I just want to wish a happy Mother’s Day to my mom, my wife and all the other mothers out there. -matt

First I want to apologize for not getting the blog up as quick as I wanted. Been working out three times a day and trying to help my brother plant corn this week. We’ve got all the anhydrous on and only about 130 acres of corn in the ground. So now we just have to wait for it to dry up.

Been training down at the gym, that’s going great. Robbie’s getting ready for a fight. Jeremy Horn is also there and brought three of his own guys with him to train for his upcoming UFC fight. So I’ve been somewhat burning the candle at both ends and also trying to spend time with the family.

Round 5 has released their action figures and I think they turned out really good. We got a couple hundred of them in and we’re going to sell them from the store.
Here are some photos of the figure:



Click here to visit the store.

Also, last Thursday we had International out at the gym for their customer appreciation day. Had a great time and here are some photos from that:

-matt

I took the fight with Thiago because I liked the match-up. Obviously, I have to worry about his stand up skills, but on the ground I think I’ll be okay. What I don’t like is the fact that it’s such short notice and that I’ll be across the pond. I’d rather fight in Vegas or in the Midwest, but it will be good to meet some of my fans from England.

This weekend, we will be going to some fights in Effingham, IL. I’ll have two guys fighting there from the gym. For information on the fights, go to www.mercenary-promotions.com. We will be selling HIT Squad and Team Hughes gear. Robbie, Marc Fiore, Matt Pena and myself will all be there.

I’ve started three-a-days (which means I’m doing three practices a day), I’ve got to get in good shape. I’ve been working with Matt Pena on a stand up strategy. It feels good to get back in the gym and work on things. We at the gym just have such a good time being around each other.

Finally, I ran across this the other day and thought it was pretty interesting:

FIREARMS REFRESHER COURSE

“Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow for those who do not.” ~ Thomas Jefferson (This is why Ted Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton want gun control so badly! )

1. An armed man is a citizen. An unarmed man is a subject.
2. A gun in the hand is better than a cop on the phone.
3. Colt: The original point and click interface.
4. Gun control is not about guns; it’s about control.
5. If guns are outlawed, can we use swords?
6. If guns cause crime, then pencils cause misspelled words.
7. Free men do not ask permission to bear arms.
8. If you don’t know your rights, you don’t have any.
9. Those who trade liberty for security have neither.
10. The United States Constitution (c)1791. All Rights Reserved
11. What part of “shall not be infringed” do you not understand?
12. The Second Amendment is in place in case the politicians ignore the others.
13. 64,999,987 firearms owners killed no one yesterday.
14. Guns only have two enemies; rust and politicians.
15. Know guns, know peace, know safety. No guns, no peace, no safety.
16. You don’t shoot to kill; you shoot to stay alive.
17. 911: Government sponsored Dial-a-Prayer.
18. Assault is a behavior, not a device.
19. Criminals love gun control; it makes their jobs safer.
20. If guns cause crime, then matches cause arson.
21. Only a government that is afraid of its citizens tries to control them.
22. You have only the rights you are willing to fight for.
23. Enforce the gun control laws we ALREADY have; don’t make more.
24. When you remove the people’s right to bear arms, you create slaves.
25. The American Revolution would never have happened with gun control.

“Calling an illegal alien an “undocumented immigrant” is like calling a drug dealer an “unlicensed pharmacist ”

IF YOU DON’T STAND BEHIND OUR TROOPS, PLEASE, FEEL FREE TO STAND IN FRONT OF THEM !!!

-matt

They’ve done some work on the website, 2 Brothers Custom Trucks, they’ve made the pictures easier to download. So it should be a little more user friendly.

They’re working on the bed right now, they had to do a lot of work to the whole truck to make it fit on the ‘06 frame. Right now they’re also putting in the ‘06 pedals for the brake, the gas, and the emergency brake and also finding a place to put the push button 4-wheel drive in the ‘56 cab. Getting done with a lot of it, also doing some tedious work under the hood. They came up with an idea on the wooden bed, they want to cut a piece of steel with a design on it, set it on the bed and then burn the wood through the piece of steel. That way the design would come out on the wood. I’ve thought of a Chevy Bowtie or something like the One More Round logo or Army of The One. I would like to open it up to suggestions in the forums. Check the truck out here and then tell me what you think.

Here’s the video I promised you all yesterday. Here I’m teaching some basic classes at the gym and my webmaster came up with this video just to give you an idea of what goes on in the Amateur/Basic MMA class at the HIT Squad. -matt

Well both fights went like I thought they would. Rich was in much better shape and his striking and takedown defense made him the victor. Glad my buddy was able to pull out a victory.

GSP had a good game plan to take Matt Serra down and wear him out. I found myself rooting for Serra at the end of the second round, I wanted him to make it to the third round. I thought if it would get to the third round GSP would decide to stand up with him and possibly knock him out. I just wanted Matt to get beat on for five rounds, not just two; but I knew the ref was about ready to stop it. The UFC said that if Serra loses I get him, but I don’t know when that will be. I’m going to guess six to eight months, so I’ve found myself watching my diet and exercising more.

Had a bit of excitement here on Friday morning, I got woke up at around 4:37 AM to an earthquake. I was quite confused. I ran out of the bedroom, checked on the kids, they were still sleeping, then went to the front of the house and looked around. The flag we have in the front yard showed there was no wind, and I thought if it was an earthquake some of the neighbor’s lights would come on. After five minutes of looking around, I went back to bed seeing no other lights. When I got to bed, I heard birds chirping and then thought that it probably was an earthquake after all, as birds usually don’t chirp at 4:44 AM. First time I’ve ever been in an earthquake, kind of exciting.

