#130 - The MMA Demon Hunter: From Cocaine Addiction To Now Saving Kids From Predators In Jesus Name w/Garrett Gross

September 21, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

From Cage to Calling: Garrett Gross on Addiction, Redemption, and Hunting Predators

Garrett Gross has been shot twice, had four bullets fly over his head while sitting in a shower, and once took blood-pressure medication meant for a child after a cocaine binge—nearly dying in his father's apartment above the garage. "I should be dead," he says flatly. Today, instead of selling cocaine shipped in iPhone boxes, he runs Operation 172, a nonprofit that hunts child predators online. The transition from MMA fighter and drug dealer to predator catcher didn't happen overnight, and it didn't happen without a fight.

The Violence That Shaped Him

Gross grew up in Du Quoin, Illinois, a small town where he thought a university town with a movie theater and bowling alley was "the city." His parents divorced when he was four after his mother had an affair. The man she was seeing was an alcoholic, and there was physical abuse. By age six, Gross was living with his father—a strict disciplinarian raised during the Great Depression. "I was polite, I said Mr. and Mrs., yes ma'am," Gross recalls. "But there was a lot of great things I learned from that. Also, to me, it was out of tradition. It has to be connected to the gospel."

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What you'll learn

1 (00:00) **Opening Prayer and Introduction** - Garrett Gross opens with a prayer, then the host introduces his background as an MMA fighter, former addict, and now founder of Operation 172 catching online child predators.
2 (04:34) **Childhood and Family Roots** - Garrett describes growing up in small-town Du Quoin, Illinois, and the early fracture of his family.
3 (10:50) **Parenting Philosophy and Discipline** - Garrett explains his approach to fatherhood, contrasting his own upbringing with a biblically grounded, intentional style.
4 (20:57) **Entry into Fighting** - Garrett traces his love for fighting from childhood self-defense to his discovery of MMA.
5 (26:04) **Early Adulthood: Drugs, Crime, and Prison** - Garrett details his descent into cocaine addiction, partying, and incarceration in his late teens and early twenties.
6 (41:53) **The Ankle Monitor Fight** - Twelve days after getting out of prison, Garrett fought in an MMA match while wearing an ankle monitor.
7 (45:47) **Bikers, Arm Wrestling, and Near-Recruitment** - Garrett recounts a night at a biker bar where he arm-wrestled and beat multiple outlaw bikers, then did cocaine with them.

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Show Notes

“They Look Completely Normal” | Inside the Mind of an Online Predator

Watch the full episode here: https://youtu.be/cnBcPvSMqa4

Episode 130 of The Wild Chaos Podcast is streaming NOW on YouTube and all major podcast platforms!

Who is Garrett Gross, and what is Operation 17:2?

Garrett Gross is a former professional MMA fighter, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt, husband, father, Christian and founder of Operation 17:2, an organization focused on protecting children and exposing adults who attempt to sexually exploit minors online.

But the man doing that work today has a past most people would never expect.

Before Operation 17:2, Garrett's life was filled with fighting, arrests, cocaine, partying, addiction and chaos. He openly shares how violence became part of his identity at a young age, why he loved fighting, his journey into professional MMA, and how success still failed to give him the purpose he was searching for.

At one point, Garrett says he was offered $10,000 to travel across state lines and assault a man he was told was a child predator. He accepted.

That story becomes even crazier as Garrett describes cocaine, dangerous connections, and the world he was living in before eventually confronting the direction of his life.

Years later, Garrett's relationship with Jesus Christ, becoming a husband and father, and his desire to protect children helped completely redirect his purpose.

Today, that mission is Operation 17:2. To learn more about @Op17two visit: https://op17two.com/ or follow Garrett on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/officialgarrettgross/?hl=en

Garrett takes us inside how Operation 17:2 uses decoy accounts and online conversations to identify adults attempting to communicate sexually with people they believe are minors. He explains the grooming and manipulation patterns he says his team repeatedly encounters, including adults attempting to identify vulnerabilities in a child's home life and asking questions about whether the child's father is present.

One of the most disturbing lessons from Garrett's work?

The people they encounter don't necessarily look dangerous.

They can look completely normal.

Garrett discusses encounters involving fathers, husbands and people who appear to be ordinary members of their communities, reinforcing why parents cannot rely on appearances alone when teaching their children about online safety.

This conversation goes far beyond catching alleged child predators.

Bam and Garrett have an unfiltered conversation abou