Shawne Merriman: NFL to MMA, a $32K team dinner, how he got "Lights Out" nickname
NFL: Move the Sticks with Daniel Jeremiah & Bucky Brooks
NFL
4.7 • 3.2K Ratings
🗓️ 4 October 2023
⏱️ 50 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In the latest episode of the NFL Players: Second Acts podcast, hosts Peanut and Roman sit down with Shawne Merriman, the 2005 Defensive Rookie of the Year. Shawne shares stories from his NFL days, including a memorable rookie dinner that left him with a $32,000 bill. He also talks about the injuries that eventually led to his retirement and how he found a new passion in MMA and started his own company called Lights Out Xtreme Fighting. And in a fun twist, Peanut challenges Roman to a fight, and Shawne is ready to make it happen!
Time codes:
3:32 - Shawne tells his welcome to the NFL moment
4:43 - Shawne tells story about being stuck with a $32k bill
10:11 - Shawne talking about his dominant first three years in the NFL
11:59 - Shawne talks about playing 2007 with torn knee ligaments
16:15 - Shawne talks about the hit with Kevin Mawae hitting him in the knee that started his knee issues
17:13 - Shawne talks about getting a lot of tests while playing well
19:11 - Shawne on when he knew it was time to retire
23:40 - Shawne on the former player who challenged him to a fight on radio row - Kyle Turley
25:37 - Shawne on how he got into the MMA industry
27:17 - Shawne talks about his MMA league Lights Out Xtreme Fighting
31:02 - Shawne on the lessons he’s learned when starting his own company
32:32 - Shawne on how finding a passion in MMA has helped him in his transition
33:53 - Shawne’s advice for players interested in getting into MMA
38:08 - Shawne talks about how he knocked out 4 players in a high school game
40:18 - Shawne talks about when the Lights Out dance started
44:22 - Shawne shares who is on his personal Mount Rushmore
47:15 - Shawne on who he would want to battle in a cage match
NOTE: Time codes are approximate
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:02.6 | Guaranteed Human. |
| 0:04.9 | Highs Pro Football Hall of Fame, Leroy Butler. |
| 0:07.2 | And you're listening to the best podcast, the NFL players second acts podcast. |
| 0:26.2 | Thank you for tuning in to the NFL player second X podcast. |
| 0:30.2 | I'm Peanut Tumman, and this is my guy, Roman Harper. |
| 0:32.7 | He is the chaplain for the entire NFL. |
| 0:34.0 | Welcome to the show, Rome. |
| 0:35.2 | Thank you. |
| 0:36.7 | I mean, I appreciate it. |
| 0:39.0 | I mean, the best thing about this is that I literally have no idea what he's going to say. And so every, every beginning, it's like |
| 0:45.2 | Groundhog Day. We just have no idea what we're going to get. Thank you for that introduction, |
| 0:49.2 | Peanut. Yeah. And we are off and running again on this episode of NFL player's second axe podcast. |
| 0:55.4 | First of all, let's get all the things out of the way. |
| 0:57.8 | I want to thank all of our listeners for always tuning in and continue to tell a friend to |
| 1:03.1 | tell a friend to tell a friend wherever you listen or watch your podcast, whether it's |
| 1:07.6 | IHeart Radio, Apple Podcasts. |
| 1:10.7 | Please continue to do that. Give us a rating. Five stars Podcasts, please continue to do that. |
| 1:11.8 | Give us a rating. |
| 1:12.7 | Five stars, please. |
| 1:14.0 | And continue to hit that subscribe button and peanut, who we got in today. |
| 1:18.4 | We got a good one. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NFL, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of NFL and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.

