With only a week before he makes his return to the Octagon, Matt Hughes has called upon some assistance from BJ Penn and long time-trainer Pat Miletich to prepare for his bout against Josh Koscheck at UFC 135.
Koscheck had stepped in for Diego Sanchez after it was learned that Sanchez broke his hand and could no longer compete.
Hughes is a guest blog on ESPN.com, sharing his experience with his training camp located in Hillsboro, Illinois.
“We did two-a-days, where we practiced in the morning and practiced at night and I was the guy getting beat on and torn down, so I didn’t want to do anything spectacular during the middle of the day,” Hughes wrote.
“I was going to conserve my energy for the mat, and being here helped me lay a good foundation, even with the change in opponents from Diego Sanchez to Josh Koscheck.”
Hughes hasn’t competed since last year after suffering a knockout loss to BJ Penn at UFC 123. The loss snapped Hughes’ three-fight win streak. Ironically, Hughes acquired Penn’s help in preparation for Koscheck. Hughes said the Hawaiian was returning the favour after Hughes had prepared Penn for his bout against Jon Fitch at UFC 127.
Hughes said the training regimen between him and Penn has resulted in a good relationship.
“We are actually a lot alike personality wise, and sense of humor wise for sure,” he said of Penn.
“He’ll catch me a couple times, because I’m a little naïve. But we really have a lot of fun together and we’ve found out a lot about each other since our third fight last year.”
While he might be 37 years-old, Hughes said he still loves what he does for a living and is enjoying his current training camp.
“I still love to work out, I love to sweat and a lot of times when we’re done with practice I’ll still jump on a stationary bike, and I am having a lot of fun. I wouldn’t change my occupation for anything,” he said.
Hughes will continue to blog for ESPN.com leading up to his bout at UFC 135.
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