The Legend Continues - Matt Hughes

MMA Sport issue 11 interview exclusive with Matt Hughes. By Tony Leone for MMA Sports.

I got the distinct opportunity to sit down and talk with the former 9-time World Welterweight Champion of the UFC who is still, considered by many to be the best welterweight champions to have ever fought in Mixed Martial Artist. In this interview we pretty much went in depth with where he’s at right now in his career, how his training is going, and his thoughts on his next opponent, his new training facility, and his future with the sport. It was an honor to sit down and get the opportunity to speak with him especially before his next fight coming up.

Tony: First off, how have you been and what’s new going on with Matt Hughes these days?
Matt: Well, I’ve been doing great. Training for a fight coming up June 7th against Alves.

Tony: Just recently I came across a site called “one more round clothing,” how did that come about and what is your involvement with the clothing line?
Matt: My involvement would be part owner. One more round and that came about when I was taping TUF 6 out in Vegas and a guy approached me about a clothing line and wanted to involve me in it, so I liked the idea. I liked the concept, I definitely liked the name “one more round”, its just a good attitude to have in life to be honest. No matter what goes on at your days work, you always got to go one more day, and you always got to put in one more round. So I’m not a quitter and I totally disagree with that attitude so you just got to go on.

Tony: Do you like the idea of new clothing lines are trying to help out the fighters with sponsorships and magazine advertisements to help promote the fighters?
Matt: Well sure, any time we can get our name out there and put some money in a fighters pocket that works out great in both ways.

Tony: And as far as helping people, which is something you like to do, coaching is that something you love doing?
Matt: Yeah, I love to do it, I opened a gym in Grant City called The Hit Squad and you know I go down there 4 days a week and train and coach and you know I’ve always loved to do that since I was a college wrestler and so it just works out good for me.

Tony: Which leads me to my next question about hit squad, can you tell us a little bit about the new gym and when did it open?
Matt: It opened, the first part of February. And it’s going great. We’ve got over 100 members right now and it’s around 14,000 sq feet of gym so 4,000 sq ft of mat, 4,000 sq ft of resistant training, 4,000 sq ft of boxing facility, and 2,000 sq ft with nothing but cardio on it. We had a huge building and I got to cut it up and do whatever I wanted with it so it’s like gold’s gym with everything in it plus all the martial arts area with the wrestling mats and the boxing.

Tony: Now your next opponent Thiago Alves, do you feel this is going to be an interesting match between the two of you?
Matt: I think this is a very traditional match, you know, the striker versus the wrestler. So he’s going to be looking to keep it on his feet and look for the KO, with his hands, his knees and his kicks, and I’m going to look to take him down and beat him up on the ground so it’s nothing new in the sport.

Tony: Do you like that Thiago has a previous record of winning fights by KO’s, rather then a fighter coming in who always wins by a decision?
Matt: Well it really doesn’t matter to me you know, I always look at if he’s close enough to hit me with a knee or a punch I’m definitely close enough to take him down, so you know with my experience playing a big factor in this I think that the advantage is on my side. I like the fact that I’m older then he is and I’ve got a lot more experience then he does, this is going to be the first time that I know of that he is the main event in a fight, so hopefully he’s got a little bit more pressure from it and hopefully that will play into the fight.

Tony: Right before you fight who are some of the people you have around you, to keep you focused and strong mentally right before you fight?
Matt: Well it could be a variety of people, the more the better, a lot of the times Jeremy Horn, my brother Mark Hughes, Marc Fiore one of my coaches, Robbie Lawler, Mark Furry another coach of mine my wrestling coach, so you know Ronnie Cox my former manager he’s a great guy to have around. So I mean, Pat Miletich, you know any of those guys that are like family and mean the world to me. You know before my fights my locker room is very easy going, there’s not head thrashing music going, nothing like that, a lot of times I’ll hit pads or I’ll grapple or I’ll pummel a little bit, and between those I’ll read the bible. So I mean it’s very easy going, a lot of joking around and a lot of laughing, and that’s what I like.

Tony: Aside from fighting what are some of the things you like to do when you’re not getting ready for a fight?
Matt: Well, number one definitely spending time with my family. Number two would be out on my farm, you know, I got an eight year old boy and he’s got a four wheeler and he’s got a gun so we spend a lot of time out there doing this or that. I love working on my farm, riding four wheelers and such, shooting guns, those are kind of my hobbies.

Tony: You are considered to be one of the greatest welterweight fighters in mixed martial arts history, with impress wins over guys like: BJ penn, Sean sherk, Frank Trigg, st.pierre, and of course Royce Gracie. When it comes time to hang-up the gloves and retire, what are some of the things you see yourself doing once you become a retired professional athlete?
Matt: I’ll definitely be doing the things I told you earlier, spending time with my family, I’ll be down at the gym training people, I’ll be out on the farm working and of course I’ll be traveling for the UFC and doing things for them as well. When I retire from fighting I’ll step back from the sport a little bit but by no means will I get all the way out.

Tony: Was there anyone you would like to thank before you head out Matt?
Matt: Well I guess I really wouldn’t be where I’m at if it wasn’t for my manager Monte Cox, and my first trainer Pat Miletich, those two people really started me in my direction and with out them two I would not be where I’m at and without the UFC, Dana White and the Fertitta’s I wouldn’t be where I’m at. So you know, because of those people that have indeed me, and lead me to who I am today. They put the pieces, you know you can say I’m kind of a puzzle and those people are some major pieces in the puzzle, Matt Hughes.