We’re going to post a video here tomorrow of me teaching the intro class at the gym, so stay tuned for that. -matt

First off, I went to a show saturday night. We had two guys from the HIT Squad fight: Jacob Hey and C.J. Fernandes. Both won in the first round. The crowd was great, very polite. The fights were in Pekin, which is in IL, and I saw some Team Hughes gear walk in and a few One More Round shirts. There are some pictures from the two fights on the HIT Squad website: thehitsquad.com

Got a friend over Iraq who is a civilian working for government, he goes by Boomer on the Forums. I’ve asked him to come up with one his famous “Boomer Tales.” In it he talks a little bit about what he’s been up to over there and a little bit about the upcoming GSP/Serra fight.

HAIL HAIL Matt Hughes fans!! This is Boomer com’n at yea live from Baghdad! I CAN’T BELIEVE I am all the way across the globe and missing all the HIT Squad action in the MMA world for the month of April. I missed Tommy at the Ultimate Fight Night (I would have been in the crowd), AND I miss’d 2 more of Matt’s modern day gladiators take the field of battle in Illinois. (Again, I would have been in the crowd) My God my God … why .. why has thou forsaken me?? I mean COME ON!!! Hehe, well I can’t be too angry at my job though, it is what funds my treks across the country to support Matt and his warrior band of brothers. I’ve had a few PMs and e-mails from folks asking what it is a civilian government employee like my self does in Iraq. Well, the duties are many and various .. but here is the basics of what I do.

The entire war effort over here falls under a military command called MNF-I or Multi-National Force-Iraq. Every country that puts forces into Iraq falls under this command and a four star General is responsible for it all. This four star General has a staff of one and two star Generals. There is a General over all Intelligence and is called the C2. Under him there is a program called DOMEX, or Document and Media Exploitation. A Colonel is in charge of the DOMEX effort and I’m his deputy .. Or #2. So it’s the four star General, the C2 General, the DOMEX COL, Boomer. Since there is a need for a static knowledge base in intelligence disciplines (or in other words a need for people who know the discipline not to be assigned somewhere else like military folks who rotate in and out of positions every few years) they create government civilian career positions around this need. SO … THAT is how Boomer the civilian government employee has a roll in Iraq!

You can read the rest of the Boomer Tale HERE and also see who he’s picking to win between St. Pierre and Serra.

Since we’re on the subject of GSP/Serra, honestly, I think GSP will win this fight very decisively. I don’t think that a submission will play a role in the fight. Obviously, Matt has power in his hands, so I don’t think Georges will make the same mistake this time of standing right in front of him. So, once again, I think Georges will be victorious. I’ve already asked the UFC that if Serra loses, I get him. -matt

First I’d like to say that Tommy was prepared for his fight, but it was just a bad match-up to be honest. I had nothing to do with putting the fight together, but after I saw the weigh-in and more of Johnson’s credentials, I knew that it was a bad match up for Tommy. So, bad match-up = a bad night. The rest of the night kind of went like I thought it would. The one thing I didn’t think would happen was Houston getting knocked out with one punch. Karo has been running his mouth about me for a long time, so it didn’t bother me seeing him getting knocked out the way he did. It was good to see DW and some of the other guys at the UFC, I haven’t been to a show for a little while so it was good to socialize a little bit.

Last Saturday, I went down to Dale’s Harley-Davidson and had a great time. When Dale’s-HD and I got together I didn’t know much about them, so I asked a few guys in my area about them and they all said they take their bikes down there for services. After I heard that, I knew Dale’s would be the right choice. Was really surprised with the huge turnout I was scheduled to sign for two hours and ended up being there for close to three. The good people down there, Matt (the owner) and I get along great. So hope you enjoy the pictures and I hope no one’s mad about the April Fool’s joke, it was all in good fun, just having a good time; but I still hear about how some people really bought into it and were fully supporting me, so thanks for that. -matt

I guess I can officially say, “April Fools!” The part of yesterday’s blog about me moving up to 205 to fight Shogun Rua was just an April Fool’s joke. Sorry to disappoint those of you who might have been looking forward to that.

I also wanted to show you all this. Robbie and I will be in Effingham, IL on May 3rd. There will be a couple of the HIT Squad guys fighting in this event, so I hope to see some of you there.

I will be cornering Tommy for his fight tonight, by the way. Some people were asking about that. I hope everyone has a great weekend. -matt

First off, I wanted to wish Tommy good luck for his fight tomorrow night. He’s got some photos from when he was training at the gym posted on his website. So, if you haven’t seen those yet, you can check them out at tommyspeer.com.

Well, for a long time I’ve talked about going up in weight class and I’ve decided to finally do it. Only I’m not going up to 185, I’m going up to 205 to fight Mauricio “Shogun” Rua in June. I’m bulking up now and packing on muscle and I’m thinking that it will be nice to not have to cut weight for a change. I think it’s a great match-up for me and I’ve told Dana that if I win this, then I want a shot at the 205 title next.

Sorry for the short blog this week, I’m here in Colorado helping Tommy get ready for his fight, so I’ll try to have more for you all next week. I just wanted to break the big news. -matt