Issue 037

May 2008

Hard-hitting and versatile, UFC fighter Chris ‘Lights Out’ Lytle earned his nickname after an enthusiastic but uncultured boxing performance in which the Indianapolis fighter swung for the fences throughout his pro debut. “You hit hard”, the promoter told him. “You’re gonna knock a lot of people out”. 

Also possessing incredible movement on the ground, Lytle is frequently mistaken for a jiu-jitsu black belt; however, he humbly professes to have had no formal training in the art, just plenty of grappling experience. The full-time fireman and MMA veteran attributes the fact he has never been decisively stopped in competition to his chin and mental toughness and, at the age of 33, he’s hoping for one more run at UFC gold. 

Where are you right now?

I just got done working out and I’m just heading home to take care of my kids, put them to bed, eat some dinner, stuff like that.

Have you ever been recognised as a fighter when you’ve been doing your duties as a fireman?

(Laughs) Yeah! Most of our work at the fire department are not fires, but medical in nature, so sometimes I’ll go into somebody’s house when they are having a heart attack or chest pain, or they’re having trouble breathing and somebody in the house will be like ‘I saw you on TV! Don’t you fight in the UFC?’ It’s kinda funny, people will sometimes ask for my autograph when I’m helping to give them medical care!

What do you remember about your last fight with Kyle Bradley?

It was a pretty quick fight. I knew he was a newcomer coming into the UFC and it’s amazing, I don’t care what kind of fights you’ve been in, when you fight for the UFC for the first time it’s a little intimidating. So I just wanted to jump on him right away and when I did that I ended up catching him with a punch and hurting him, I just tried to finish the fight as soon as possible and I was able to hurt him to the point where he couldn’t continue.

After the fight, you seemed to have a few words for Joe Silva – what did you say to him?

I was basically saying how – for a while now – I don’t want a fight where the guy is just going to try and out-point me and win a decision. I’m looking for guys who are just going to stand there and bang. I’m not saying I’m going to win every fight, but I’m going to give you a very exciting fight if you put me in there with guys who just want to throw down.

What about the hardest punch you’ve landed in MMA?

I’d probably have to say when I fought Aaron Riley, I fought him down in Hook’n’Shoot and landed a real good left hook ‘BAM’ and sent him up against the ropes. That was a real good punch and after that I landed a right hand that knocked him out and he was slumped over in the corner. Sometimes when you throw a punch, you can feel it from your hand all the way up to your shoulder; you can just feel it’s a real solid punch.

What is the toughest fight from your MMA career?

Probably about seven years ago. I was fighting a guy named CJ Fernandez and about 30 or 40 seconds into the fight, he picked me up and slammed me down real hard and separated my shoulder. I kept fighting and the fight went about 11 minutes. I ended up catching him in a triangle choke and beating him after the whole thing. I remember afterwards I tried to raise my hand in victory and I couldn’t do it (laughs). I had to take a three-hour drive afterwards and go to the hospital, it kept me out for a while. 

That was one of those things that I always look back on and think, you know what, I went through that and I’m not going to give up, I don’t care how badly I’m hurt, I’m just going to keep fighting. I was able to have a separated shoulder for about 10 minutes and still come out with the victory – that was very memorable to me and very meaningful.

Have you ever Googled your own name?

You know, I haven’t, but other people have – my mom did and she was kinda surprised at all the stuff which came up there. There was also some other guy with the same name who was writing some kind of self-help book ‘Improve yourself in 30 days’, his name was Chris Lytle as well – no that wasn’t me (laughs), but she was amazed at how much stuff there was out there about me.

Do you enjoy your fame?

Oh yeah, it’s been fantastic, I feel a responsibility to try to 

present a good picture of myself and my family and the sport to everybody out there. I just feel very lucky for everything I’ve been given right now.

Text: Jim Page

Photo: Josh Hedges / Zuffa LLC.