Professor Horn Keeps the Fight Game Pure
The response came without hesitation or elaboration. When asked for his thoughts on his upcoming opponent, Dean Lister, Jeremy Horn simply blurted, “He’s definitely a tough guy and a real good grappler.”
Silence. That was it.
Not surprising really, considering that after competing in over 100 pro fights, there’s really not much more for Horn to say when it comes to breaking down opponents. Good grapplers, good strikers, good wrestlers, fighters well-rounded in all areas, Horn has seen them all, and he’s not fazed by the bright lights, an interviewer’s interrogation, or big crowds. He’s fought for pennies in front of a handful of fans before, so this whole mixed martial arts explosion doesn’t really widen his eyes like it does some folks.
“I don’t like all that stuff,” he said. “I fight because I like to fight. I don’t fight because I want to be famous, and making money is nice, but even if I had to pay to fight, I’d still fight.”
From some, that statement would sound disingenuous – from Horn, it’s pure truth from a pure fighter, one who doesn’t care about television exposure, his face on a t-shirt, or a championship belt around his waist. He’s one of the last of a dying breed, and he knows it.
“As the sport grows, and the opportunity to make money is there, there’s gonna be a lot more people coming into this sport specifically for that reason – because they want to make money,” he said. “And I honestly think that if you’re getting in this sport because you want to make money, then you’re not really in this sport. Back when I started fighting, people started this because they wanted to fight. A lot of them were still working a full-time job and they did it because they loved to fight. Now you’re getting a lot of people that get into the fights because they want to make money, they want to be famous and they want to wear fancy haircuts and hang out at the bars.”
Is that disappointing to see?
“It is,” he says softly.
Despite that disappointment, Horn has not wavered from the practice of his craft, and even though he has logged over 12 years as a pro, the 32-year old Utah resident has remained relevant in the game; that’s something a lot of the peers he started out with can’t say, and it surprises many.
“I think it surprises people around me more than it surprises me,” said Horn. “From the very beginning, I’ve always been of the mindset that I want to win as quickly and cleanly as possible with a minimal fight. There are a lot of guys out there that go in there hoping for an all out war. They want to go in there and brawl with somebody and they want to test themselves, so to speak, and I’m just not like that. I don’t want to find out if I can take a punch – obviously I have found out and I know that I can – but I would have much rather coasted through my entire career, beat everybody and never ever taken a clean punch. Some people view it a bit differently; I don’t view it that way.”
There has been no coasting in the career of Jeremy Horn though. A pro since he submitted Rick Graveson in March of 1996, the Nebraska native has not only fought a Who’s Who of mixed martial arts, he’s fought a Who’s Who Who’s Who. Let’s just run down the short list: two UFC Hall of Famers Dan Severn and Randy Couture, current and former UFC Champions Couture, Chuck Liddell (twice), Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, and Anderson Silva, and top contenders like Forrest Griffin, Ricardo Arona, and Matt Lindland. He even holds a 2003 decision win over the man he’s facing on Saturday, Lister. But Horn’s not about to rest on his laurels and walk away.
“I still like to fight,” he said. “It bugs me to see all the other crap going on and flooding into the sport, but at the heart of it, it’s still a fight, and that’s what I like.”
Horn (88-17-5) also likes being in a position where his reputation and knowledge of the game has afforded him the opportunity to open his own gym and pass on what he knows to the next generation of fighters. And that’s not a small vault we’re talking about here. In fact, one of the highlights of my coverage of this sport came in October of 2004, when Horn cornered heavyweight Travis Wiuff to a three round unanimous decision win over Ibragim Magomedov in Atlantic City. With Horn seated right next to the press table, he seemed to see the fight take place three steps in advance, and every piece of advice he shouted out to Wiuff was perfect. When Wiuff listened, he dominated; when he didn’t, Magomedov was able to stay alive. But by the final bell Horn’s gameplan was good
enough to get his charge a shutout victory. He won’t take the credit for such things, but he will admit that he does see things a bit differently than most when it comes to breaking down the finer points of this game.
“My upbringing in the sport has been pretty unique in that I really didn’t have a trainer, so to speak,” he said. “I trained with Pat Miletich a lot but I kinda learned a lot on my own, and maybe I’ve got a bit of a knack for it. Now that I started training people, some of the stuff that seems simple and obvious to me isn’t to them. They’re talented guys and good fighters, but then I’ll sit down with them and talk about stuff, and things that are obvious to me are not to them, so maybe there is something a little intuitive about it that I have.”
He’s being modest, but you wouldn’t expect anything less from a man who has shunned the spotlight and is simply content to teach, train, and compete. But without the fringe benefits that come with being a superstar in this game, what’s the payoff for Horn?
“Realistically, it’s because I get to do what I like every day for a living,” he said. “I get to set my own schedule, do what I want, and live by my own rules. The biggest reward is that I don’t have to get up and go to work 9 to 5 and listen to some jackass boss yelling at me and telling me what to do. I live my own life, set my own schedule, and I do what I want to do.”
For now, that means Horn will continue to train the next generation of mixed martial artists, but that he will also be causing problems for plenty of 185-pounders in the Octagon with his own fists and feet as well.
“I started a gym a couple of years ago and I’m having a real good time training a lot of guys, and I’ve got a lot of guys that are really gonna make some noise in the next year or so, so that’s obviously very rewarding,” he said. “But I still like to fight myself a lot and I still think that my best fights are still ahead of me. I’m only 32. I suppose in this sport that’s a little old now, but your athletic prime is 35 to 40 from what I’ve been told. I’m still physically healthy, I have no injuries that bug me, and it’s like I’ve never fought a day in my life. So I’ve got a lot left in me.”
