Even though it lacked late-night room service, the Holiday Inn where I slept after UFC 82 had free wireless Internet in the rooms. Connecting to their system took me to a homepage which featured this 15-minute workout video hosted by Matt Hughes, where the former UFC champ discusses the fitness program he uses to develop his core. If you’re like me, you have an ass like a veal and a spine bent from years of office jobs and astigmatism, so I was definitely interested in some core-blasting tips from Hughes. Unfortunately, he leaves the actual workout demonstration to his assistants, and just shows up to do the introduction and provide occasional encouragement like “You can do this; just picture those rock-hard abs you’ve always wanted.” His delivery, by the way, is as wooden as Pinocchio’s dick. If you’re interested, give it a look before Holiday Inn’s lawyers make us pull it.

After day 1, my ass is still rather veal-like, but I’ll keep you posted.

(Matt Hughes “taking it” from GSP.)

An entry on Matt Hughes’ official blog yesterday announced that his book “Matt Hughes – Made in America” has reached number 21 on the New York Times Best Seller List. Here’s the announcement:

We just got the NY Times bestseller list in, and MADE IN AMERICA is #21! Thanks to all the fans for making this happen.

I did in fact go to the New York Times website and did not see the former UFC welterweight champ’s book listed there. I was ready to scream bullshit, or cry wolf, or whatever else it is someone roars when they think they’ve been duped – or want to start a revolution. Then an edit popped up on Matt’s blog and it appears he may have pulled it off.

EDIT: If you go to the NY Times website, you will see a list posted there that is dated January 20th, 2008 and MADE IN AMERICA is not on that list. That list only reflects sales for the week ending January 5th. My book should be on the list for the week ending January 12th, which hasn’t been posted to their website yet; but it should be in a week or two.

-Matt

Literary giant Matt Hughes is in Los Angeles this week hawking his autobiography “Matt Hughes – Made in America”. I caught his interview on the Mark and Brian show over at 95.5 KLOS this morning, where Hughes chatted about having “farmboy strength”, his kids, his allegedly hot wife, eating carbs, and his future plans. While nothing in this interview blew my skirt up, hard-core Hughes fans might want to check out the podcast when it goes on line – most likely later this week. Matt also took calls from listeners and dished out sage advice, like this piece of wisdom to one 14-year-old aspiring fighter:

“Never take a fight you don’t think you can win.”

Um, no shit. Guess that’s his farmboy smarts coming into play. The former champ also confirmed again that he will fight for another year or two, but is taking some time off right now. If you do check out the podcast, be ready to cringe at Mark and Brian’s idea of witty, as well as their absolute zero knowledge of the sport.

Many of you have weighed in on who BJ Penn might have been talking about when he said he has already found the Frazier to his Ali. Here’s a bit from The Sun that might shed some more light:

“Fighting GSP is all I think about every day. A rematch would be very good and I’ll make sure that I will 100 per cent guarantee victory if we fight again.” Penn also claimed he would be happy to face former welterweight champion Matt Hughes in a rubber match, but fears the veteran could walk away from mixed martial arts.

He added: “I’d love to fight Matt Hughes again but I think he could walk away after his loss to St Pierre. If he does walk away from the sport, I wouldn’t be surprised after what happened the other night. Before his fight with Georges, I was really hoping I’d get another shot at Matt Hughes but after that fight, that was so embarrassing for him I don’t know how he’s going to rebound from that. I’d love to fight him again. If we can put the fight together somehow I’d love it but he’s also getting older so I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Is is GSP, then? Or maybe it’s Matt Hughes and he’s just hoping to fight him again. Matt Hughes claims he’s not done, so it could happen if BJ moves up. We’ll keep our eyes and ears open for ya’.

And for what it’s worth, BJ has also said he thought Matt Hughes fought like a pussy against GSP. We just think Hughes got his ass kicked.

Matt Hughes was on Cincinnati’s 700 WLW with Jim Scott yesterday and Hughes has confimed he will keep fighting for the UFC. Props to 5oz of Pain for snagging this quote:

“Yes, I am. I can’t go out on a loss like that. I’m too much of a competitor. I’m 34 years old, my body’s actually extremely healthy from what I’ve done my whole life. If you look at it, Chuck Liddell, I think he’s 37 or 38, Randy Couture’s close to 43 and he’s called the most dominant heavyweight right now. So if you look at the timeline, I’ve got plenty of fights left in me.” 

So it looks like Hughes could be eyeballing Serra if the current welterweight champ falls to GSP in April. About damn time those two face off. Click here to the check out the rest of the Hughes radio interview.

