Issue 110

January 2014

Jimy ‘The Kid’ Hettes rode off into the sunset and got lost in the wilderness for 13 months after missing his target for the first time. But the bounty hunter rode back into town for UFC Fight Night 30 and showed his shooting skills are as sharp as ever

Jimy ‘The Kid’ Hettes was being tipped for superstardom 18 months ago. With back-to-back wins inside the UFC Octagon, ‘Judo Jimy’ ran up a quick-fire, unblemished 10-0 slate in MMA inside just 31 months as a pro fighter. The Pennsylvania sharpshooter rocketed up the featherweight rankings as his skills, both standing and on the ground, earmarked him as a true fight finisher. But then, with the world watching at UFC 152, he missed his target.

On 22nd September 2012, inside Tornoto’s Air Canada Centre, Hettes stood facing Marcus Brimage for their Octagon duel and he totally misfired. His boxing looked primitive at best, while his incredible ground-game, spawned out of an upbringing on the judo mats, also failed to leave the chamber. For the first time, the baby-faced assassin looked out of his depth.

And, if that first ‘L’ on his record wasn’t frustrating enough, Hettes then succumbed to a succession of injury problems, keeping him out of action for well over a year. It was a tough time for the 26-year-old, but typically to those that know him, Hettes never dwelled on the negatives. After all, the pressure of success on his shoulders was placed by others, not himself.

“I’m just glad that it happened when it did because I was mentally in a good place,” says the youngster, who still looks like a teenager. “So when I got hit with bad news from the doctors, I was remaining optimistic and trying to stay mentally in the game. It’s been a pain, for sure, but I feel like I used the time wisely and improved on a lot of things.”

His performance in Manchester, UK, in October was testament to that. Despite suffering from an 11th-hour opponent switch, Hettes dominated game Scotsman Rob Whiteford en route to an impressive second-round submission.

“I learn a lot from all the fights, whether it’s good or bad,” he says resolutely when asked about the Brimage setback following his comeback victory. “It was another learning experience, just like any other fight. There wasn’t anything special about it. It made me change some stuff up training wise and it paid off for the best.”

With a rich background in judo – Hettes is a two-time state gold medalist – he also started both boxing and BJJ in his teens and is considered a member of the next generation of UFC talent who started training all aspects of the sport at an early age. It’s a group he’s more than happy to be associated with.

“It’s a great honor to be put in the category of the next generation of fighters,” he says. “When I first started doing judo and boxing I never planned on competing in MMA. I just wanted to be the best judo athlete I could be, or be the best boxer I could be. It all kind of just meshed together. When I first saw MMA I knew it was something where I could practice all the individual sports and really try to get good at multiple martial arts.

“MMA is going to be like any other sport soon, like the NFL, or NBA or NHL, where everyone is going to have solid knowledge soon and it will be a matter of who the top athletes are who will get to the top.”

And just like successful athletes in other sports, Hettes admits to being an MMA superfan at his core. “Just like a lot of the youth in America, I went to a very prestigious public school and we would always talk about fighting,” he explains. “One of the kids mentioned one day how this thing called ‘ultimate fighting’ was on. We all went to his house and watched it. Then we did the thing the UFC tells every kid not to do. We went in the back yard and practised fighting moves. That was how I got into the sport.”

And his fighting idols? “I’ve watched so many but the one that really stuck out was Genki Sudo,” he says. “I was a huge Genki Sudo fan. I used to watch him all the time and I still watch highlights from time to time and try to dance like he did. I also really liked Fedor (Emelianenko) a lot. I liked his demeanor. I try to emulate that a bit. I always liked Dan Henderson too, and I’m still a big fan of his. Everyone likes the old Wanderlei (Silva) too, as he was just crazy. 

“I was a big fan of Pride FC back in the day. I like the UFC, of course, but I could watch the same Pride event six times in a row,” says Jimy as he breaks into a full-on Don Frye imitation. “Whenever you watch a Pride fight you would think that they just picked names out of a hat and one guy would just get his ass kicked. That was always fun to watch.”

After stints training across the US, including a spell at Greg Jackson’s gym in Albuquerque, Hettes now bases himself out of Toms River, New Jersey, where he trains alongside Frankie Edgar, Tom DeBlass and Kris McCray, among others. 

As for the future, Hettes is just happy to be fighting again (not even necessarily winning). He’s put a dark time in his career firmly behind him and he’s now moving in the right direction. Opponents? He’ll fight anybody. He, like so many others in the UFC, just wants to be kept busy. And now, with both barrels seemingly loaded once more, MMA fans will want exactly the same thing.