Matt Hughes, with racist T-shirt.
by indie#1 on Nov 7, 2008 2:46 PM EST
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EDITOR'S NOTE FROM LUKE THOMAS: THIS IS A FAN POST WRITTEN BY A READER OF BLOODYELBOW, NOT THE STAFF.
As already stated by the editors, I (the author of this article) am not or ever have been a member of bloody elbow staff. I am a Fan of MMA, with a interest in writing, and certainly not a "big dog" journalist, Through the medium of bloody elbow I have diseminated this information. Within my article I have shown both the picture and source, with no interest to gain readers or listeners, when bringing this picture to the fore. The picture in question has been available to the entire internet waiting to be found. I have directed peoples attention to a website, given a balanced view, then opened debate within a public arena. Whoever happend to fumble upon it first is irrelevant, Those looking to gain kudos and glory as if the photo were taken by themselves, are mistaken into believing this knowledge is theirs for the taking.
UPDATE [from Luke Thomas]: Matt Hughes' webmaster says this is not a big deal:
This photo was taken on April 5th, 2008, when Matt did an appearance at Dale’s Harley-Davidson, in Mt. Vernon, IL. I run Matt’s website and I was there taking pictures of the event. This photo was from early on in the day and some guy brought the shirt to Matt, asked him to sign it and take a picture with it. Matt was on his way to the autograph table, so he signed it and took the picture on the move and I doubt he even looked at the shirt any longer than it took to find a blank space to sign his name. The only reason I remember it so well was I noticed the "SS" symbol and thought to myself, "Uh-oh, this could be a problem." It was a busy day, so I never brought it up and it seemed like such a small issue as the months went by.
Again, Matt has absolutely no affiliation with this group, he was just asked by a fan to sign the shirt and take the photo and he did. Matt has no connections whatsoever with white supremacist groups.
For more photos from that event, you can see his blog entry about it below:
http://www.matt-hughes.com/blog/2008/04/07/dales-harley-davidson/He’s clearly wearing the same shirt in this photo as he was at that event. If you want to confirm my identity, you can email me at nathan@matt-hughes.com
Nathan Rosario
Webmaster, Matt-Hughes.com
Thanks for the explanation, Nathan, but the racist website is still using Matt's likeness. Surely he wants that removed.
UPDATE 2 [by Luke Thomas]: And that's exactly what they intend to do:
We are also aware that the photo is being used by this group on their website as an endorsement of this shirt. We are trying to contact them to remove it immediately and if they do not comply then we will pursue legal action against them.
Not only do we completely disagree with everything they stand for, but this "endorsement" was not obtained in a legal manner, because they are using Matt’s image without permission.
Nathan Rosario
Webmaster, Matt-Hughes.com
UPDATE 3 [by Kid Nate]:
Apparently the story was originally broken by the D&D Show on Tuesday. Audio here.
After a late night conversation with friends, matters turned to gossip and rumour (as they invariably do) some rumours alluded to a former UFC champion having white supremacist links, Without naming names but dropping subtle hints, I guessed at the possible identity of the aforementioned ex champion.
After getting in touch with a number of contacts. I found out that there was a number of pictures out there that evidenced this fact.
After an extensive search through cyber space, I stumbled upon a rather unsavoury "white boy" racist supremacy type website. Which included a picture that clearly showed former two time world UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes, with a t-shirt emblazoned with racist logos across the front and back which include the words "white boy" and "speak english mother****** on the reverse, in a pose that almost seemed to endorse the product.
Now, giving The ex champ the benefit of the doubt, He could easily not of read the words on the shirt before autographing it, holding it up, posing to camera and letting someone take his photo.
Really though, in this media savvy day and age, can anyone in the public eye, on the international stage have such a serious lapse in judgement to show himself with white supremacist paraphernalia, can ignorance really be an excuse, would we tolerate our politicians, movie stars or highest profile sports stars making such a mistake.