The response came without hesitation or elaboration. When asked for his thoughts on his upcoming opponent, Dean Lister, Jeremy Horn simply blurted, “He’s definitely a tough guy and a real good grappler.”
Silence. That was it.
Not surprising really, considering that after competing in over 100 pro fights, there’s really not much more for Horn to say when it comes to breaking down opponents. Good grapplers, good strikers, good wrestlers, fighters well-rounded in all areas, Horn has seen them all, and he’s not fazed by the bright lights, an interviewer’s interrogation, or big crowds. He’s fought for pennies in front of a handful of fans before, so this whole mixed martial arts explosion doesn’t really widen his eyes like it does some folks.
“I don’t like all that stuff,” he said. “I fight because I like to fight. I don’t fight because I want to be famous, and making money is nice, but even if I had to pay to fight, I’d still fight.”
From some, that statement would sound disingenuous – from Horn, it’s pure truth from a pure fighter, one who doesn’t care about television exposure, his face on a t-shirt, or a championship belt around his waist. He’s one of the last of a dying breed, and he knows it.
“As the sport grows, and the opportunity to make money is there, there’s gonna be a lot more people coming into this sport specifically for that reason – because they want to make money,” he said. “And I honestly think that if you’re getting in this sport because you want to make money, then you’re not really in this sport. Back when I started fighting, people started this because they wanted to fight. A lot of them were still working a full-time job and they did it because they loved to fight. Now you’re getting a lot of people that get into the fights because they want to make money, they want to be famous and they want to wear fancy haircuts and hang out at the bars.”
Is that disappointing to see?
“It is,” he says softly.
Despite that disappointment, Horn has not wavered from the practice of his craft, and even though he has logged over 12 years as a pro, the 32-year old Utah resident has remained relevant in the game; that’s something a lot of the peers he started out with can’t say, and it surprises many.
“I think it surprises people around me more than it surprises me,” said Horn. “From the very beginning, I’ve always been of the mindset that I want to win as quickly and cleanly as possible with a minimal fight. There are a lot of guys out there that go in there hoping for an all out war. They want to go in there and brawl with somebody and they want to test themselves, so to speak, and I’m just not like that. I don’t want to find out if I can take a punch – obviously I have found out and I know that I can – but I would have much rather coasted through my entire career, beat everybody and never ever taken a clean punch. Some people view it a bit differently; I don’t view it that way.”
There has been no coasting in the career of Jeremy Horn though. A pro since he submitted Rick Graveson in March of 1996, the Nebraska native has not only fought a Who’s Who of mixed martial arts, he’s fought a Who’s Who Who’s Who. Let’s just run down the short list: two UFC Hall of Famers Dan Severn and Randy Couture, current and former UFC Champions Couture, Chuck Liddell (twice), Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, and Anderson Silva, and top contenders like Forrest Griffin, Ricardo Arona, and Matt Lindland. He even holds a 2003 decision win over the man he’s facing on Saturday, Lister. But Horn’s not about to rest on his laurels and walk away.
“I still like to fight,” he said. “It bugs me to see all the other crap going on and flooding into the sport, but at the heart of it, it’s still a fight, and that’s what I like.”
Horn (88-17-5) also likes being in a position where his reputation and knowledge of the game has afforded him the opportunity to open his own gym and pass on what he knows to the next generation of fighters. And that’s not a small vault we’re talking about here. In fact, one of the highlights of my coverage of this sport came in October of 2004, when Horn cornered heavyweight Travis Wiuff to a three round unanimous decision win over Ibragim Magomedov in Atlantic City. With Horn seated right next to the press table, he seemed to see the fight take place three steps in advance, and every piece of advice he shouted out to Wiuff was perfect. When Wiuff listened, he dominated; when he didn’t, Magomedov was able to stay alive. But by the final bell Horn’s gameplan was good
enough to get his charge a shutout victory. He won’t take the credit for such things, but he will admit that he does see things a bit differently than most when it comes to breaking down the finer points of this game.
“My upbringing in the sport has been pretty unique in that I really didn’t have a trainer, so to speak,” he said. “I trained with Pat Miletich a lot but I kinda learned a lot on my own, and maybe I’ve got a bit of a knack for it. Now that I started training people, some of the stuff that seems simple and obvious to me isn’t to them. They’re talented guys and good fighters, but then I’ll sit down with them and talk about stuff, and things that are obvious to me are not to them, so maybe there is something a little intuitive about it that I have.”
He’s being modest, but you wouldn’t expect anything less from a man who has shunned the spotlight and is simply content to teach, train, and compete. But without the fringe benefits that come with being a superstar in this game, what’s the payoff for Horn?
“Realistically, it’s because I get to do what I like every day for a living,” he said. “I get to set my own schedule, do what I want, and live by my own rules. The biggest reward is that I don’t have to get up and go to work 9 to 5 and listen to some jackass boss yelling at me and telling me what to do. I live my own life, set my own schedule, and I do what I want to do.”
For now, that means Horn will continue to train the next generation of mixed martial artists, but that he will also be causing problems for plenty of 185-pounders in the Octagon with his own fists and feet as well.
“I started a gym a couple of years ago and I’m having a real good time training a lot of guys, and I’ve got a lot of guys that are really gonna make some noise in the next year or so, so that’s obviously very rewarding,” he said. “But I still like to fight myself a lot and I still think that my best fights are still ahead of me. I’m only 32. I suppose in this sport that’s a little old now, but your athletic prime is 35 to 40 from what I’ve been told. I’m still physically healthy, I have no injuries that bug me, and it’s like I’ve never fought a day in my life. So I’ve got a lot left in me.”
