FLD EXCLUSIVE - Drew McFedries: "My Best Knockouts Are The Ones That No One Has Seen.

Yeah this story is sad and all, but I hope this doesnt turn into an anti-Hughes/Hit-Squad campaign. There is no reason the media or fans should be going back n forth between the camps for the sake of some gossip.

Originally Posted by NateR

You're going to have to provide some quotes to back that up, because I don't believe that Pat has ever once said anything negative about Matt leaving MFS. I think your statement above is full of crap, Pat was 100% supportive of Matt opening his own gym.

Full of crap, AKA a liar. Right. I remember perfectly a Pat M. quote saying Matt Hughes has NO LOYALTY. Was it true, or false, out of context I dont know, but considering some of the quotes in Matts own blog pointing to misinformation and things being taken out of context by the media, it should be no surprise. But yeah, instead of calling me a liar, why dont YOU go find the qoute, its not my problem and Im really not looking to do you any favors.

Originally Posted by Miss Foxy

Yeah this story is sad and all, but I hope this doesnt turn into an anti-Hughes/Hit-Squad campaign. There is no reason the media or fans should be going back n forth between the camps for the sake of some gossip.

I dont think anybody cares either way, except obviously nAter.

Originally Posted by David_Banner

I dont think anybody cares either way, except obviously nAter.

I care. And just for the record I was not referring to you had I been I would have proudly quoted you.

Originally Posted by Miss Foxy

I care. And just for the record I was not referring to you had I been I would have proudly quoted you.

Mainstream MMA media doesnt appear to be leaping all over the story, which was my point. Quoting you wasnt a direct reply to you, but a basis for my point, which is "nobody really seems to care."

[Tyburn]

Originally Posted by Neezar

Man. That's gotta hurt.

it did

This is from his blog. I'm sorry but I think he has a right to be a little angry if noone from MFS comes to support him at a UFC event. Isnt it EXPECTED that his corner will be from his Training Camp??? and what with Hughes and Lawler around at the same event NO WONDER he gravitated towards them.

A lot on my mind:

Some of the things on my mind have to do with other people. If I can accept their mistakes and mishaps, help them with their problems, then why can’t they help me with mine? Personally, I feel like this incident is going to help me grow in several ways regardless of the outcome. If I could go back to MFS, I would hope that people would talk things over with me and help me to make the right decisions in the future. Without going back to MFS, which is a hard pill to swallow right now, I will grow the only way I know how—to turn into a machine. No blinking and no thought process. Part of me wants to drag out examples and use other people’s faults to protect my own. At this point, I can’t. I have to be real and accept my faults. Part of me is being defensive, like I don’t need those guys. The truth is—I do. That’s why I stick around. This is really hard—sitting down and judging yourself or trying to make right what you have done. Another part of me is thinking why even fight.

The comment at the UFC 98 press conference:

After talking to other guys and reviewing what I said, I do see that I was wrong in my response. I was upset that no one from my gym was there to corner me, which in part was my fault as well. Something positive did happen for me, which I did try to express. The training that week was more intense and upbeat with the right guys in the room. Basiclly, I felt lifted with Matt H., Matt P. and Robbie there. Coming out of the tunnel with Robbie right there with me made me feel at home—like being back at the gym or the racketball court. Also knowing what was expected of me—it was like the bar was raised and it was my turn to rise up. The sad part, again, was that all the guys I train with on a day-to-day basis couldn’t be with me to share this experience. I was hurt. I was upset. When I started commenting on the question asked of me, all sorts of things were running through my head, not to mention what I have been through in the past year or so—let alone the past week. Then a big win! This is something I’m trying to sift through right now. I should have taken a moment to gather myself before answering. Do I regret what I said? No. But I am sorry for the misunderstanding it caused. The reason I don’t regret it is because now I see that these guys do care about me. The meeting wasn’t all about how bad of a person I am. It was a bunch of guys who stepped up said their piece. Even though I said what I said, I know those guys were sitting there because they did care about me, especially Ben. I did talk to him later and he did say all the things that nobody wanted to. I don’t blame him. The only thing I don’t like is being talked down on like a child, but at the moment I understood why I was there. I was there because I wanted to know what the guys thought—good or bad. Mostly I was there because I wanted to be in that gym. I wanted to fix things and make things right so we could talk about the fight and all the good things that can come of this situation. Now I just feel as if I closed a door on myself, burned a bridge as Ben put it, or put a bandage on a festering sore that will never go away. For that I do apologize.

