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MATT HUGHES Part
8 The Hit-Squad Man
Page 2 - part 6 - 8 ©
Marc Wickert It’s
hard to believe the most successful welterweight ever, Matt Hughes,
first debuted in the Octagon at UFC 22 on September 24, 1999. At
the time, Matt was nearing his 26th birthday when he defeated Valeri
Ignatov by decision. The rest, as they say, is history – but
what an inspiring history it is! Now
34, Hughes is recouping at home in Illinois after suffering a knee
injury during his last fight, so Knucklepit.com asks Matt how the
healing process is coming along. “I find out more in a month,
but it seems to be doing really well. I’m hoping I can train on it
in a month or two months, fairly hard, and I’m hoping to have my
next fight in January,” says Hughes. “I
had the first MRI and I totally tore the MCL on my left leg and
partially tore what’s called the PCL, but they’re saying they’re
rebuilding themselves on their own, so I don’t think I’ll have to
have surgery – we’ll see. In a month, I’ll be having
another MRI and I’ll know for sure what’s happening.” Although
most injuries tend to occur during training, when two freight trains
meet head on in the Octagon anything can happen. Unfortunately
for Matt, this injury was sustained during his battle with Thiago
Alves at UFC 85. “It
happened at the very ending of that fight: I went for a shot and my
knee gave out on me. That’s what happened to me in the fight
– my knee went out, and that’s why I fell back. I really
didn’t feel affected by his knee whatsoever. My knee going out
had a lot to do with it.” The
mending process for Matt requires him to avoid hamstring exercises,
such as leg curls, whilst other movements get the specialist’s tick
of approval. “I do leg extensions and some presses… I’ve
got a very good brace right now to keep my knee in alignment… just
rehab stuff, so not much weight, just moving my leg around and keeping
that range of motion.” Matt,
with Team Hughes, do you run your own gym now? “I
do have my own gym, but I wouldn’t say I run it, so to speak: I have
a general manager who’s there all the time and I have coaches, Marc
Fiore, Robbie Lawler, Matt Pena… all the guys from TUF: Season
Six are there, and I have another grappling coach. I’m
there on certain days, so I’ve got my designated time to teach, but
I’m still competing at present and the gym is not something I want
to worry about right now.” Where
is your gym? “It’s
in Granite City, Illinois, and it’s exactly an hour away from my
house and the website for it is: http://thehitsquad.com.” You’re
very patriotic, and your autobiography is called ‘Made in
America’. Does it concern you that everything seems to be made
overseas these days? “You know, it’s funny how that is: Our vehicles are made overseas and it seems that our country finds cheaper labor to do all this, so whether it’s building cars or radios or whatever, I don’t like it that everything seems to be made abroad. And foreign cars…You know it’s funny – a lot of foreign cars are more American made than a lot of American cars, because many foreign cars are assembled in the United States, whereas many of the American companies are doing everything overseas nowadays.”
(During
the interview, Matt briefly stops to sign a T-shirt for a fan who has
been waiting to see his hero). Have
you heard the Bob Dylan song ‘Union Sundown’ (Infidels – 1983)? “I
don’t know if I’ve listened to that song or not.” Dylan
tells about how everything is built overseas and I thought you’d be
interested in the lyrics. “Bob
Dylan, Union Sundown. I’ll have to look that up.” What
crop are you farming at the moment? “We’re
farming corn, beans and wheat, and our crops are doing excellently.
We had a very wet Spring and it took us a little while to get our
crops in, but we got great rain since then and great weather, so our
crops are fabulous – we couldn’t ask for anything more.” And
with your knee brace, you can still do your farm work? “I
can definitely drive a tractor and there’s some lifting I don’t do
– I’m very cautious of that, but I can still work on the farm.” You’re
the most successful welterweight ever. What is in your book?
