Joe Merritt goes from college football to Abercrombie model to UFC fighter
Joe Merritt might be making his debut this weekend as part of the UFC Fight Night card in Hollywood, Fla. But he's no stranger to having all eyes on him no matter what he's been doing since his teenage years.
Following a successful high school athletic career, Merritt signed on to play wide receiver for the University of Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks from 2004-06, racking up 32 catches and over 300 total yards of offense.
Merritt added another column to his resume while in school college after some girls he knew suggested that he try male modeling in his spare time. It wasn't a secondary career Merritt had really thought about previously, but before long he was getting offers to model for some serious clothing brands and suddenly it became something real.
"I modeled for Abercrombie and I started doing adidas, doing walkways -- and the opportunities kept coming so I just attack them," Merritt told FOX Sports. "It's something that I'm good at and can tap into when I want, but right now my main focus is fighting. Modeling, acting, fighting, I'm a triple threat, I'm going to do it all."
Eventually, Merritt relocated from Louisiana to California where he added acting and professional fighting to his list of accolades. It seems whatever the challenge, Merritt is more than willing to tackle it head on, and so far he's been winning at virtually everything he's touched during his life.
"I model and I'm also into acting, doing pilots here and there. I'm just trying to stay versatile. You can't be one-dimensional. It's like fighting, you have to show everything you have like we're artists," Merritt said. "Whether it's in the ring or outside the ring. It's all about opportunities."
This weekend, Merritt gets the call to step into the UFC Octagon for the first time where he'll face Brazilian lightweight Alex "Cowboy" Oliveira. In a perfect world, Merritt would have more than six days to prepare for a fight, but he's not sweating the details.
If there was one stutter step during Merritt's MMA career it was his recent attempt to score a spot on "The Ultimate Fighter," but when the show decided to look at welterweights instead of lightweights he had to explore other options. Somehow things always end up working out for Merritt, however, because just a few months later the UFC called and asked him to fight this weekend on short notice.
Somehow, it always works out for Merritt in the end.
"I let nature take its course. Everything works out in my favor," Merritt said. "I tried to make it on 'The Ultimate Fighter' and everything went extremely well but they decided to go for welterweight instead. But that's OK, I still got here and that's all that matters.
"I'm the biggest underdog ever, but I don't care. I'm just happy that I can get in there in fight."
As many hats as Merritt wears it might be easy to look at him ahead of the UFC event this weekend and wonder if fighting is really what's most important to him.
Merritt promises that no matter how much he loves acting, modeling or any other job he might take on in the future, fighting is the profession he loves most and that will always take precedent over anything else going on in his life. He plans to show just how much he loves it when he fights this weekend in Florida.
"Fighting always comes first," Merritt said.
"I'm trying to show the world what I can do. I'm going out to show what I can do. I just want to put on a good show and a good performance for the fans out there. People paid their money to see it, it's time to put on a show."