What being at MFS or champions gym has meant to me:

It has always been my hope and driving force to earn Pat Miletich’s respect and friendship through my hard work and dedication to his gym. I can’t see me being anywhere else because it takes away from my driving force. The blood, sweat and tears that I spilled on his mats have made me a champion regardless of my fight career. One thing that I wanted for sure was my picture up on the wall in the gym. I wanted Pat to point me out and say, “this is one of the baddest MFS or MFs that I ever coached.” In my 10 or 11 years there, I think I was close to that. Now I’m not sure what new goals to set. Another thing I wanted was to be able to be looked at as a knowledgeable fighter, a guy with not only respect and experience, but a guy who really knows how to teach and coach. One day I hoped to get behind some of my teammates and take them to titles or contention. No matter what, I think that being at MFS has meant more to me than I could ever express. Coming to visit the guys when I had just got off a hospital bed lifted me. Coming to kickboxing with Aaron was about the only thing that took my mind off the pain growing in my belly. Coming back so strong after years of agony, coming back so strong after the staph infection, taking fights when the chips where down and after my mother’s funeral, the gym was a place I could go and let it all out. Weird thing, but the gym has meant a lot to me. This gym isn’t just a gym. It’s a place where I can leave my problems at the door.

Internalizing:

You’d never know it, but I internalize a lot because I don’t feel that I have a lot of dependable people in my life. There were many times I thought to myself that I don’t have the will and desire to go any further, but somehow I pick myself up and say, “to hell with it! Give it one more day.” I look in the mirror a lot and talk to myself when I’m home alone, trying to hear myself and go over things. One thing I do is over-think a lot of situations. I think about different angles and what I can do to make things easier. Obviously everything is hard work. Anything worthwhile is never easy.

Me, Myself and I:

Sometimes I get too wrapped up in myself and my own garbage to reach out and help others. Maybe I need to stop thinking of myself so much and try harder to make friends or take other people’s advice without second-guessing their motivation.

My teammates, training partners and guys at the gym:

I would first like to start by apologizing to Pat for disrupting the gym and killing what should have been a fantastic celebration and win, and creating a dispute and terrible ending of my training at his gym. To Ryan, I want to really extend my apology. You worked so hard with me. I wanted to really show you that your work with me paid off, as did Pat’s The repeated drilling helped me gain confidence to do what I did that night at UFC 98. Even though “The Massacre” took over and finished that fight so fast, it was you who really helped me to gain the confidence to go into that fight not even worrying about a clinch or a takedown. I did really want you to be there, as I did a with a lot of people. I wanted Pat to be there as well. Pierce gutted a few of those nights out. I know that me and Noah butt heads quite a bit, but truth be told, he is a big tough strong guy who can put me on my back and keep me there if I don’t fight with heart. For me, I know that Noah is a great training partner even if we tend to disagree on certain things. Tim is always Tim, but I love the guy to death. I defend that guy left and right and will continue to do so. Tim really motivates me. He is another guy that I like to train with because we grind and beat the hell out of each other, then we just smile and laugh. Mike C. has helped me to realize that guillotines really work. I don’t know how he does it. To any of the other guys in the gym: there are days when we don’t have guys my size or don’t have many people in the gym at all. On those days, I learn to become quicker and not use my power. When I have to work with guys bigger, I learn to fight with heart when they wear me down and lay on me. When other guys come to our gym, I find that I have effective striking skills and new submissions because they have never seen those moves or have never experienced guys putting those things on them. I guess another thing to focus on is the fact that Tim put it out there: you don’t always know what you have until it’s gone. At this point, I feel like I have let everyone down. Despite the victory at hand, I feel like they can have it back. I will take a 100 degree grueling workout over this feeling any day. I would like to extend my apologies to LC as well. He did work with me and motivate me to want to work on my wrestling. I also spoke with LC, who at the time I felt could understand some of my issues, but maybe he didn’t. I tried to vent to him a bit about things I had going on at the time. Now it seems even that got twisted a bit. I know that a lot of the guys know how I feel about them. That’s why I tried to call or get a hold of any one still back home. I tried to iron most of this out before I even made it back. I wanted to have a conversation about resolution—not about me never being able to come back. I spoke with Mike C. at length as well, who even though I thought it would be sketchy, seemed to understand me more than anyone. That’s because he has been around for a long time as well. Obviously what used to be does not even exists anymore. I need to change and mold some to the new school so to speak. I still will take the advice of Ben for the most part—going to see what’s out there. In the mean time, I hope some of what I said sinks into the guys. I also realize that I do have friends there or there wouldn’t even be a conversation.

