By now most wrestling fans have seen the FloFilms original series To Hell and Back: Isaiah Martinez and know the story of Isaiah's father falling ill to stage four liver cancer. Unfortunately he passed away on October 29, but the entire wrestling community rallied around Isaiah for which he was very thankful. One guy who has been through much of it with Isaiah is Mark Perry. The two have a close bond and Mark recalls the evening when Isaiah broke the news to him. In Mark Perry's words: "You know he called me one night, or texted me, and asked if I’d come up and work out with him. It was late, I can’t remember what time, 8, 9, 10 o’clock at night. And we came up here and we worked out, we just drilled and went over some stuff and then when we went downstairs, he told me that his dad was sick and he had stage four cancer. He’s an intelligent kid, he’s given me the percentages of him getting through this and this and that. That was a different moment for me as a coach. Something I had never experienced in my life. I've been pretty fortunate for the most part, most of the ones, the close ones, the ones that really care about me haven’t had to go through things like that. So that was a first for me. I'm a guy that talks quite a bit. I was speechless, I was speechless. I didn’t really know what to say more than, just know that Coach Heffernan, myself, and Hunter -- I mean we’re here for you guys. You have family here, you have people to lean on through tough times. He told me that and to me, again, I don't know, I know Isaiah, but I saw a kid go from a boy to a man like, like overnight. The jump between worlds in the next day, I thought he was going in the right direction. To me that showed is like, he wants to be great after, he wants to do well. He doesn’t want to feel this again. He’s going to break through and he’s going to be a great college wrestler. But when we had that conversation and he’s vulnerable, I'm vulnerable, I’m vulnerable right now sitting here talking about it because it’s more than wrestling. It’s much, much bigger not just for his family but for people around the world, a lot of people unfortunately have to experience this and he, like I said, that night, I saw a boy turn into a man because the next day and from that point on, I mean, it was a man possessed." Isaiah with his family, father in the center Isaiah Martinez celebrating with Mark Perry after winning an NCAA title Can't express my gratitude towards the wrestling community enough. And everyone else that sent their support. My dad would be so proud man.

.post-content img { padding: 10px; } Isaiah Martinez and Jesse Delgado are both from California, both went to Illinios and both won NCAA titles. This is common knowledge for most wrestling fans. What most people don't know is that the two actually ran into each other twice in high school when Isaiah Martinez was a freshman and Jesse Delgado was a senior. During the filming of To Hell and Back, Illinios associate head coach Mark Perry talks about those two matches and what they told him about Isaiah. In the words of Mark Perry: "Like I said, you never know that early. It was more like when someone would introduce me to him when he was young. As a young kid most kids are pretty timid, he would look you right in the eye. You knew he was confident, he had a chip on his shoulder. Really when it settled in for me as a coach, I was at Cal Poly we recruited Jesse Delgado. He was very similar recruiting him, not nearly as highly touted coming out of high school but he had a great high school career. They wrestled for the third and fourth place match at the state tournament Jesse’s senior year, his freshman year. Jesse had beaten him pretty good earlier in the season, maybe at like masters or something. I was there and I saw that match, it was more of Jesse just picking him apart and hitting him with the things Jesse does well. For him to make that kind of adjustment in a short period of time, in a month. He put it on Jesse and not only did he put it on him, he got on his back like a horse at the end and was holding his head in the mat. Some people don’t like that but to me it’s just more of a confidence it’s not an arrogance thing. Right then I knew I got to find a way to get this kid somehow. He has something, just a confidence level. You can have all the skill in the world but if you don’t have that self belief and that confidence it’s going to eventually catch up to you. Seeing that at that young of an age, for me personally, I knew that he had something special."   Isaiah Martinez after winning the 2015 NCAA Championships Jesse Delgado after winning NCAA title #2 in 2014 Be sure to check out the Original Series To Hell and Back: Isaiah Martinez WATCH: Series Trailer WATCH: Episode One Episode Two airs on Wednesday November 4

   .post-content img { padding: 10px; }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.

.post-content img { padding: 10px; }Isaiah Martinez is always ready for a fight!

.post-content img { padding: 10px; }By now most wrestling fans have seen the FloFilms smash hit The Story of Cary Kolat. That series told a story of our wrestling history. We now move from the past to the present, but are still talking wrestling history. Last year Isaiah Martinez became the first freshman to go undefeated and win an NCAA title since Cael Sanderson did it in 1999.