On July 31^st, Rick Hawn defeated UFC veteran Shonie Carter in a devastating fashion earning him the title of July’s Fighter of the Month. This may have been the last time we see Rick fight on a local level. After further research, I realized that awarding him FOTM would be like tossing Bill Gates a nickel. He is the most highly decorated American Judoka to ever make the transition to mixed martial arts. He’s amassed a collection of almost two dozen medals in major US and international events including a 9^th place finish in the 2004 Olympics.

In 2009, Rick won Rookie of the Year after starting his career winning his first 5 fights over a short 9 month period. Rick got right to work in 2010 at WCF 9 with a 30-27 victory over New Jersey MMA star, Tom Gallicchio. He was then scheduled to take on Braulio Estima in the BJJ phenom’s MMA debut at Shine Fights in May. Unfortunately, the whole event fell through due to an injunction by Don King who had an invested interest in the main event. In June, he defeated the north east’s #1 ranked Dennis Olson with a second round KO to secure a Triumph title shot against Shonie Carter at the end of July.

I spoke with Rick about his preparation for this event. Besides an intense training camp, Rick watched a lot of YouTube footage of Shonie’s past fights. Considering his 48-20-7 record leading up to their fight, I’m sure there was no shortage of film for him to study. In a bloody, one sided beating, Rick won the Triumph title. While he was telling me about his fight with Shonie, I realized that even beyond his plethora of medals and Olympian status, Rick is still not your average fighter. While most fighters might talk about a punch that rocked them or a pivotal submission attempt, Rick went into a dynamic description of Shonie’s hip usage as if he was a Doctor describing quadruple bypass surgery. With only two years of experience as an MMA fighter, Rick seems to have the same understanding of the sport as a grizzled veteran. It may be his hunger to become one of the best welterweight fighters we’ve ever seen or maybe it’s that he’s surrounded himself with people like Mark Dellagrotte, the greatest striking coach to ever sport a scally cap and his manager, 2004 Olympic team mate, Jimmy Pedro. Not bad considering Jimmy is the most successful American Judoka in the history of the Olympics with a pair of bronze medals.

I also had a chance to speak with Jimmy Pedro. Besides being a Judo legend, he’s extremely qualified to represent Rick because of his sharp business sense and rolodex of connections to the MMA world. He is the Vice President of Zebra Mats not to mention an accomplished author, corporate speaker and owner of his own world renowned Judo center.

 He pointed out something stunningly obvious but easily overlooked about Rick’s work ethic. “He’s a professional. He took the same professional approach to Judo and has applied it to MMA. He trains hard, hits the weights and takes his nutrition and conditioning very seriously.” There’s a huge gap between being an Olympic Athlete and being a tough guy who wants to prove something in the cage. Rick isn’t some kind of troubled soul with a grudge against society, he’s a professional. I don’t mean to paint “average” fighters with such a broad brush but I think you all know what I mean. I asked him about interests outside of MMA but he clearly has none. He works a full time job and trains full time. Fortunately for Rick, he has a very flexible employer who gives him time off for pre-fight training camps and a few sponsorship dollars to survive those payless weeks. Any down time he has is spent resting and healing up from the wares of training. I’d suggest nicknaming this guy, “The Professional” if it didn’t conjure up images of Jean Reno shooting up a bunch of people to protect a pre-pubescent Natalie Portman…

It’s evident that he’s on the radar of several large productions as Strike Force contacted him to be a replacement fighter for their August 21^st show in Houston. According to Jimmy, they were unclear about who they wanted to match him up with but they ended up going with a different replacement fighter. Looking at the aftermath, my guess is that they were looking to match him up against Andre Galvao. In the only fight scheduled at 170, Andre’s original opponent, Nate Moore, dropped out with an injury. Nate was replaced by UFC vet Jorge “Macaco” Patino.

As it stands right now, they’re fielding offers from various national organizations. However, both Jimmy and Rick made it clear that they’re ultimate goal is for Rick to make it to the UFC. They’re very open and realistic with his future. Without obnoxious humility or unearned arrogance, Rick knows he’s beat the best in town. He also knows that Karo Parysian, the first face of Judo in the UFC has had a lot of success. The sick thing is, there’s no comparing the two. Rick is far more decorated and from what I’ve gathered from his first fights, a far better athlete. Both Rick and his manager have respect for “The Heat” but they both share the idea that if Karo can do it, Rick can do it better.

In the meantime, Rick is training hard with extra focus on improving his submission skills. In his first eight fights, they have not been put to the test save for an armbar attempt by Gallichio and a flurry of triangles by Brandon Weafer. While he hasn’t completely ruled out the potential for another fight locally, I’m sure we’ll be seeing July’s fighter of the month on TV in no time. For more information about Rick, visit his website at RickHawn.com. Sponsors can direct their inquiries to Jimmy Pedro at JimmyPedro@ZebraMats.com