The future:

Really...sitting here typing away, I don’t know where the future is going to take me. I always tell myself I can overcome all that is set in front of me. Once again, I face more hurdles that I would like to jump. I know I can do it, but I just don’t see my future as a fighter going much further without bringing more big wins home to my town and my gym. I really need to evaluate this and move forward, but I don’t know where this path will take me. I always hoped that I could get some guys behind me and bring big things back home...more fights...maybe even a title down the road. I just don’t know where this path leads.

Is change needed right now?
I think change is in the air, but still the fact remains that I need to fix some things and set some things straight. I have been thinking of going to other gyms to see what’s out there, but never did I think it would be under these circumstances, but here I am. Do I start over and dedicate myself to another gym? I don’t know. Will I have the same confidence in other guys training me?

Speechless:

Going into the meeting with some of the guys, I felt the same way I felt at the press conference. You have certain things to say, but I just can’t communicate them the right way. I didn’t even feel I like the meeting went how it should. There were a lot of unspoken things left there. We could have definitely gone on for days. One thing that I really took in was Rory saying that I may need to edit myself a bit. That is something I really don’t know how to do. I never have been the best communicator and I probably will never improve. Another thing is when Tim mentioned me bringing random guys with me to the fights. I see his view about having guys around that don’t share our experience and sacrifice to be there. I really feel that me and Tim see eye-to-eye on many levels. I really just felt speechless, like there was so much to be said and it wasn’t said. One thing was that I feel we all left there because Pat cut things short because people had things to do. I didn’t get to say I’m sorry. I feel that a lot of people think I walked out of there without a care in the world. Not true. I wanted more time. I wanted to hear from the other guys. I wanted to respond to their questions. I wanted to respond to their statements. After leaving, I kind of felt like I didn’t get to say anything I wanted to. I mean we talked. Did we really get it all out though? Not to mention I feel like there were some guys who should have been there. I don’t know if they got to say their piece either.

Taking responsibility:

No matter what, throughout my whole life, I have tried to take responsibility for all of my actions. It was something that I learned as a young man that has helped me build myself and create a better me. I am sorry for saying the wrong thing at that press conference that brings me to this point—feeling homeless. I feel like ****, but I should. I brought this to myself.

My emotions:

Something I never show is emotion. Most the time, if you can get a response from me, it’s not going to be much because I have seen and been through so much. From the best to the worst, I know that I haven’t lived a terrible life. I get kind of choked up typing some of this because I see that brotherhood that I always wanted going out the window. I think I expressed to Rory one day at the gym how it does drive me to wake up knowing that there’s a morning practice and all my brothers are going to be there. Yeah, we get mad. We break down. Sometimes we try to strangle one another, but in the end, we shake hands and tomorrow is another day. I just don’t want things to go down and the other guys in the gym don’t believe that I don’t care or never think of them.

Money:

I know that money is our source of survival. I didn’t enter this sport for the money. When I started doing this, I did it because I wanted to grow as an athlete and compete. Along the way, I met so many really cool individuals and gained brothers I never knew I had. I never want money to come between that. If I shorted someone or acted as if I didn’t want to make money with the other guys in the gym, I apologize. I never ever want greed to come before anything else. I guess I say that because I already have those problems in my life. Maybe that’s why other people think I’m a penny pincher or whatever. I’m not. It’s just the fact that I hate talking about money I hate having to deal with paying or being paid by others. I think we just all know that we need it to survive and live the life we want to. That’s all it is to me. Again, if there was ever a problem with money, I would just like to talk it out and come to an agreement before it ended a friendship or ruined anything else.

Crazy?

I’m not really sure if im crazy or not. More than likely I am.

Overall:

I guess I hoped that people could try to meet me half way. I know that’s not what’s going to happen, especially now. I am sorry that I let the guys down. I’m not perfect. I did make a mistake. I am willing to do what it takes to set things straight. I never thought those few words would hit so hard. Then again, I never thought I would either. Also at the time that I made this comment, it wasn’t just the gym thing that had me stirred up. I guess I just wasn’t feeling the love, like in my own town. Sometimes that’s just me. I get a bit down or maybe I’m carrying some baggage. Then, like most people do, you end up taking things out on the ones closest to you. Maybe that was the problem. I’m not totally sure. In the past, I have had that problem. It’s really hard to paint this picture of myself. I just wish the outcome was a bit different. Maybe I would have had more guys in my corner if I wasn’t walking around with a bit of an attitude. I have a lot of questions here that I don’t even know what to do with. All I want is to be back in the gym with open arms and all my brothers around me.