Is it about training? “There
would be a little bit about training, but basically it’s my life
story: how I grew up and how I became who I am today. A lot of
that has to do with my twin brother, Mark, and there’s some behind
the scenes this and that, but just kinda what made me who I am.” Will
you be attending the GSP vs. Jon Fitch fight? How do you expect
that to go? “I
will be in attendance and I think Georges is going to have his way,
whatever he wants to happen in the fight. I don’t think Jon
Fitch has the wrestling to keep Georges from doing anything; I don’t
think Fitch has the striking to keep Georges at bay on the feet; and I
don’t think Fitch is going to be able to do anything off his back
against him. I really see it being a one-sided fight.” And,
Matt, you’re talking about fighting again next January; will that be
against Matt Serra? “I’ve
been told that that will be my next fight, but between now and January
is a lot of time: We’ll just see what happens.” That
will be a lot of healing time for you. “Yes,
but I don’t know if Matt will fight before then or not, so we’ll
just have to see what happens.” Either
way, he’s the guy you’d like to fight. “He’s
the guy I could really train for: Nobody’s going to have to push me
to go in the gym to train for Matt Serra.” Your
sponsors? “UFC,
Dollamur Sport Surfaces, Patrick Flanigan Xtreme Sport Shooter, One
More Round, Nutritox Nutrition Detoxification, www.centurymartialarts.com
www.knightrifles.com
Hornady Precision Ammunition, Dale’s Harley Davidson, Round 5, and
Bushmaster Firearms.”
For
more on Matt Hughes and to order his book: www.matt-hughes.com. For
info on Matt’s gym: http://thehitsquad.com.
For
more on UFC: www.ufc.tv.
MATT
HUGHES Matt’s Blog
©
Marc Wickert All
photos copyright 2004 Zuffa LLC It’s
9:30 Wednesday evening in Bettendorf, Iowa, and UFC World Welterweight
Champion, Matt Hughes, has just finished the day off with some stand-up
training. It’s
a far cry from Hughes’s other life as a farmer in Hillsboro, Illinois,
where he spends time with his family, and works lengthy hours on their
farm alongside twin brother, Mark. And somehow Matt manages to allocate
time from his already busy schedule to work on restoring old Chevys, and
restoring the lives of children at the Mexican Rancho-3M Christian
Orphanage – a project that is dear to Matt’s heart. But
for the moment, this eight-time World UFC Welterweight Champion is
focusing his attention on reversing a loss he suffered to Hawaii’s BJ
Penn at UFC 46: Supernatural. Having won his last five battles
since the encounter with BJ on January 31, 2004, Matt will now have his
chance to turn the tables on Penn at UFC 63 on September 23, 2006. During
Matt’s most recent battle, against Royce Gracie, Hughes totally
dominated the BJJ legend throughout the bout until referee Big John
McCarthy was forced to pull it up at 4.39 into round one. “I was happy
with the fight, but I was somewhat disappointed in Royce. I thought he
would have been better on the ground than he was,” says Hughes. Many
predicted Matt would avoid the ground fighting in his meeting with Royce
at UFC 60: Hughes vs. Gracie, but it was Matt who took Royce down
at 1:22 into the opening round. And when he fitted the Brazilian with a
kimura, Matt was bending Royce’s arm in directions it just wasn’t
meant to go. Even Hughes was a little surprised when Gracie wouldn’t submit. “Kind of, but that’s not a real… I just don’t think you can generate enough power in that move to really hurt somebody the way you can with a straight arm-bar. So it wasn’t too awful a surprise. I could hear his arm making noises, but he wasn’t doing anything about it.”
Matt,
what was it like competing in a venue the size of the Staples Center? “My
biggest venue before that would have been the MGM in Vegas. It was
pretty interesting: The day before the show we did a press conference
there and we got to look around, and gosh – it is a huge, huge place.
We couldn’t believe it.” A
good size place to win at? “Yeah.” You’ve always said you’ll fight whoever UFC puts in front of you, but are you glad it’s now going to be BJ Penn - so you can update the records? “Sure.
Before I was fighting a guy who I’d already beaten, and now I get to
fight a guy who has beaten me, so I have the opportunity to avenge a
loss.” Georges St. Pierre said he thinks if it’s a short fight, it will be BJ Penn’s, and if it goes past two or three rounds, it will be yours. Will your strategy be to wear BJ down and frustrate him? “Definitely.
And I agree with Georges: The longer the fight goes the better off I am.
I’m going to try to wear him out as much as I can and try to keep the
fight going as long as I can.” How
did you compare strengthwise last time? “Well
I don’t know that we got into a situation where it was power-on-power,
and where I could feel any strength of his. By no means do I think he
was overpowering me, I’ll say that.” What
will be his strengths? “His
quick hands, definitely. He’s an athlete - there’s no doubt about
it. So we’ll just have to see.” From
BJ’s bout with Georges, did you pick up any holes in his game? “Sure.” Does the success of the Silverbacks’ team in the IFL indicate just how high the caliber of fighters is at Team Miletich? “We have a handful of people here – definitely.”
