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Matt Hughes, Robbie Lawler, Matt Pena and Marc Fiore open a new gym together called Hit Squad in Granite City, IL. From the photos on the Hit Squad website, the place looks very impressive. Here’s a little bit about it from their website:

“H.I.T. (Hughes Intensive Training) Squad is a world-class training center designed to enhance the physical, mental, and spiritual well-being of its members. The center’s purpose is education through weight training, boxing, and martial arts. H.I.T. Squad has new locker rooms, a boxing ring, 3,000 square feet of new Hammer Strength weight lifting and fitness equipment, 1,000 square feet of cardio equipment, 5,000 square feet of matted wrestling/grappling area surrounded by octagon fencing, and a member’s lounge.”

At UFC 79, Matt Hughes announced his new book “Made in America” that was released on January 1, 2008. The book was written by Matt and Michael Malice as a contributor. The story takes a look at life growing up working hard on a farm in Hillsboro, Illinois. Working as an assistant wrestling coach and working as an electrician, Matt one day met Monte Cox and pat Miletich who introduced him to the world of MMA. Many years later, Matt’s one of the most well known MMA fighters in the world. He has worked his way up the ranks of the UFC and shares his personal thoughts and encounters with his readers. If you’re interested in picking up a copy of the book, it can be found at most major retail bookstores including Amazon.com which gives a sneak peek of the first chapter in the book titled “This Is Farm Life” and some interesting customer reviews.

Going into his UFC 79 fight against Matt Hughes, Georges St. Pierre was training with Olympians for the Olympic events and boxing WBA world champion fighter. So when Georges was approached by the UFC to fill in for Matt Serra, he knew he was in perfect shape for the fight and took it within 1 months notice. Georges talks about how excellent of a trainer Greg Jackson is, and how he has a lot of loyalty in an “honest partnership”. Now that he was helped by Greg Jacksons camp for his fight, he will help those guys out as they prepare for their own fights.

Hughes humbly talks about his fight with Georges St. Pierre. He discusses how he trained for his fight for Matt Serra, and how Georges came and in didn’t have a hard time at all against Hughes. He admits that he didn’t put a lot of leather on St. Pierre. Hughes talks about Serra’s upcoming fight against St. Pierre and how he won’t last against Georges. Finally Hughes gets a plug in for his new book, “Made in America”.

You can check out the video below:

ESPN recently interviewed Matt Serra to get his take on the Matt Hughes vs. Georges St. Pierre fight.  Before getting into the meat and potato’s, Serra had to get a few questions regarding his dislike of Hughes out of the way.  In response to his distaste of Matt Hughes, Serra told ESPN:

“We’re two different types of guys,”… “He’s just not my type of guy. I think he is smug. I know he doesn’t like me, and that’s fine.”

Although one may think that Serra would be rooting for St. Pierre, he’s actually rooting for Hughes.  He’d like to see Hughes, as it would eventually present the opportunity for the two to match up.  However, he think that Georges is overall a better fighter, and Hughes’ only chance is to get St. Pierre down to the ground, where Georges is still a great wrestler.  “It’s interesting, I think Matt Hughes is going to do everything in his power to try and get him down and on the ground” Serra told ESPN. “He’s not going to try and mix it on his feet; that will get him way more tired. If that’s the case, then it’s going to be a very bad night. It will probably go similar to their last fight.”

To read the full article, visit ESPN.com

Men’s Fitness recently did a feature on the upcoming UFC 79 fight between Matt Hughes and Matt Serra.  As we all know, Serra had to drop out of the fight due to injury, leaving Matt Hughes with an open fight.  Stepping in for Serra was Canada’s Georges St. Pierre.  But I digress…

As a part of Men’s Fitness’ feature on Matt Hughes vs Matt Serra, Men’s Fitness reviewed Matt Hughes’ training program.

Leg Press - 45lb on each side: 3 sets of 30, 40 and 50 reps.

Sledgehammer swings - Rep out

Pullups - 3 sets

Hammer Strength Row - 4 sets

Dumbbell Row -4 sets

Shrugs - 4 sets

Get the full workout at the Men’s Fitness website.

Wow! I was out of the country for several days… on the island… before leaving, the news of Matt Serra’s injury just broke… Being back, there’s some interesting news - Georges St. Pierre is filling in for Matt Serra at UFC 79. This is simply an interim world welterweight championship belt, but man is this going to be one hell of a fight. If you remember UFC 65, GSP put on a clinic. He landed a number of strikes, including some superman punches, worked Hughes over on the ground and finished up with some ground and pound in the second round. For those of you who don’t remember, check out the video of the fight from UFC 65.

According to a recent UFC announcement, Matt Serra sustained an injury earlier this week in training for his upcoming UFC 79 fight against Matt Hughes.  While training at his Long Island NY gym, Serra fell to his knees in excruciating pain and was rushed to the hospital.  Serra suffered a herniated disc in his lower back - for those of you who are unfamiliar with this type of injury, the pain can be crippling - especially if it’s pinches the sciatic nerve.

“This is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do,” said Serra. “I’ve never had a back injury before; I could hardly get off the MRI table. There is no way I can train through this, and I’m devastated, especially because this was such an important fight. I was looking forward to fighting Matt Hughes. All my training was going phenomenally until Monday – All I can do now is to get better and to fight again as soon as possible.”

Chuck Liddell vs. Wanderlei Silva will still be on for UFC 79.  As for a replacement for Matt Serra, most likely the fight will be put off until Serra recovers. To read the full UFC Article visit UFC.com.

Matt Serra and Matt Hughes have made the cover of the latest (December 2007) Men’s Fitness magazine.  Looking at the cover on a news stands, you’ll see Hughes’ picture.  But after opening the magazine, you’ll notice a gatefold cover matching up Hughes versus Serra.  It’s a cool cover.  Check out the press release from the UFC:

“The magazine went behind-the-scenes with Welterweight Champion Matt Serra and #1 Contender Matt Hughes to get an idea of how they live and how they train. Practical step-by-step exercises that help get Serra and Hughes into shape are accompanied by the real heat between these two arch-rivals. Check out this lengthy story about what makes these men great rivals and great fighters.”