to be known as Lights Out as a football player, an obvious nickname picked up in high school that stuck with him through his eight years of playing the kind of linebacker he played for the San Diego Chargers and the Buffalo Bills.

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Now it’s not just his nickname. It’s his career. Merriman, who was drafted 12 spots ahead of Aaron Rodgers in 2005 is the CEO, the president, the promotor, the director of marketing, the only shareholder, the matchmaker, the worrier and the chief bottle washer with Lights Out Xtreme Fighting, a mixed martial arts company.

He wasn’t just a good football player — he was a great one. The year after he was defensive rookie of the year, he led the NFL in sacks. Another year, he led in tackles behind the line of scrimmage. Three times he went to the Pro Bowl. Now he watches and comments on football from afar and from the inside, but it’s his passion for his MMA business that takes up all his time.

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“I now understand why Dana White has no hair,” said Merriman, semi-joking on the phone from California. “Behind the scenes, there can be all kinds of chaos. Fight week can be crazy, you never know what’s going to happen. I had a fighter ready to go on Saturday night when he got head-butted while training, cracked his nose, had to pull out and then I had to go and find a replacement for him. That stuff happens. You just have to deal with it. You get used to it.”

This isn’t the UFC. This is basically the Triple-A version of mixed martial arts. One of the main event fighters for his card outside San Diego this week is Jared Vanderaa, a former UFC heavyweight who is looking to work his way back to the big time. Lights Out Xtreme is a landing spot for those hoping to make it big and for those trying to recapture what they once might have had.

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Merriman became fascinated with hand-to-hand combat while he was starring in the NFL. One day he wound up in the gym of NFL commentator Jay Glazer and he met the legendary Randy Couture. Couture began running Merriman through some drills, all of them working on using his hands, improving his leverage, and moving laterally better, all of the MMA training intended to make him a better pass rusher.

Over time, he got to know Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell, two of the biggest names in the sport, and Merriman became fascinated with the process, with the fighters themselves, with the forever-growing combat sport. At first, he was making his living after retirement working on the NFL Network, doing some talking for FOX Sports and ESPN. All the while knowing there was something else he wanted to do.

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He started Xtreme Lights Out in 2019, got sacked by the pandemic as we all were, and now is working his way back to prominence with his shows doing more than decent numbers on FUBO, the large streaming network best known for soccer. The main event Saturday night is Vanderaa fighting Chuck Campbell.

If those names don’t mean anything to you, pick up a Triple-A boxscore somewhere and try to figure out how many baseball players you actually know in the minors. They’re all on their way, or so they think, just knocking on the door of what might come next.

The last Xtreme show in May did Top 10 North American numbers on FUBO in Canada and the U.S.

The show Saturday night is Merriman’s biggest card yet. Twelve fights in all. Six professional. Six amateurs. The amateurs looking to turn professional.

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Merriman was an innovator on the football field. He wants to be that now with Xtreme.

He does all this while still keeping an eye on the NFL. It’s pretty much impossible to live in America, turn on your television set, and not be consumed with NFL talk. It’s everywhere, all year round. And Merriman hears so much about Rodgers, the only player from their 2005 NFL draft class still active.

“He’s one of those guys that comes around once every 15 or 20 years,” Merriman said of Rodgers. “I feel fortunate. I wanted to play 10 years and I played eight. I worried the way I played the game, if I played too long … I didn’t want any of the problems (with his brain). I got out at the right time.

“I still went through a lot. I went through depression, anxiety, and the kind of loneliness that so many ex-players go through. I knew I needed something to focus on to get through this.”

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At first, he was sparring two or three times a week. The more time he spent in the gym, the more the combat fascinated him. The more he realized there was a business opportunity here. He had earned $22 million in eight NFL seasons. He turns 40 in May. He’s young by non-athletic standards. And like most former pro athletes, with a regret or two.

“The ’06 Chargers was the best team I ever played on,” said Merriman. “We had Phillip Rivers at quarterback, LaDainian Tomlinson running the ball, Antonio Gates at tight end, we had a lot of unstoppable guys.” The team finished with a 14-2 record, best in franchise history, one of the best seasons ever, but lost in the playoffs to Tom Brady and the New England Patriots.

The Chargers missed out on a game-winning field goal. You don’t get over that easily. But Merriman is too caught up in the present, in today, in Saturday’s night fight card, to worry about nostalgia. “This is a big show for us,” he said. There are no small shows anymore.

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