You
pretty much train the same for all your fights, don’t you? “Yes,
I do.” So have you made many adjustments to your preparation now that it’s BJ and not Georges? “The
training will be a lot alike. I’ve had to mix up my boxing a little
because they’re a little different, but mostly they are a lot alike.
But it wasn’t like going from a great striker to a great grappler:
They’re just very similar.” Will
this be the first time you and Pat have fought on the same day? “No,
when I fought Hayato Sakurai (UFC 36 Worlds Collide), Pat fought
Matt Lindland. So we’ve fought on the same card before, but this will
be the first time we won’t be fighting in the same building.” What’s
the mood like in the gym with so many guys getting ready for that
weekend? “It’s
a great training atmosphere.” What’s
happening on the farm at the moment? “We’re
getting ready to get the corn out.” Matt,
is there anything you’d like to add? “No,
you’ve done a good job.” Your
sponsors? “UFC,
Go Fast Sports, Xyience, Toyo, Jostes Concrete, In Ya Face, Powerblock,
and MMA Fightwear.” You
can keep right up with Matt by checking out his diary. Just go to www.matt-hughes.com and click on Matt’s Blog.
For more on UFC 63: www.ufc.tv.
MATT HUGHES
Part 6
A Well Middle-Grounded Fighter
 Matt Hughes retains his welterweight title at UFC 52
© Marc Wickert
www.knucklepit.com
All photos copyright 2004 Zuffa LLC
Photography by Joshua Hedges It’s one week before eight-time UFC Welterweight Champion, Matt Hughes, defends his title against one of the most successful combatants in MMA history – Royce Gracie. And the calmness in Matt’s voice echoes the tranquil waters surrounding the Farallon Islands before a great white shark-attack. "I’m with my wife, Audra. She’s pregnant and we’re going to get something to eat. We’re driving right now," says Hughes. "This will be our third child, and August 4 is the due date. It’s going to be a girl, and we’re naming her Hannah Grace Hughes." Matt is emphatic about the spelling of the name: "No. Not Hannah Gracie Hughes." At UFC 58, Matt said he agreed with the judges’ decision for the St. Pierre vs Penn fight, but admits he was surprised that it was a split decision. "Yeah. As far as the total amount of damage, I think BJ did more total damage, but it’s scored on three separate rounds. BJ won the first one easily, and Georges won the second and third barely. Georges won the fight by winning two out of three rounds. BJ probably did more damage in the first round, but that’s not how a fight is scored." Prior to the bout, St. Pierre predicted Penn would come out very hard early in the fight. And Georges appeared to adopt the policy of weathering the storm in the first round, before taking control later in the fight. When Hughes defended his belt against St. Pierre at UFC: War of ’04, he appeared to absorb the pressure applied by St. Pierre for most of the first round before submitting Georges with an arm bar. However Matt disagrees that this waiting-game strategy reminded him of his own approach to most of his fights. "No, not really, because I don’t weather the storm: I put the storm out there. Usually people have a hard time dealing with my first round. And a lot of times I can break people mentally in my first round. So I would have been more the BJ there than the Georges. Generally, if you put a rough first round on them they will collapse on you down the road. So that’s more my style." A number of times during the St. Pierre vs Penn feud, the cameras focused on Hughes who seemed to be taking in the war with great pleasure – despite knowing both men were giving their all for the right to challenge Hughes again down the track. When asked if he saw anything displayed by either fighter at UFC 55 that particularly worried him, Matt replied: "No. No, I didn’t. I actually don’t think either one really impressed me. Maybe they were just evenly matched, but I walked away from that fight feeling very confident about facing either one of them."
