And while his example is enough proof that he’s put his past in the past, Williams takes it a step further by talking to the young people in the area about life, business, and making the right decisions. He learned that the hard way, and he hopes the kids he talks to will be able to avoid those bumps in the road.
“I take my time to go speak to the kids, teach them about making wise decisions,” he said. “The older kids in the high school, I tell them about building credit and investing, stuff that they really don’t teach but you really need to learn in life. I just try to be that person that I needed when I was growing up. A little guidance goes a long way. You don’t know who might be dealing with certain things or who might have dealt with similar things that you were. It might be inspiring to them just to know that you came from nothing and you’re doing this.”
Not just doing it, but doing it at the highest level of the sport in the UFC. If that doesn’t keep someone’s mind straight, nothing will. Williams knows this.
“MMA gave me the discipline, it gave me something to look forward to, it gave me something to know that if I get in trouble, everything that I’ve worked for could just be gone in an instant,” he said. “The years of fighting, all the miles, all the time in the gym, the blood, sweat and tears, it could just be gone just like that. So it really gave me the discipline to calm down and chill out. And I have a growing fan base. Everywhere I fight, I get more fans and that was from amateur all the way to the pros and all the way to the UFC. And I just want to continue that, so it really changed my life a lot, just to know that I have people looking up to me.”
Yeah, it’s a feel-good story and an inspiring one, but don’t think for a second that Williams is simply happy to be here. No, he’s got a message for the 170-pound weight class that they only got a hint of last month in Houston.
“I’m not in fighting for the money,” he said. “I’m in it for the continued pursuit of growth. One day I want to be a champion, I want to have that title, I want to say I did it. People sleep on you and I love being the underdog because they never see you coming. I’m hungry. I’m here. I am the future in the welterweight division. And they’re gonna see me and they’re gonna know about me. It might not be tomorrow, it might not be next weekend, but I guarantee they’re gonna know.”
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