Matt Hughes - Made In America: The Boring Farm Boy
Written: Jan 28 '08
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Product Rating:
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Pros: His rise through the ranks of the UFC
Cons: Boring nearly throughout, stories are started and sometimes aren't finished
The Bottom Line: This is the first of what should be a slew of MMA books coming out this year. This won't be the best.
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| roheblius's Full Review: Matt Hughes - Made in America |
Matt Hughes is one of the greatest Mixed Martial Arts fighters ever. He's been the benchmark at 170 pounds in the history of the UFC. He was a wrestling stalwart in college, a farm boy with an identical twin brother, had a not so storybook romance, and is one of the most successful ever in the octagon. All of those things should lead to a great biography. However, that is not the case. The material is there, but the way the story is told, in that smirky, yet cold Matt Hughes tone, it's rather quite boring. Also, the book is all over the place. It doesn't seem like it should be hard to tell a story that is based on the yearly ongoings of someone's life, but the stories are started and stopped (some don't make sense), and there's immense dialogue that seems made up, or at least partially made up. I can't imagine Hughes remembers word for word what he said when he was in high school. Rather than using a summarizing statement to communicate a memory, Hughes goes into full, hokey back and forth dialogue that doesn't seem real in the least. That's probably the biggest turnoff.
Hughes enjoys the simple, hard working lifestyle that he grew up around. He's more farmer than fighter, but since the fighting pays the bills, he works just as hard at is as he does doing farm work. He's also a new Christian and this plays heavily into the later part of his story. The story is told in chronological order so he starts at the beginning. The rough part of his childhood stemmed from having a father who couldn't communicate with his kids and eventually, the family divorced themselves from him. By having a twin, Matt always had a playmate, but also had someone to irritate him throughout childhood in his brother Mark. He also had an older sister that isn't really mentioned after his childhood. Same with his mother. He goes from high school wrestler to collegiate champion to MMA fighter very quickly.
Maybe the most interesting aspect of the book has to do with the evolution of his MMA game. He started out solely as a wrestler and worked on his stand-up and Brazilian jiu-jitsu and eventually was invited to fight in the UFC. But the UFC that Hughes started out in was nothing like it is today. It was losing money and the pay was low. Pat Miletich became his mentor and was the pioneer of the division that Matt would eventually own. He doesn't celebrate his victories or make excuses for his losses and really, you'd imagine that someone who is a champion would talk a lot about how hard it took to get to the top, or give some ideas about what was inside him that made him so great. But that isn't the case. Also, to Hughes, beating one of the most famous fighters in the world wasn't such a big deal. When he talks about a conversation that he had with UFC President Dana White about fighting Royce Gracie, Hughes treated it not like the big deal it was because it would solidify him as one of the greats and make him a ton of money, but like he was going to fight just anyone at a show in front of 500 fans.
He talks with the most passion about his wife and son, but the story is so wacky as to how they got together, it's almost an uncomfortable romance. And he starts to tell a story about impregnating another woman and somewhere along the way she has the child and is never mentioned again. Neither is the child.
There are two stories that MMA fans will enjoy most. The first includes a fully detailed conversation with several time heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia who simply wants Hughes' love and respect. Let's just say that Hughes doesn't give those things out very easily. Sylvia comes across as a big goof, but it's not like his public persona is much different in how he comes across to the media. The second has to do with a second hand story that he tells about Tito Ortiz getting knocked out in a bar by Lee Murray in England. The story was told to him by Pat Miletich and is one of those famous stories that has been told second hand by tons of people. But it's still very entertaining and you can tell that Hughes has much disdain for Ortiz.
Hughes will never be the most well liked fighter. His personality is far too crabby and he doesn't ooze charisma unless he's punching someone in the face. But he does respect the sport and the fighters who he thinks deserve it. He is a Christian family man. And he is one of the greatest champions the sport has ever seen. But he's not a great story teller. And when you're trying to write a book, the one thing you need to be able to do is tell a story in a way that will keep people turning pages. The book is co-authored by Michael Malice so maybe it's not all Matt's fault. But his name is bigger on the front cover.
Recommended:
No
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