(Video courtesy of YouTube/FightHubTV)

FightHub TV caught up with former IBO and The Ring Magazine light welterweight boxing champ Ricky Hatton recently in the UK to get his take on MMA and according to “The Hitman” he’s come around in his opinion of the sport.

“At first mixed martial arts wasn’t seen as too popular, but more and more it’s getting bigger and bigger all the time. And the more and more yo look into it…at first I thought it was just people rollin’ about on the floor huggin’ each other, but that’s far from it. As it’s getting more popular, when you actually look into it scientifically there’s a lot more to it. It’s not just about standin’ there and usin’ your feet and usin’ your fists,” he explained. “It’s about gettin’ your opponent on the floor, puttin’ him in a certain move, which is a work of art in its own right. The more and more popular it’s gettin’ it’s not become just a part-time thing now. It’s a professional sport and I’m sure I speak for the mixed martial arts people as well as the boxing people in saying that these people — the nutritional people — are the best probably even more so than in boxing because it’s a lot more physical than boxing, isn’t it? I can say slowly but surely, the more I’ve watched it I’ve become a bit of a fan.”

(Cocaine really is a hell of a drug. It makes you do some crazy things.)

Get your surprised faces ready. 

Remember the gargantuan tranny-looking lady "friend" of Ricky Hatton who came out a few weeks ago to reveal that "The Hitman" had a cocaine problem because she was concerned for his well-being?

Well, it turns out her concern stemmed not from the fact that Ricky bumped a few lines here and there, it was due to the fact that Hatton wasn’t going to be snorting his coke off of her hotel room toilet any more before he banged her as he recently broke off an 11-month relationship he allegedly had with the Irish female boxing champ.

According to jilted lover and probable post-op, Emma Bowe, she went out of her way to meet Hatton, whom she had idolized for many years, while he was in Ireland in October and was thrilled when Ricky was receptive to her advances.

(Any of you blokes got any Visine?)

Last weekend was one that former boxing champion Ricky Hatton likely wants to forget.

Not only did "The Hitman" get knocked out with one punch in a drunken bar fight, he also got sold out to a tabloid by a lady friend who filmed the British boxer snorting copious amounts of cocaine off of a table and a toilet lid in her hotel.

Now Hatton has had to answer to the press and his fiancee for his behavior and has reportedly pulled a Tiger Woods, admitting himself into rehab to escape the media spotlight while he sorts out his problems and waits for the dust to settle. The official statement from his spokesperson is that Hatton is being treated for "depression and a drinking problem" and that "the drugs are quite recent and not actually the problem."

Now, I’m not justifying Hatton being out on the town with another woman or for getting wasted on coke and a few gallons of booze and acting like an idiot, but the fact that the woman, who claims to be a worried friend, went to the papers instead of contacting his family makes me think she set him up for a paycheck.

All that hype, and it only came down to six minutes of utter domination. If you caught the light-welterweight title fight between Manny Pacquiao and Ricky Hatton last night, you saw more proof that Pac-Man is one of the best boxers to have ever lived. The video is above; watch as Pacquiao opens with a 10-7 first round on the strength of two knockdowns, then delivers the finishing blow at the end of the second. Pac’s trainer Freddie Roach had predicted a third-round knockout via left hook, explaining later that Hatton tends to leave himself open when he throws his jab. Turns out, Pacquiao is even better than he thought. Could Money Mayweather be next?