Although his star within MMA is now dwindling, Matt Hughes was a great champion, but does he really want to leave his career with this picture possibly hanging around, following his legacy.
The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Bloody Elbow readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bloody Elbow editors or staff.
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Ever since the Din Thomas comment i knew this guy was a fucking piece of shit, this confirms it. i hope serra breaks his arm off.
Amend..
It’s probably real. The neck is a little frayed, but it’s far too low res a pic to differentiate. I wouldn’t say it’s undoubtedly real, but it would take a higher quality image to tell definitively.
No, not at that resolution
Give me a picture and I’ll do the exact same thing. There’s a reason photoshopping at 72dpi and 300dpi are entirely different ballparks. You can manipulate individual pixels at 72 in a reasonable amount of time.
Is it possible that he thought the shirt was in reference to Josh Kosheck’s comment that Hughes was a "white boy" and he was otherwise ignorant of the hate-group aspect of the group?
I’m not the biggest fan of Matt Hughes but I’d like to give him the chance to defend himself and clarify before we conclude he’s a racist.
Someone help me out here, maybe my eyes are dying or the quality just sucks, but I have no idea what the shirt says.
oh
ok, thanks. Guess that’s pretty bad if its true, tho he doesn’t strike me as the outlaw biker type either (googled the name after read this).
I dunno… it all smells fishy to me.
Why is this posited? It is totally irresponsible to post this here, never mind the main page. This is exactly the kind of information that I don’t want to know about. If Matt is a racist, fine whatever, you have the right to be ignorant in this country. Why is it news? It is his personal business and only puts a public black eye on MMA that it doesn’t need. One photo like this can give people the impression that this view represents a larger portion of MMA viewers and fighters and doesn’t even include any context for the photo. For what, more website hits? Come on! Responsible journalist you obviously aren’t.
Because...
If Matt is a racist (which it’s starting to seem that he’s not), then I won’t pay for PPV card with his name on it.
I’m pretty sure the person who originally posted this is not a writer for the site so I don’t know why they would be posting something to get more hits for the website. Also, maybe this isn’t something that you want to hear about but it certainly caught my eye when I was looking through the new stuff here and I would love to know more about this. I don’t want to be sitting there rooting for the guy, ignorant of the fact that he supports a group like that. That’s just me.
“in a pose that almost seemed to endorse the product.”
That statement seems a little strong.
There are lots of possible explanations for this: the simplest could be that Matt was holding this up to say, “seriously? WTF? Can you believe the shit people send me?” I mean, it’s not as though he’s smiling and giving it a thumbs up (i.e. “Pulling a Lynndie”)
While I have a VERY low opinion of Matt Hughes (not his fighting or accomplishments in MMA, mind you – just his personality) I don’t think for a second that THIS constitutes evidence that he’s a racist, any more than Obama sitting on a board with a former 1970’s radical makes him a terrorist.
Don't believe a word I say, I don't train BJJ. -- TangleBones
I agree
this just strikes me as too strange. The guy joins and posts this out of nowhere, there isn’t any google searches that come up with Matt Hughes being racist (except the Din thing which is debatable), and a picture of someone holding a shirt really doesn’t mean anything without a context.
Not a big deal.
This photo was taken on April 5th, 2008, when Matt did an appearance at Dale’s Harley-Davidson, in Mt. Vernon, IL. I run Matt’s website and I was there taking pictures of the event. This photo was from early on in the day and some guy brought the shirt to Matt, asked him to sign it and take a picture with it. Matt was on his way to the autograph table, so he signed it and took the picture on the move and I doubt he even looked at the shirt any longer than it took to find a blank space to sign his name. The only reason I remember it so well was I noticed the “SS” symbol and thought to myself, “Uh-oh, this could be a problem.” It was a busy day, so I never brought it up and it seemed like such a small issue as the months went by.
