First I want to say that we’re having some technical difficulties with the
site. So if you are having trouble or things are just acting weird, then
please just be patient while we try to get everything ironed out.

I got my truck this weekend that 2 Brothers built. Absolutely amazing! The truck looks great, it’s nice
and somewhat low-key and that’s how I wanted it. I didn’t want a loud
paint job and so I’m super happy with the way it came out. They’ve got a
little bit of work to do on it and I’ll get it in a couple of weeks.
There are some pictures from the unveiling this weekend below.

My buddy Marcus Luttrell threw out the first pitch on Saturday nights’
Padres game. That was the three year anniversary of Operation Redwing and
the remembrance of Seal Team 10. Marcus wrote a book of this called Lone Survivor and it was on the New York Times Bestseller list for months. So prayers could go out to the families of
all the boys who died in that, as well as Marcus who went through it all.

Hope everyone has a safe and happy 4th of July. My knee feels great, I’ve
got a nice brace on it now and when I get my second opinion, I”ll fill
everybody in.

One more thing, got a new friend, Patrick Flanigan and there is more news to come about him next week. Just to let you know, Patrick lost three bets against me and only won one. -matt

I found out my results, I’ve got a totally torn MCL that is still attached
to my femur. I’ve got a partially torn PCL. They really think that the PCL
will repair itself and that MCL has a chance of repairing itself. So we’re
going to hold off on surgery right now. I am going to get a second opinion
this week, so that might change; but for now we’re going to hold off on
surgery.

Got more news to come this week, so there will be another blog entry the
middle of the week. -matt

Mark and Emily’s first little girl was born this morning at 3:10 AM. She’s 7 pounds, 2 oz and 21 inches. Everything is going great! -matt

Well, first off, happy Fathers’ Days to all the dads out there.

I’m getting an MRI on my knee this afternoon. I’m not sure if I’ll get the results today or not, but I’ll keep you all updated.

On Saturday, we had the annual Golden Grille Challenge here in Hillsboro. Mark and I entered as team ‘2 Brothers.’ I made pulled pork and Mark made ribs. Had a great time and ended up winning the Peoples’ Choice award. Jeff and Cary Eisentraut (the owners of the local Orpheum Theater) got Judges’ Choice and Carl and Donna Reynolds won the Showmanship Award. Here are some photos from that:

-matt

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Well, I didn’t think I’d come back writing something up after a loss. I fully expected to win, things didn’t go my way. Thiago came in big, some people told me that he looked bigger than me in the octagon. I didn’t expect that but I also think that had nothing to do with the outcome of the fight. I think Thiago came up with a good game plan. He didn’t throw too many punches or any kicks to where I could take him down. He was stronger than I thought and he was quite defensive on the ground. So, where does that leave me? I’ve got one more fight on my UFC contract. I’m wanting to fight Matt Serra (but that’s for the UFC to decide). We’ll see what happens and decide after that fight what I’m going to do. My nose has about 4 or 5 stitches, I couldn’t count when he put them in. My left knee is pretty messed up, I’m going to have to get it looked at. Thiago was very nice after the fight, he seems to be a very good guy. I like that, we’ve always got along good.

My flight home was long, due to the loss. We flew into Chicago at 5 PM and boarded our plane, finally, at 10 and they told us to get off at 10:30 due to storms, so Robbie and I had to spend the night in Chicago. Woke up early, flew to Springfield, IL and rented a car. Finally got home to see my family around 11 AM today.

I want to thank everybody for their positive emails that they have written to the website. I also want to thank my sponsors for this fight:

Nutritox
Bushmaster
One More Round
Round 5
Century
Dollamur
FYT.tv

I think I need to work on my wrestling, especially my shot. I need to be able to take people down. When people are close enough to punch me, I need to be able to shoot effectively and take them down. One thing I don’t like about this loss is that I’ve got to go back to my gym and try and teach after I didn’t do a very good job myself. At least, I can lead by example, break down my fight and really work on the things I need to work on and they can see that. It’s been 8 years since I’ve lost two fights in a row. So, the way I look at it, I’ve got one more fight to prove myself. After that I don’t know, I’ll talk to the UFC and we’ll come up with what we think is the best for both of us.

When I find out more about my knee, I’ll fill you in.

Here’s a short email I received, I kind of think it’s funny. I think my wife liked it more than me, so I’ll go ahead and share it with you (unedited):

matt you are and always will be a icon in the sport of mma. you along with a few others ( chuck, randy) are like the hulk hogan of mma . if it was not for you the sport would not be what it is today it was because of you guys that over the last 5 years it grown so rapidly. retire man , i know you want to regain the title but you have nothing to prove. the last few guys that have beat you will never be what you are, they would have never beat matt 4 years ago. im just sayin man your the reason i started watching and training and it sucks to see you get beat. its time man move over and let the new guys try to match your lagacy. forget sera he is a tool bag dont waste a pair of gloves on him , but if you do fight him beat him so hard he cant talk anymore cause having to listen to him makes me want to shut my balls in a door…….

-matt

As promised, here is some video of Matt training for his fight this weekend against Thiago Alves at UFC 85.

