BLOG: Walter Reed Hospital

[NateR]

From Matt's Blog:

First thing I want to tell everybody is this Friday afternoon and Saturday morning I will be at the Illinois Deer Classic in Bloomington, IL, at the XWT (Xtreme Whitetail Technologies) booth signing autographs and meeting anybody that wants to come around. With me will be Pat and Nicole from Driven TV.

Last week was busy, I went to Utah and trained with Jeremy Horn at his new gym, Elite Performance. Not only was Jeremy there, but Matt Pena as well. So I learned a lot on the ground with Jeremy and on my feet with Matt. I'm going back out there next month and doing some more training, but also going to make an appearance at Jeremy's fights on March 27th. They offer advanced, beginner and kids' classes. Of course, Jeremy doesn't have time to teach all the classes, but he has some great coaches on the submission side as well as wrestling that help out. The classes were so diverse that it struck me as odd. In one of the classes was a 54 year old man, they call "Doc," and he did very well.

I left Utah Thursday night and flew straight to Washington DC. There in Virginia were the UWC fights in which I had two of my guys fighting in. The day of the fight some of us went to Walter Reed Hospital to have a meal with some wounded soldiers who were there. As most of you know, I believe that our biggest fans are in the military. So going there, eating a meal with them and meeting some of our soldiers was a great way for me to spend my afternoon. I was fortunate enough to have Amy (TexasRN on the forums) come with me to take some pictures and do a little write up in our forums for me. Amy's done this before, so I knew it would work out pretty well. Here is the link to see what Amy had to say and the pictures she took: Walter Reed Hospital

The UWC fights went off very well, great production, very well organized and just an all-around good time. The only bad part is both of my guys lost; but they put on good performances and fought tough guys. One of the guys even took the fight on a 2-day notice. So, regardless of the losses, I'm still really proud of them. -matt

[TexasRN]

It was fun to go with you, as always. It is always a pleasure to see you do things like this since I know it means a lot to the soldiers who get to spend time with you and I know how much you enjoy it. Everybody wins and it gives me the warm fuzzies.


~Amy

[Jonlion]

I remember reading from Muhammad Ali how when his daughters complained to him that he was missing a flight or something or that they were missing out, he told them something along the lines of what a special blessing it was that by giving just one second of his time to someone, he truly made they days and could have a wonderful affect.

I guess in many ways its a burden but a fantastic gift, and Matt taking that bit of time will probably mean the world to them men. Thats a great gift and good on Matt for doing it.

In the book it was a lot more eloquently put as well!!!!!

Here I wanted to continue cursing Hughes for putting me through a lift, that I'm just recovering from and you go do something like visiting troops in the hospital. For those that don't know I've spent time on the Marines and have had friends and family, both injured and killed on the battlefield. Knowing how busy matt is, it's quite touching to know that he still has time to do things like this. -I hope you're enjoing your family back at home matt. -

Yes. I did try to lift with hughes. I only made it half through, before I had to hold pads for fighters. When I was done holding pads an hour later, matt was still going. I now realize that boxing may have saved my life again.

When I went to Utah, I was wondering what kind of matt Hughes I would see after being away from the octagon over half a year, and I wondered if Hughes was ready to start prepping for serra. <devilish look in my eyes> this one will be fun.

For those that have been wondering about me. I'm still training many fighters and spending lots of time with my girls again. I will be training Lawler for his fight. I'm back with fisher and several other UFC fighters, which I'm excited about. God is still blesssing me.

If you want to contact me, I'm on facebook. Be sure to hollar so I can bombard you with my application requests... Ha... Jk. Ok. So I might send just one. ;)

Semper Fidelis,

Matt Pena

[VCURamFan]

Pena's back!!!!!

Glad to hear you landed on your feet, Matt! How are your daughters doing?

[Jonlion]

Originally Posted by Matt Pena

Here I wanted to continue cursing Hughes for putting me through a lift, that I'm just recovering from and you go do something like visiting troops in the hospital. For those that don't know I've spent time on the Marines and have had friends and family, both injured and killed on the battlefield. Knowing how busy matt is, it's quite touching to know that he still has time to do things like this. -I hope you're enjoing your family back at home matt. -

Yes. I did try to lift with hughes. I only made it half through, before I had to hold pads for fighters. When I was done holding pads an hour later, matt was still going. I now realize that boxing may have saved my life again.

When I went to Utah, I was wondering what kind of matt Hughes I would see after being away from the octagon over half a year, and I wondered if Hughes was ready to start prepping for serra. <devilish look in my eyes> this one will be fun.

For those that have been wondering about me. I'm still training many fighters and spending lots of time with my girls again. I will be training Lawler for his fight. I'm back with fisher and several other UFC fighters, which I'm excited about. God is still blesssing me.

If you want to contact me, I'm on facebook. Be sure to hollar so I can bombard you with my application requests... Ha... Jk. Ok. So I might send just one. ;)

Semper Fidelis,

Matt Pena

Great to hear! Thanks for posting!

[Bonnie]

Good to hear from you Matt P.

At first, I thought you meant Matt put you "in" a lift so I'm thinking you being a boxing coach you shoulda "bopped" him on the nose. Then reading further I realized you meant y'all were "lifting" together.

God Bless!