Unlike recent UFC events that have featured a horde of fresh talent, there’s only going to be one unfamiliar face at UFC 98 later this month: King of the Cage heavyweight champion Tim "The Thrashing Machine" Hague, who will be appearing on the "Evans vs. Machida" undercard against leg-kick-artist Pat Barry. A native of Edmonton, Hague has built up a 9-1 record, with seven wins by stoppage within the first two rounds, and notable victories over Ruben "Warpath" Villareal and Sherman Pendergarst. He most recently competed at a Raw Combat event last October, where he avenged his sole career loss to Miodrag Petkovic. He’s also strong as hell. But judging from the above highlight reel — which actually shows Hague getting his ass kicked for the first 48 seconds — could he be too unseasoned to make an impression in the UFC?


Hague, who has five inches and 30 pounds on Pat Barry, will need to utilize his considerable size advantage if he plans on overcoming the razor-sharp attacks of "HD," which took out Dan Evensen in the first round of their fight at UFC 92. And Barry is aware of the challenge that he faces. As he told UFC.com: “Because of his size, he doesn’t have to be the most technical striker in the world. He is so big that even an incorrect punch still hurts." But still: "I’m going to kick his leg a few times, then I’m going to kick his head off into the twelfth row." (Barry also mentions that he’s working on something special for his UFC 98 walk-out. Something Techno Viking-related, perhaps?)

In his own introduction profile on UFC.com, Hague reveals that he used to be a chubby kid that got picked on a lot, and a career in fighting is the last thing that his friends and family expected for him. He knows he’ll be the underdog against Barry (BetUS currently has him at +225), but "once the cage doors are locked, all bets are off. It’ll come down to who has the stronger will,” he says. Everything else we need to know about Hague, we’ll find out on May 23rd…