The first round of Robbie’s fight went like we thought it would. Matt Pena had come up with a good plan on his feet, which was stay away from Scott’s right hand and with Robbie being so elusive and hard to hit we just thought that Robbie was going to get the better of him in the stand up war. At the end of the first round, I felt Robbie had Scott hurt enough to try and end the fight. I was yelling at Robbie to finish it. Robbie felt it wasn’t the time. When I heard Scott’s interviews he was talking about leaving his kids for two months to train for this fight, so I didn’t want to get into a war in the fourth and fifth round. Second round, Robbie slowed down and Scott capitalized a little bit, threw some good elbows, but I still believe Robbie won the round. Third round I think Robbie was winning more convincingly than the second. I know Scott had a hurt leg from throwing kicks and Scott started to look very frustrated. I think Scott’s aches and pains and frustrations had maybe a little to do with the stoppage. That’s just my opinion. Congrats to Robbie, he retains the belt and got his win money also.

I didn’t know what to think of the Kimbo Slice fight, didn’t know much about Kimbo nor did I know much about his opponent. I do know that Kimbo doesn’t have much training so I didn’t know how much of a factor that would play. But I don’t know how fair the ref was in the fight. Looks like Kimbo could have tapped out with the guillotine attempt and I don’t know how Thompson got stood up when he was cross sides throwing elbows. It looks to me like there was maybe a little bit of favoritism, but Kimbo is a heck of a nice guy.

Had a couple of forum members at the fights, Boomer and Dawn. Didn’t get to talk with them much, I was a little busy, but Robbie and I thank them for the support in heading out there, hope they liked it.

Jens fought last night against Uriah Faber. I knew Jens was going through a lot back up in Iowa and from what I can tell Jens just never got started in the fight. Uriah was just able to pull the trigger before Jens did. Jens fought an exciting fight like he always does and hopefully Jens can take this loss, learn from it and become a better fighter.

Today’s Monday, I think my flight’s around 6:30 PM, I’m just doing some catch up, running some errands, packing my bags and then I’ll be heading out. Thanks for all the support, probably the next blog will be when I get back next week, but Nate’s working on a video to put up on the site this week. -matt

I’ve just found out the cab and bed are off to paint. The rear suspension is complete from Pro-Comp. The Dana 60 is back and the front suspension is going on. When the cab gets back from paint, they’ll start reassembly. -matt

Click the logo to visit their project page:

The fights were interesting, had two different people want to bet me 20 bucks on two different fights. I made 40 bucks on the night. I also had someone bet me a dollar on the Rameau Sokoudjou vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura fight. At the end of the first round, it didn’t look like Nakamura was going to make it to the end. I took the bet. The person who bet me, his exact words were, “He won’t make it out of the first round.” I took the bet, the horn blew for the end of the first round, both fighters went to their corner, then Nakamura said he couldn’t continue. A lot like the end of the Sherk vs. BJ fight. So, my question to you is, did I win the bet or did the other guy win the bet? I say he made it out of the first round, let me know.

This weekend was great, got to see a lot of family and friends that I don’t get to catch up with much. Mark set some jugs out this weekend to catch some fish and also set a turtle trap out. We caught 8 big catfish and 4 turtles. Sunday we had a nice card game, for about an hour the game was played by flashlight because we lost some power during the rain. I’m the type of guy that can sit next to a campfire and socialize with my friends all day long. Monday we also hit the zip line and had a lot of fun. We’re trying to be able to do some kind of a flip off of it and haven’t figured out how yet.

These are some fish we caught at the Hughes Farm, on the left is a bass, on the right is a bluegill:

Some photos from the zip line:

This week I go to New Jersey for Robbie’s fight. I come back and then leave just about directly for my fight. So, I’ll be busy the next couple of weeks with my fight coming up.

Had a buddy email me and I found it very interesting. This is the entire email, I deleted nothing:

Matt,

I read your article on MMA Junkie today and it gave me the urge to email you. I hope all is going well with you and your family and that your training is on schedule. I am sure you have a a lot people telling you all kinds of things, but I couldn’t resist the temptation to throw in my 2 cents as well. Anyway, I feel like attitude plays an important role in the outcome of any endeavor. There is a famous quote by Henry Ford that illustrates my point. Here is what Ford said:

“Whether you think you can or can’t, you’re right.”

For example, if you think something is not possible or out of your reach, you’re probably not going to commit much energy and resources to accomplishing that goal…Old habits die slowly because they are driven by an outdated mindset… In order to replace old habits through a change in your mindset, there are three steps you should follow:
1. First, begin by specifically identifying the results you want.
2. Then create and develop actions that will accomplish those results.
3. Lastly, examine your beliefs about those actions to determine if they are holding you back…So if you want to achieve your goals, create a mindset made of beliefs that support the truth you want in your future.

I don’t know why I am telling you this. You are one of the most confident people I have ever met. Your attitude, confidence and mental toughness are all a big part of why you have been so successful. I just wanted to remind you that you have every
reason to be confident in your next fight. If you go into the fight believing you will win, you will do so. I am not a trainer or a coach, but if I were, my advice would be to stay aggressive, apply pressure and take control of the fight.

Good luck Matt. I will be rooting you on from NYC.
Jake

-matt