Mar 4, 2022
Today's guest is Terrance
"T.Wrecks" McKinney, on taking your second chance, fighting your
demons and chasing your dreams!
Terrance "T.Wrecks" McKinney is a professional fighter from Spokane, Washington. He trains at Warrior Camp gym located within Spokane. A standout high school wrestler, McKinney would go on to wrestle at Chadron State College in Nebraska, and North Idaho College. McKinney would have a scary encounter with death, his heart-stopping two times after injuring himself while on a bad mix of drugs and alcohol. This happened in 2015, when McKinney was just 20 years old. He changed his life around after this, and became a professional fighter. McKinney would find himself in a matchup with Sean "Sniper" Woodson on Dana White's contender series, where he would lose to a flying knee TKO in the second round.
Terrance said on the event that 5 years ago I overdosed and died (twice), 2 years ago I made it to UFC Contender Series and lost, but 3 weeks ago I made my debut and set a record. Don't let mistakes and losses define you. Every day is a new chance to be better than you were.
He now has the Fastest Knockout in Lightweight UFC History and is building towards becoming a legend in the sport.
- In this interview we discuss.
- How he changed his life from infamy to fame.
- Not letting your past define you and using your present to make a better future.
- How you can change your life and chase your dreams.
And so much more
Here are some key points that I would advise you to concentrate on
- Your past doesn't need to be your future. You can change your life at any moment, you just need to want it.
- You may need to go through hardships and trials in your life, to find out who you are as a person.
- Defining what a man is and what masculinity means to you will be different for you compared to any other man, but you can find good male role models in your life to help you find your own path.
- It takes true strength to say you are stepping away from a bad habit, friendship or relationship and becoming a better version of yourself.
- Teach your kids things you didn't know and give them the knowledge, it is better than just giving them what you didn't have. Knowledge will always be worth more than things.
- Good friends will help you become a better person in your life, they will not use you for entertainment or fun.
- You are better than an event in your life. Do not let mistakes define you and ruin your life. Own the mistake, apologize and the best apology is changed behavior.
- You can change right now, you don't need to wait till Monday, the new year, or whatever, you just need to want to make that change.
- You can't just stop bad behaviors, you may need to speak to a specialist to get help, spiritual help or go cold turkey or slowly phase it out. Ideally, you would change a bad behavior like drinking with a better hobby, like martial arts, working out etc, to replace the problem and build a better you from it.
- To truly change, do not think on how you will change, focus on why you want to change, focus on the why and the how will take care of itself.
- A team should be a family. A good gym will try and make you a better person on and off the mats.
- Taking up a combat sport may provide that masculine energy expenditure that is missing in your life.
- Learning and developing your skills is a lifelong journey - don't look at it as a session or lifting practice, look at the journey, not the destination, avoid small wins and then you get hurt, its ok to rest, take a session off, lower the intensity etc as you need to go. Listen to your body and initiate a recovery protocol.
- Be the professional fighter with your training, nutrition and recovery methods, act as you are an athlete and not just a hobbyist, act like an athlete and you'll train like one.
- The journey to change and improving yourself isn't easy, if it was everyone would be doing it, but the journey will be well worth the effort!
- You are the average of the five people you constantly hang around with. Pick a strong base of friends, teammates, relationships etc. Be there for others and look to make each other better.
- Do not rest on your laurels, Terrance may have the fastest knockout ever but Terrance is still training hard for the next fight. He is not being prideful and using that as an excuse, he puts his pride aside and works on bettering himself daily.
- Terrance knew he needed someone to speak to, to ask for help. It is a sign of strength to admit you need help, that you don't know what to do, and be open, honest, and vulnerable.
- Build a gameplan and practice things until you can do them with your eyes closed. Train at a high level of technique and skills as you can, so when you struggle, you will fall back to the highest level of your training and not your sense of fear etc.
- A loss is not a bad thing. A loss doesn't define you. You only truly lose when you give up. Use losses as a way to see where you need to work on, where you can improve etc.
- It is easier to stay close to fighting shape than it is to try and transform back to fighting shape. Get your water, diet and recovery dialled in and small treats etc won't completely ruin your weight cuts etc.
- "Practise is the place to make mistakes, so you don't make them in your fights'"
- Trust the process. Don't look for shortcuts. Trust in your team and dive in with both feet and chase your dreams.
Property of the UFC