Tim Hague – Never Quit
If Tim Hague listened to critics, he might be content fighting it out on the local circuit, picking up a paycheck that had a little extra in it since he was a “UFC veteran”. If he cared what people thought, he wouldn’t have made the effort to get his signature on a UFC contract not once, not twice, but three times. Yet even if he had doubts of his ability to compete on mixed martial arts’ gigantic stage, all he needed to do was look at the tattoo on his ribcage. “It (the tattoo) says prove yourself to yourself & that’s what I try to do every day,” said Hague. “The main thing I always think about is that I’ll never ever give up on myself. Through all my training & everything, if a cardio session gets too hard & I quit on myself, I’d rather die. I can’t handle that kind of stuff. I’ll never quit & I’ll never quit working hard & hopefully the UFC sees that & they keep me around for a while because I plan on putting on exciting fights.” On Saturday, January 22nd, Hague begins his third tour of duty in the UFC, & he hopes this third time is truly the charm. Standing across the Octagon from him that night in Killeen, Texas will be unbeaten Matt Mitrione. Mitrione enters the bout with momentum from three straight UFC wins, notoriety from The Ultimate Fighter’s tenth season & a stint in the NFL, & the idea that he has no place to go but up in the heavyweight division. Hague has been in this position of foil before, most notably when he faced Todd Duffee in August of 2009. Duffee was unbeaten, had plenty of buzz around his debut, & was expected to go places in the UFC. That night, Duffee delivered on all expectations, knocking Hague out in a UFC record seven seconds. If you asked anyone which heavyweight prospect was going to still be in the organization a year & a half later, no one would take your bet if you said Hague. But that’s just what happened. Duffee got knocked out in his next bout by Mike Russow, was cut from the roster, & recently lost his second straight when he was halted by Alistair Overeem on New Year’s Eve in Japan. Hague will be fighting in the UFC in less than two weeks. “It is a little weird the way things worked out,” said Hague, 12-4 as a pro. “I even personally thought Todd was gonna be the next great thing as well. I went down to Vegas & trained with him & he’s exceptionally talented, but he got knocked out twice in a row after his win over me & I knocked out two guys in a row in highlight reel fashion, so it’s kind of ironic the way the world works.” It is, but Hague’s journey back was far from smooth. Following the loss to Duffee, Hague lost a close majority decision to Chris Tuchscherer & was released from the UFC. Hague quickly sought another fight in his native Canada, but his comeback was derailed when his opponent was forced to withdraw an hour before the bout. Then fate intervened when Chad Corvin pulled out of his UFC debut against Joey Beltran & Hague was brought in on short notice to replace him. Hague jumped at the chance, but lost another close decision, this one at UFC 113 in can of last year. That was three straight UFC losses following his debut win over Pat Barry, & he was released again. He refused to give in. “I know in the Tuchscherer & Beltran fights, I feel that I could have easily won both of them if I had trained to my fullest potential,” said Hague. “So I’m kind of upset at myself about that. For Beltran I only had a few weeks notice, even though that’s not much of an excuse. As a professional fighter, you always want to be in shape.
See the rest here:
Tim Hague – Never Quit
Tags: fight, hague, mma ufc, octagon, opponent, tattoo, texas, time, training