Matt Hughes and his corner man Marc Fiore founded the new gym called H.I.T. Squad which looks to be almost finished. H.I.T. stands for Hughes Intensive Training.

The H.I.T. Squad features Matt Pena (boxing coach), Marc Fiore (corner man, wrestling/grappling coach), Robbie Lawler (trainer), and the nine time UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes. The enormous facility is only a few minutes drive from downtown St. Louis. It is located at River’s Edge which is the former US Army Base facility. The team picked this location because of it’s military atmosphere. This theme will be further enhanced by adding camouflage netting and military trademarks.

The facility will be a world class training center offering complete mixed martial arts training as well as a state of the art fitness center with standard heath club rates. Aside from offering memberships to the public, H.I.T. Squad will also sign and manage up and coming mma fighters who want to compete. The crew will hold seminars twice a month and mixed martial arts camps as well.

The gym will feature 3,000 square feet of Hammer Strength weight lifting and exercise equipment and 5,000 square feet of matted grappling area which will be surrounded by octagon fencing. There will also be a boxing ring and a member’s lounge to hang out in. Basically this gym will cater to everybody from kids on up to the elderly.

The wide open spaces make it very appealing and it looks like an army could grapple on the mats all at once. If you live in or around St. Louis you should definitely head on over and check it out. Props to Matt and his crew on the one of a kind facility.

Here are the new photo’s of the gym.

Matt Hughes did an interview with radio station 97.1 Free FM today promoting his new book "Made in America" and his clothing line one more round.

In his interview he discussed many interesting topics including the Gracie family and their motives concerning the UFC. He also discusses the fight he was suppose to have with his rival Matt Serra and future plans to fight the submission wiz.

Below are some actual excerpts from the interview. If you would like to listen to the full 97.1 interview click here.

Host: Are there talks or plans of you actually having that fight with Matt Serra in the near future I mean.

Matt: Matt Serra’s going to fight George St. Pierre next and then I’m gonna look and see about fighting Matt after that so.

Matt: If you don’t lose your not fighten the right people, you know it’s a tough sport so you know if you don’t have losses on your record, you need to step up your competition.

Caller: Where do you see yourself in the ranks of the welterweight division after your latest loss to Georges St. Pierre?

Matt: Well I’d have to say top 5, you know I think Georges and I are still close to the top together and and beyond that I just don’t know where I would start ranking people you know whether it would be Josh Koscheck is coming off a loss, the finch boy he really hasn’t fought anybody yet in the UFC, Diego’s coming off a loss, Matt Serra I just don’t rank him very high it’s not about the reality show it’s just about who Matt’s fought and won, he’s only beat one guy really ever in his life and it was Georges St. Pierre so you know it’s it’s funny because a lot of us haven’t fought each other so I really can’t come up with the rankings in my head and rankings really don’t mean anything to me to be honest, their just somebody’s opinion.

Caller: Iv’ e heard some rumor that Floyd Mayweather might do I don’t know an exhibition fight or maybe a real fight with the UFC. How would that look like?

Matt: Well I don’t know anything about Floyd Mayweather doin this, to be honest, this is the first I’ve heard of it. Unless he’s got some ground knowledge he’s gonna be a dead man out there to be honest. If Floyd were to come into mma he would have to go up against somebody with no wrestling what so ever and just a stand up artist which is really…you don’t find that anymore so you know the easiest match for me is a boxer.

Caller: What is your opinion of Brock Lesnar coming in to UFC.

Matt: Good question, Brock’s actually a friend of mine but I think he’s gonna do real well. He is so athletic, he is so strong. He’s got such a wrestling background that he’s gonna control all positions and I think he’s really gonna do well and that’s my honest opinion. He is a good guy I think he’s gonna fit in well. I’ve worked out with him. He’s so strong so quick. Obviously he doesn’t have a whole lot of stand up knowledge but he’s got enough wrestling to take anybody down.

Caller: How do you feel about the Gracie’s and the original UFC, the way it was intended to be and has it moved forward in that respect…well you know and I do wanna mention that the Gracie’s were awesome and still are.

Matt: Yeah well the Gracie’s did a great thing they brought…they introduced the sport to the United States somewhat and they did a good job. The UFC was actually set up as a way to see if you put a wrestler and a boxer together who would win. You put a Sambo guy and a Karate guy, Taekwondo against a sumo guy. So it was style versus style to see which one was the most effective style. The Gracie’s owned the UFC. So they wanted to produce, they wanted to show the world that Brazilian jiu-jitsu was the best discipline. They were actually, it was actually somewhat like a commercial for em. Because then they get to put their own guy in which was Royce and they got to pick and choose who they wanted to have Royce fight. You know so they’d bring in a Taekwondo guy, who maybe he wasn’t the best taekwondo guy

Host: So he kicked their ass every time to prove a point yeah.

Matt: Exactly well with your parents owning the organization, who do you thinks gonna win? One guess.

Host: Now you fought him and you had a chance to probably snap his arm and you chose not to.

Matt: I didn’t it’s not that I chose not to but it’s the fact that he wasn’t gonna to tap. He wasn’t gonna tap so why would I waste my arm. I got that submission somewhat easier than I thought and I thought well shoot if I got this submission, I’ll just go to another submission. so I let that one go and went to something else but you know. They really did a good job of selling themselves in those first UFC’s. Now they you know they still do a lot of seminars for police forces, gyms and so forth. I mean the the United States really bought into Gracie jiu-jitsu which their still making money off of it today. But as you see with with you know when I fought him, when I hit the ground with Royce Gracie I thought well shoot, I’m gonna wind end up getting caught in some magical submission move that I’ve never seen, that I’ve never heard of, that I would’ve never have felt before and the match would be over. And you can see it on tape, when we hit the ground I just I don’t do anything because I’m just I’m just waiting to see what this guy

Host: Ragdoll

Matt: That’s what I’m thinkin and the more I start workin, the more I start doin things I’m thinkin this guy doesn’t have it and it was it’s just amazing what you can do with your parents own

Host: And all the hype

Matt: And all the hype and if you look at the tape and watch the tape, he didn’t have a prayer when it hit the ground it was just, he was on defense the whole time and it was just amazing to me uh the the power of having your parents run an organization.

In Gracie’s defense he was way past his prime when he fought Matt Hughes in my opinion. I think if he would have fought Hughes around the time of UFC 1,2, and 3 it would have been a totally different fight. For Matt to say that Royce won his fights because his parents owned the organization is far fetched and preposterous. I totally disagree with Hughes but every man to his own. I think Matt is a great fighter, he is just extremely cocky and should have more respect for the Gracie’s. Let’s face it, where would he be fighting if it wasn’t for the Gracie’s discovery of the UFC?

Leave some comments below and let me know what you think of Matt’s interview.