Matt, how long have you been training for your bout against Royce Gracie? "For over three months I’ve been training for Royce. I’m probably in some of the best shape of my life. I’ve spent it lifting weights. About four months ago I started lifting weights pretty heavily, and I’ve put some size on, so I think I’ll be a little thicker for this fight." Will you be heavier? "When I get to weigh in I’ll be 175, so it will definitely be my heaviest." Will you be doing a similar thing to Rich Franklin – dieting right up to the weigh-in and then packing on the weight? "Yeah, something like that." It seems there will be two battles being fought: the current champion vs the past legend, and Gracie Jiu Jitsu vs Mixed Martial Arts. Is that the case? "Very much so." And you can see limitations in just doing Gracie BJJ? "Yes. Looking at a one-dimensional fighter against a well-rounded, multi-dimensional fighter. I think you’ve got to couple his submissions with wrestling, and I don’t think he’s got the wrestling to take me down. So he’s going to have to jump guard or do something to drag me to the ground. Or I’m going to be able to stand with him, I think. The wrestling just allows you to take people down, and he doesn’t have that factor." Will Royce’s reach advantage be a problem? "I think he has two things that are going to slow me down in the stand-up game. One is his reach: He’ll have maybe two inches on me. The other is going to be his unorthodox fighting style. If he possessed a more traditional style, with his talent I’d be able to go right through him. But he’s an unorthodox fighter and at our gym we’re all pretty talented strikers. But I don’t have anybody like him to train against. You can take it as being unorthodox or as just being a bad striker, but he’s not a technical striker whatsoever." His style is not an unknown quantity for you though, is it? You would have seen plenty of his tapes. "Yes. I do know what to expect, but he’s never really been taught, so…Some people get into a rhythm about what they are going to do, however, he has no rhythm about what he’s going to do. I’m ready for anything, but I’m not going to be able to expect what’s coming next from him. "I don’t think he’s got any power, so it’s not going to be the end of the world if I get hit. If I can hit him two or three times, impose my will and show him my power, I think he’ll change his mind and really not be comfortable on his feet." He’s not a guy known for his KO power. You wouldn’t expect the papers to carry the headlines: Matt Hughes KO’d by Gracie, would you? "The papers have never displayed that before, but it is a possibility." Can you get in close enough with your strikes without letting him take you down? "Well, my background is wrestling, so when it comes to getting in close, we’ve worked on two or three things regarding what to do and striking with him. With what my boxing coach has taught me, I believe my striking is good enough. When I come in there, I’m going to be throwing and moving. He’s always going to be somewhat chasing me." Will his idea of a stand-up fight be to attack your front leg with kicks? "He does throw a roundhouse leg-kick as well as a front kick, so he’s going to be one of those guys who wants enough distance where I can’t touch him, or he’s going to want to be right up next to me. He’s not going to want that middle ground whatsoever. He’s going to throw those kicks and try to keep me away from him, and he’s going to try to wait for me to come in on him, and grab me. I think I have a pretty good understanding of what he’s going to do, and we’ve been working a lot on that middle ground and keeping him at my range." After all the southpaw opponents you’ve fought – such as Joe Riggs – and the many you’ve trained with, will the southpaw stance be an issue? "Royce kinda stands however his feet are. If he’s in southpaw stance, he’s going to box or kick that way. And if he’s in conventional stance, he’s going to kick that way. If he falls down or stands up, whichever foot is forward is how he kinda stays. I don’t think he has a set rhythm." He’s fought bigger and stronger guys. Will the difference here be that you’ll be smart and stronger? "He’s definitely fought bigger and stronger guys than I am. But I don’t think he’s fought guys as smart, well-rounded, and as technical as I am – whether it be with the grappling, the striking on the ground…There’s a lot more that I bring to the table than the one-dimensional fighters he’s fought in the past, who were just big and strong. "I want to show the world that the sport has evolved and a one-dimensional fighter just can’t handle being in the sport. You’ve got to be multi-dimensional to be successful." If he’s assuming the ground belongs to him, could he be in for a rude surprise? "I definitely think so. With my wrestling and the control I have on the ground, I just don’t see him submitting me. I’m willing to go out and say I do not think he’s going to submit me. Now, could I go out there and make two or three mistakes and he catches me? Yes, it could happen, but I just don’t think it will." Maybe it’s because you’ve been talking about filling his face with leather, or because people are saying, "Wow, Gracie Jiu Jitsu," that they’re assuming if it hits the floor, you’re going to be in trouble. Could that be a misconception? "Correct. Just because it hits the ground doesn’t mean it’s his world. I’m very comfortable on the ground – whether I’m on top or on the bottom. I train at what I think is the best gym in the world (Team Miletich), and we roll three times a week. We roll intense and we grapple intense. We’re always working on things, so by no means am I saying he’s going to have any sort of an advantage there. What he’s doing when it hits the ground is making himself feel more comfortable." Matt, before you arrive at the restaurant, could you just let readers know about your new website? "It’s www.matt-hughes.com. I’ve got a good web man, and there’s a lot of information on there if people are interested." Your sponsors? "Xyience and Tapout." For more on UFC 60: www.ufc.tv.
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