This morning Isaiah Martinez said a final goodbye to his father who was battling stage four liver cancer as we learned in episode one of To Hell and Back. Isaiah and his father forged a strong bond through the sport of wrestling. The two spent countless hours driving around central California from tournament to tournament. Wrestling is so much more than a sport, it is a way of life, a teacher and a centerpiece to many families.

Isaiah recalls a funny story about the first time he cut weight when he was eight years old and what happened afterward. It's little things like this that he will always have to rememeber the time spent with his father.





"The first time I cut weight. So like I said before, me and my dad we didn’t know nothing about the sport. We were just going and trying to get the best competition. I was making weight for freestyle state. I think I was like 8 years old and it was like 3 pounds. I make weight and I’m like dying. I don’t know why, I’ve always been a baby about cutting weight. It wasn’t until I got into college that I learned how to do it and not be a baby about it. But, he was so happy that I made weight that he was like, ‘where do you want to eat at?’. And I’m thinking in my head, ‘where do I want to eat?’ and I go, 'Long John Silvers'. He doesn’t know, he’s not thinking in his head, ‘we probably shouldn’t do that before competition’. We don’t understand the sport at that level, you know at the time.

So we go to Long John Silver’s and we take it to go. And I’m eating, I’m eating having my, I love hush puppies. I’m sitting there and we’re on the freeway and I start getting motion sickness. I was like, ‘Oh my god…’ and it’s because of the cutting weight. I was a child and it affected my body a little different. He’s like, ‘Do you need to throw up?’ and I’m like, ‘yeah’. We had this big bag go of Long John Silvers because we bought, I don’t know why we bought so much. But I took it and threw up in it and threw it out the window. He turns his head and looks back at me and I have another platter sitting on my lap and I’m eating it. He’s like, ‘Don’t, what are you doing? Don’t do that’. I didn’t get it at the time, but I thought that was really funny. We were so naive about the sport that he’s just so happy and is like, ‘Where do you want to eat at?’. And I’m like, ‘Long John Silver’s!’”

This morning my pops passed away. Thank you for making me the man I am today. I love you and I will always miss you pic.twitter.com/KqFTvcaXj5

— Isaiah Martinez (@Imar165) October 29, 2015