What more can I say?

I really don’t know. I feel as if I could go on forever. What do I say or do next? I have had this problem in the past. There have been times when I could fix my wrongs. Coming to this point I don’t know how I feel about a so called fight career. Really, I do what I love to do—get together with a bunch of crazy guys and work out. That’s what I have been doing for the better part of 15 or more years. When it’s all said and done, I just hope to have some accomplishments to go along with it.

Excuse:
There is no excuse.

How do deal with this?
I try to fix this the best I can.

Confusion:
I get confused with people sometimes because I don’t know how to be fake. I don’t know how to make people like me. I have never had to be something different to fit in or get along. I think that most people know how to read through lines and I don’t. I don’t know how to identify garbage, mostly because I lived out most of the lies people tell to pump themselves up. So I get confused as to why people do that. I also think it confuses other people because I’m real. At least I try to be as straight up as I can. So maybe when I said what I did, people thought I was saying something I really didn’t. It was more of a generalized comment. Others took it as I had trained with HIT Squad for 3 months and no one at MFS had been there for me at all. Wow. Just wish I could have been clearer. It’s funny to see how stories and words get twisted. I think some people wanted to hear me say certain things. When I explained myself, I think some people understood where I was coming from. It doesn’t make it right though. I just believe that I speak right off the top of my mind because I don’t know any other way. When others talk, they can make a story sound like something it’s not. Some people can lie through their teeth and you would never know it. Me? I don’t posses those skills. I’m straightforward because I don’t know any better. Maybe it’s just that which confuses me and other people.

Originally Posted by David_Banner

Full of crap, AKA a liar. Right. I remember perfectly a Pat M. quote saying Matt Hughes has NO LOYALTY. Was it true, or false, out of context I dont know, but considering some of the quotes in Matts own blog pointing to misinformation and things being taken out of context by the media, it should be no surprise. But yeah, instead of calling me a liar, why dont YOU go find the qoute, its not my problem and Im really not looking to do you any favors.

You remember perfectly the quote but as to who said it you are mistaken.

That statement was posted and later retracted by Ben Rothwell on sherdog.

[Tyburn]

Originally Posted by Crisco

You remember perfectly the quote but as to who said it you are mistaken.

That statement was posted and later retracted by Ben Rothwell on sherdog.

Correct.

Mr Banner, from my experience even if what you said was true, Mr Miletich would never be unporfessional enough to go blabbing to the press about his protege. I think that whats going on with Drew is the culmination of a great number of issues that may go back a fair way. Drew, from my experience, can be quite moody and can be extremely odd. Personally, I think that his corner team should have been from his fight camp, and that he shouldnt have said whatever comment he did which was taken the wrong way, and Drew accepts that.

I dont think there can be too much hostility between these two fight camps. For a start Matt Hughes is not the only former MFSer to start his own gym, Jeremy Horn has, I think Spencer Fisher has, Jens Pulver splits his time between several different and totally unrelated camps, Matt Pena seems to have connections and flit between both...and Mr Miletich is opening his doors in September to receive, in person, a visit from a Senior Moderator on this Forum...I just cant except, through all my research, and al my chatting with these people online, that unless you train at MFS you have nothing more then an opinion based on false reporting at best, and wild accusatory lies at worst.

This is NOT Sherdog, on this forum we are nice to each other, and we are not rude to authority figures like the Forum Administrator. So I ask you to do yourself a favour and respectfully calm yourself down. There is no need to talk about Miletich that way unless you show your source, and there is no need to speak to Nathan that way either. I'm sure you are plenty old enough to understand how to be professional and extend your courtesy to others Patrons...by all means aire your views, but if you make accusations, lets see your evidence, particularly if it involves Matt Hughes, HIT Squad, MFS or any of its affiliate Fighters, because these guys are friends with each other, and their are Patrons on this forum who have met, live in the local vacinity to, and work with them everyday.

[Llamafighter]

The only comment I read about Pat in reference to Matt leaving was when he said that a fighter leaving to go start his own gym or be closer to family is a natural progression in the fight world. I never read anything to which Pat sounded at all negative about Matt's decision.

Originally Posted by Crisco

You remember perfectly the quote but as to who said it you are mistaken.

That statement was posted and later retracted by Ben Rothwell on sherdog.

Ok, so what are you playing at? Are you saying I knew the statement was retracted?

Remembering one sentence out of a interview isnt exactly, fishy. But thank you for reiterate my "claim".