© Marc Wickert
www.knucklepit.com
Daniel Molina has been chilling out at home, watching TV, and says there hasn't been anything of particular interest on, so he was just flicking through the channels. 'The He-Man' is having two days off from his rigorous training schedule and he's glad to just rest up a bit.
"Right now I'm in Susanville, but we're getting ready to do the move to Reno, which is about an hour and a half away. Ken Shamrock has a fighters' house up here in the mountains, and that's where I stay during the week," says Daniel.
Martial arts is a natural way of life for Molina who took up karate when most kids were still playing in sand pits. "It was Lima Lama karate. I'm not sure what the difference is – I think all karate is kinda the same really. My older brother and dad were involved in karate, so I wanted to do what they were doing. I was begging to go along, so at three years of age, they signed me up for classes."
However, it was while attending a class of a different kind that caused Daniel to try his hand at mixed martial arts: "I had to do a paper for high school and we were asked to pick a career, so I thought ultimate fighting would be a really cool topic for my paper. Well, my English teacher didn't approve it, saying mixed martial arts wasn't a real career. I wanted to prove to her that there is a team competition now, and it's a growing sport… Wait a few years and everybody's going to hear about it.
"I'd just got done with wrestling season so I was in pretty good shape. I visited www.kenshamrock.com and saw they had a tryout going on in three weeks' time for fighters to represent the Lion's Den. Then I told my dad and he doesn't really argue with me: Once I had my mind made up, he couldn't really talk me out of it, and he knew better.
"He called Bob Shamrock and convinced him that although I was only 16, I could hang in there with the older guys and pass the tryout. So I went along to prove my English teacher wrong… This was before the IFL invited Ken to coach a Lions team."
Daniel, have you spoken to your English teacher since then?
"No; she moved so I haven't seen her since."
She hasn't gotten in touch to asked you for an autograph?
"Ha, ha… No she hasn't."
How many people auditioned at the tryouts?
"About 18, and we had from 155- to 220-lb divisions."
Were you middleweight at the time?
"I was 170, but I lied about my weight because I didn't want to get turned down for being too small. I wasn't sure if they had a lightweight division then, so I said I was close to 190, but I didn't look it at all."
How many of you made it through the elimination process?
"Four of us passed."
Are the other three still there?
"No, they all left. I'm the only one still with Ken, but two of the guys are still fighting to this day."
What did the tryout involve: Does Ken still do the500 squats and that sort of thing?
"Yes, he does. But it was the last thing we did that day and I only had to do 200: If you can do 200, you can do 500, but your legs usually go numb. There was a lot of other stuff we did at the tryout and once they saw me do 200, they knew I could keep going."
Do members of the IFL Lions team train together much?
"Yeah, that's part of the deal: If you're on the Lions team you have to move here, and we all live in the fighters' house together for training."
Do you train with Vernon White?
"Oh, yeah; I've been training with him for years now. I can't ask for anything more: Anytime I have a question, he has the answer."
Does Bob Shamrock have much to do with the team now?
"Not as much. Every night we go to Ken's house for dinner and we see him there and that… He doesn't really have much involvement anymore."
When you say you go to Ken's house for dinner every night, who does that involve?
"The whole IFL Lions team, all the Lion's Den fighters, and sometimes friends of the family."
So how many people will be there for dinner on a given night?
"With Ken's family, probably about 30 people."
It's a real family atmosphere then?
"Oh, definitely."
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