Strange occurrences happen around the world to different people, but sometimes an event just makes you wonder ‘what on earth’. Matt Hughes, the former UFC welterweight champion, has been hit by a moving train in a collision that doesn’t make all that much sense.
According to a report by ESPN.com and statement by the Illinois State Police, Hughes drove a truck “directly in front of the train” yesterday morning. He was airlifted to a medical facility and is receiving treatment in a hospital in Springfield, U.S.
According to Dana White, the President of the UFC he has head trauma.
The American Hughes is a wrestler and a former two- time UFC Welterweight champion with a record of 43-9-0 and an inductee of the UFC Hall of Fame. Allegedly this UFC fighter was helping a friend as a cause for this horrible situation. However it is very strange to drive a vehicle right in front of a moving train and elicits the question of whether he had brain injury before the incident. Could it be the long term effects of head trauma during his career in Mixed Martial Arts? Boxers and MMA fighters, along with athletes from other sports that induce major head damage, have been noted throughout history for deranged behavior either during or after an athlete’s career.
Some are just bad seeds to begin with, leading them into the sport of fighting like the Russian Neo-Nazi Viacheslav Datsik (5-7-0). With a background in criminal behavior this mad fighter escaped mental hospital in 2010 by tearing a barbwire metal fencing apart with his bare hands, after turning himself in with a gun and fleeing across two country boarders.
Other fighters end up becoming slightly nutty after their start in the sports. Several well publicized examples include the amazing boxer Mike Tyson (50-6-0) biting the ears of Evander Holyfield in 1997. The uncontrollable nut punching by polish boxer Andrew Golota (41-9-0) to his 1996 opponent Riddick Bawe (43-1-0) to which he explained that he didn’t want to but couldn’t stop. In that bout which tarnished boxing as a sport, not only did Golota display bizarre behavior of the repeated illegal hits, the ring was left in an uncontrollable massive fight with 16 people being arrested. Then there is also ex-UFC fighter War Machine who was recently convicted of the brutal assault against his girlfriend.
Is it something to do with the characters that enter the sport, or is it something that gets triggered after repeated hits to the head? As the majority of fighters in different sports are incredible respectable athletes who never part take in deranged behavior or criminal acts, it may just be a few nut jobs or those who take hard damage. Driving a truck in front of a moving train however goes down in the books as one of the weirdest things seen of a MMA fighter outside the Octagon ring.