Matt Hughes only experienced defeat twice in his first 23 fights — a stat that’s even more remarkable when you consider that both losses came from a dude named Dennis Hallman, who was able to submit Hughes within the first 20 seconds of each match. This clip from UFC 29 presents the entire saga (fight #2 starts at the 5:30 mark). Hallman didn’t go on to beat any other MMA legends, but he’s still active in the game, winning his last fight at Strikeforce in November, and compiling a 2-1 record in the IFL in 2006.

(Twin Mulletteers, Mark and Matt Hughes)

We’ve already mentioned the bitch-fest that is Mark Hughes’ autobiography, “Matt Hughes – Made in America”. If reading the tome – which was released today –  isn’t good enough for you and you just gotta’ have it signed by the recently defeated asshole author, you can find Matt Hughes at one of the following locations:

NEW YORK CITY
Monday @ 7:00 PM
Barnes & Noble #2021
2245 Richmond Avenue
Staten Island, NY 10314 7 Jan 08

NEW YORK CITY
Tuesday @ 7:00PM
Bookends
232 East Ridgewood Avenue
Ridgewood, New Jersey 07450 8 Jan 08

8. Ed Herman We all know what the song is supposed to be about and we’re all wondering what business it has being an entrance song. It doesn’t even have a cool beat. But that didn’t stop Ed Herman from using ”In the Air Tonight” by Phil Collins at UFC 72. I can feel it, coming in the…okay, that’s enough. [...]

“Tim Sylvia walked over to me during practice. His back was hunched a bit, like Pat’s is, but Pat I could look in the face. ‘Can I talk to you a second?’ he asked.

“Sure thing.” He led me into an office and we sat down on two chairs.

“No one here’s got a problem with me except you,” he began.“When I first started, Jens would say I’m a fat piece of s*** who’s never going to amount to anything, and he’d get me crying, but now even Jens likes me. Is there a problem?”

“Matt Serra’s condition improved greatly over the past week. The week before he was in intense pain. This week he was still having trouble walking. While watching a training session, he almost considered going to the mat to demonstrate a technique, but then decided it probably wouldn’t be the smartest thing. He hasn’t been able to do any training and is probably more than 200 pounds.”

As you recall, Serra had some pretty extensive damage done to his back while training to step into the cage with Matt Hughes at UFC 79: Nemesis on December 29th. He’s now slated to meet the fighter who walks away with the win when Hughes meets Georges St. Pierre in the replacement match. This was supposed to go down in 2008, but with Serra ballooned up to 200+, we’re not looking for it to happen too early in the new year. Coming back from an injury like that is tough enough, but Dude, push yourself away from the dinner table after your 5th helping of yams. Yeah, we understand the way you guys fluctuate in weight and we’re not claiming to be training experts. What we do know is we want to see your next fight as soon as possible, so lay off the cheesecake and grab a diet soda. You’ve got LBs to shed.

The stylishly urban fight fans at Complex just put up a particularly kick-ass interview with Georges St. Pierre, in which the welterweight contender talks about training for his upcoming throw-down with Matt Hughes, the best strip clubs in Montreal, his former life as a club bouncer, and the emotional pain of being called “Freakin’ Frenchy.” Among the highlights:

— (On his last fight against Matt Serra): “I’m a human being and I’m gonna lose some of my fights. That’s what I told my fans. I cannot promise my fans I will never lose again. Nobody can do it. Nobody is invincible. But what I can promise my fans is that I will never show up in a fight where I’m not 100% mentally and physically and where my head is somewhere else. It will never, never happen again.”

— (On emulating Patrick Swayze in Road House): “In the street you can be as strong as you want, but nobody’s faster than a bullet. Being a bouncer, according to me, it’s more being able to talk and being able to use words instead of your arms to do the job. One time I had a problem with somebody and I was like ‘Hey come outside. I need to talk you. The music is too loud.’ And once we were outside, ‘Sorry my friend. You hit on every girl, you make trouble, you grab the girls’ asses. Tonight you’re finished. You can come back tomorrow, I don’t mind. It’s nothing personal, but tonight is over.’ (imitating club-goer) ‘Oh you have no right to kick me out you motherfucker!’ and I just said, ‘Bye-bye, have a good night.’”

Anyway, go read it.

