FACEBOOK TWITTER RSS APP PODCAST Opinion & Analysis : The Specialists BOOK REVIEW: Matt Hughes confirms his massive ego and offers no fight insight in his autobiography "Made in America"

Jan 11, 2010 - 2:45:07 PM

By Eric Hobaugh, MMATorch Specialist

The cover of the Matt Hughes's autobiography, "Made In America," has a subtitle stating, "The Most Dominant Champion in UFC History." This statement was not in doubt in 2008 when the book was released. His arrogance in the ring has served him well, but it does not serve him well in this book.

This book was a simple read following the former UFC Champion from his early days as a child in Hillsboro, Ill. to his dominance in the cage. Good autobiographies are fast paced and well written with some sense of humor. Some of Hughes's humor does get through in the book, but so much is just confusing and not well written.

The storyline of the book jumps around more than seems necessary. What should have been the most exciting part of the book, his rise to dominance and actual fights, gets bogged down by confusing timelines and fight descriptions that sometimes do not make sense.

The job of the editor and, in this case, the ghost writer (Michael Malice) is to keep these things from happening. He is after all a fighter, not a writer.

The fact that he IS the most dominating champion in UFC history makes it unforgivable that this book is plain boring. The story is from a fighter who fought in the UFC for over ten years. I am most disappointed in the fact he left out the rise of the UFC itself almost completely out of this book. Even a one line comparison from the old UFC to the new UFC would have brought the middle of this book together nicely.

I learned almost nothing interesting I did not already know about him. Isn't that the reason these books are written and read?

The early chapters about his childhood are about as exciting as you would expect. The chapters about him becoming a wrestler are painfully boring. The stories sometimes do not make any sense.

"For every move, there's a counter, and for every counter, there is a counter." That is the most interesting sentence in the entire book. This phrase is used several times and is actually insightful.

The book does touch on his relationship with his twin brother Mark, his family and his wife, but these relationships are not fully revealed to the reader.

He does admit to not training as much as he should and relying on his natural talent to win several of his early fights. The best fighters in the world are born AND made. It is true Matt is physically gifted, but without the help of world class trainers and athletes, he was never going to be a world champion. Having said this, it seems odd that he touches only lightly on his training with other fighters such as Jens Pulver and Tim Sylvia. More discouraging was his failure to write much at all about his training with Pat Miletich.

This book is full of Hughes's ego and was apparently just an opportunity to discuss what a terrific athlete and great human being he is, instead of focusing on the lessons and the people in his life who helped him become a great fighter.

Two things would have made this book infinitely better:

Michael Malice should have done the research and written the story as a biography.

A forward by Dana White or anyone else for that matter who could substantiate Matt Hughes ego.

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Eric Hobaugh is the new MMATorch book reviewer. The second part of his review of Matt Hughes's "Made in America" book will be published next Monday.

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