Again, Matt has absolutely no affiliation with this group, he was just asked by a fan to sign the shirt and take the photo and he did. Matt has no connections whatsoever with white supremacist groups.
For more photos from that event, you can see his blog entry about it below:
http://www.matt-hughes.com/blog/2008/04/07/dales-harley-davidson/
He’s clearly wearing the same shirt in this photo as he was at that event. If you want to confirm my identity, you can email me at nathan@matt-hughes.com
Nathan Rosario
Webmaster, Matt-Hughes.com
by nathan@matt-hughes.com on Nov 7, 2008 5:00 PM EST reply actions
Racist seems too general a term
Aren’t they really just xenophobic separatists? Maybe with a zoo sociology fetish?
by asa on Nov 7, 2008 5:11 PM EST up reply actions
If nothing else, it shows a slight lack of judgement on your and his part. Right?
by lbk on Nov 7, 2008 5:38 PM EST up reply actions
Yes, it does; but when you consider the sheer number of “third party” shirts, books, pictures, etc. that people bring to Matt to sign, it would be almost impossible to inspect everything that is put in front of him.
by nathan@matt-hughes.com on Nov 7, 2008 5:49 PM EST up reply actions
aaah see, that makes sense
I should have read all the comments before replying above, but I thought it was just too fishy to be true.
We are also aware that the photo is being used by this group on their website as an endorsement of this shirt. We are trying to contact them to remove it immediately and if they do not comply then we will pursue legal action against them.
Not only do we completely disagree with everything they stand for, but this “endorsement” was not obtained in a legal manner, because they are using Matt’s image without permission.
Nathan Rosario
Webmaster, Matt-Hughes.com
by nathan@matt-hughes.com on Nov 7, 2008 5:11 PM EST reply actions
A Country Boy Can Survive
It seems like I do remember a ring walk to “A Country Boy Can Survive” before beating down an old man (Royce Gracie). If I’m not mistaken, I think that’s the confederate/redneck national anthem. Not that all rednecks that listen to Hank Williams Jr. are racists……..Wait a minute, yes they are.
I'm just here to bring ya'll a little piece of happiness.
you know that's an ethnic slur too
I listen to Hank Jr., I’m from Texas, my ancestors are definitive Scots-Irish — the ethic group everyone calls rednecks — and I’m not a racist. I generally disagree 100% with Matt Hughes on everything but I still love Hank Jr.
Don’t stereotype — its as racist as anything “rednecks” do.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbwNSNLPIfw (Is there a way to embed videos instead of just the links?)
From the musical Avenue Q.
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better. -Samuel Beckett
by Scott C. Broussard on Nov 7, 2008 10:57 PM EST up reply actions
I bet it has just been blown out of proportion...
Like Nathan keeps saying, he must take SO many pictures bet he doesn’t even realise what he is signing/holding half the time.
Yeah it’s a dumb t-shirt, but it’s not like he is wearing it. Racism is ignorant and ugly and I just think its a pretty heavy thing to accuse someone of based on that picture and (admittedly) an ignorant previous comment.
If you want to be racist, fine
Then get the hell out of OUR country. America is for every tradition.
But not the racist tradition?
Why do you hate the south? :-P
Don't believe a word I say, I don't train BJJ. -- TangleBones
I actually thought about whether being intolerant of intolerance is hypocritical. Then I thought, screw those people.
it makes sense
as many pictures as ufc fighters take and as many people give them shirts to hold up for pictures this should be more common. the back of this shirt does NOT say speak english on it [if you check their site you will see its another shirt that says that] so it wouldn’t seem racist to a person who doesn’t know what the clothing company is all about. it wouldn’t even seem racist to hold up a shirt that says white boy on it seeing as he is a white male. it’s really no big deal. things like this blow up for no reason. and as for the writer of this story stating they found a number of photos that linked hughes to being involved in WP show us more pictures then to prove that statement. otherwise this was a waste of time.
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