“I’m not sure that he would be a contender anytime soon. I don’t think he would beat Rich Franklin. He certainly wouldn’t beat Anderson Silva or Dan Henderson. Not sure he’ll make a big impact.” — Jason MacDonald on Michael Bisping’s drop to middleweight

“I guarantee you that if I would have fought Silva both times in the UFC, I would have won. Not [because of] the cage, [because of] the referees. I guarantee I would have beaten him.” — Quinton Jackson on Wanderlei Silva

How quickly the game changes. Despite all his efforts in reminding his team to breathe, Matt Serra’s two remaining fighters were eliminated on last night’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter. As Matt Serra himself might say, “Ouch!” Let’s take it from the top…

The episode opens tragically, with Matt Arroyo suffering a rib injury while practicing with Richie useless motherfucking Hightower. He tries to work through it, but the pain convinces him to see the doctor; the prognosis is a small crack in the rib and deep bruising. The doctor doesn’t actually forbid him from fighting, but Arroyo knows that he wouldn’t be able to get through two rounds against Mac Danzig in the shape he’s in, so he takes himself out of the competition. Dana White, who has maybe never fought with a broken rib before, pressures Arroyo into fighting hurt (“words cannot fuckin’ describe what you’re giving up”), and basically calls him a filthy quitter, but Arroyo makes the right choice and stays sidelined, which means a replacement has to be found.

Dana and Matt Serra interview War Machine, Troy, and Richie to see if they’d step in against Mac. The guys want absolutely nothing to do with him. Richie is concerned about dropping 20 pounds in three days; I’m just as concerned that he apparently gained 20 pounds in three days. Anyway, as we all knew would happen, Smilin’ John Kolosci rolls in, pleads for the fight against Mac, and he gets it.

This doesn’t sit well at all with Mac, who looks nervous for the first time all season. “I beat this guy decisively, and he gets another chance to fight me, and if he beats me he’s in the finals?” he asks. Mac starts worrying about getting caught with a shot from Kolosci, who, as Mac points out, has by now “figured out what not to do” against him.

Then there’s this awful commercial for Wahl beard trimmers, co-starring Andre Arlovski:

Matt Hughes just posted a new video of himself training for UFC 79. You may think it’s a little fruity that Hughes uses Frankie Goes to Hollywood as his workout soundtrack (1:37-2:17). All I can say is — just wait until the four-dude pile-up during the water basketball sequence (3:29-3:42) Special appearance by Tommy Speer!

(Props: BloodyElbow)

Man, I can’t leave you people alone for two seconds…

While some of us were enjoying a few days off the grid during the Thanksgiving holiday, the UFC was busy releasing the most disappointing news in recent memory — followed by the most exciting. On Thanksgiving day, Dana White announced that Matt Serra has withdrawn from UFC 79 due to a back injury sustained during a routine training session in his Long Island gym. According to Dave Meltzer at the Wrestling Observer, Serra suffered a herniated disc on Monday while working out with Matt Arroyo (who knocked off Troy “Rude Boy” Mandaloniz on Wednesday’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter). Writes Meltzer:

It was serious to the point he had to practically be carried to the hospital. And after an MRI, he had to practically be carried off the table. He didn’t tell anyone about it, hoping it would heal. He went to the chiropractor to see if he could make it better, and ended up hurting even worse. The doctors told him there was no way he could fight on Dec. 29, so he canceled yesterday. Matt Hughes was told this morning and naturally noted he had three bulging discs when he fought Royce Gracie. But said he believes Serra is really hurt…Serra’s doctors haven’t even given him an estimate of when he’ll be ready [to fight again].

After the anticlimactic shitshow that was UFC 78, this was the worst possible thing that could have happened to the organization. The Hughes/Serra feud — which the UFC has spent so much energy and resources hyping up for their meeting on December 29 — will go unresolved, and the pay-per-view event that was supposed to get the UFC back in fans’ good graces suddenly lost its main attraction. Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck, and Thiago Alves were discussed as possible replacements for Matt Serra, but without a championship belt on the line, “Nemesis” would likely play out like UFC 78.2.0. Of course, MMA diehards are still salivating for Chuck Liddell vs. Wanderlei Silva, but since both fighters lost their last two bouts, there isn’t much riding on the outcome. And of course, Serra’s injury has sucked all the tension out of the remaining episodes of The Ultimate Fighter.

But then, in the horizon, a savior appeared.

In last night’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter, the quarterfinal matches were announced, Mac Danzig upsets the entire animal kingdom, Ray Longo turns out to be one of those guys who pronounces “penalized” as “peenalized,” and Jon Kolosci goes out like a punk. Read on, if you dare…