Issue 006

August 2005

James Brown may hold the title of the hardest-working man in show business, but if a variation of that moniker carries over to the world of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), it has to have a picture of Jeremy Horn beside it. Although there probably isn’t a person on the face of the Earth that has an accurate count on all of Horn’s fights, it is commonly accepted that he has over 100 bouts to his credit and has won roughly 75 to 80% or more of them.

On August 20 Horn will add another fight to that list, but it will be one of, if not the most, important fight of his career. At UFC 54: Boiling Point he will make his return to the Octagon against a fighter that he has faced and defeated once before: current Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Light Heavyweight Champion Chuck ‘The Iceman’ Liddell.

Born in Omaha, Nebraska in August of 1975, it’s not difficult to understand the work ethic that Jeremy brings to the sport and why he has more than 100 bouts on his resume. Nebraska is at the heart of the Midwestern portion of the United States; a hard-working, blue-collar, mostly rural area that doesn’t really allow for a person to be lazy.

Although he didn’t really get into fighting with thoughts of making it his professional career, having grown up under the abrasive tutelage of two older brothers it is not really surprising that he would have a knack for fisticuffs. Jeremy started competing in 1996, and once he started to make enough money from fighting to quit his day job in construction, he never looked back.

Fighting for future manager Monte Cox’s Quad City Ultimate, Extreme Challenge, and various other promotions, Jeremy was introduced to and befriended by Pat Miletich, one of the original pioneers of MMA. Over time he began to train more and more frequently with Miletich and eventually became one of the fledgling members of the Miletich Fighting Systems, which now touts such luminaries as Jens Pulver, Matt Hughes, Tim Sylvia, Tony Fryklund, Justin Eilers and numerous others.

Training with Miletich quickly paid dividends as Horn began to win more of his bouts. Amassing 15 fights in the first two years of his career, he got his initial big break in May of 1998. Surprisingly, when the UFC came calling, it was for Horn to step into the cage with their champion, Frank Shamrock.

As this was back before today’s current system of rounds and tighter weight classes, the two battled for 16 and a half minutes before Shamrock was able to lock on a kneebar to gain the submission victory. But Horn gave the champ everything that he had, dragging him through a long, grueling war and making a name for himself, even in defeat.

Horn immediately returned to his winning ways with four straight victories in two months before the UFC called him back. This time he would be competing for the first time outside of the United States. His return trip to the Octagon would take him way down south to Brazil to fight Ebenezer Fontes Braga on his home turf. Despite continually making improvements to his game, Horn would once again end up on the losing end; being choked out by the Marco Ruas-trained Braga in just three and a half minutes. 

But he would again call upon the grit and determination in his blood and get right back to the fight game, molding his technique and pounding out more victories. In fact, in January of 1999 he rolled off a string of five consecutive victories. Yes, five victories in that one month. Those five wins capped off a streak of ten fights without a loss since his last appearance in the UFC and launched him back into the Octagon.

At UFC 19 Horn returned to face an up-and-coming Chuck Liddell. At this point in his career Liddell had only two MMA fights to his credit: a decision over Noé Hernández in the UFC and a win over an extremely tough Brazilian striker in Jose ‘Pele’ Landi-Jons. 

Horn and Liddell fought for 12 minutes straight. But this time it was Horn that was able to finally gain the upper hand in one of his UFC fights and lock on an arm-triangle choke that put out Liddell’s lights. He wouldn’t tap out, but Liddell fell completely unconscious as Horn finally earned a victory under the bright lights of the biggest stage in North America.

With thirty-odd bouts to his credit at this point, it was clear that Horn was a submission specialist. Nearly every one of his wins came via submission. A few were by decision, but it was a rare moment indeed when he called upon his limited ability to strike. It really went against his nature, as Horn isn’t the type of fighter that feeds off his ego. He doesn’t need the bravado of a beatdown to feel successful. To him, fighting is more of a game of chess and, ultimately, strategy; not some macho contest of “I can beat your ass.”

After defeating Liddell, Horn would put together a list of eight more victories in just four months’ time before returning to the UFC. At UFC 21 he knocked off Japanese fighter Daiju Takase and then came right back at UFC 22 to submit Jason Godsey. To say that Horn was on a roll would be a bit of an understatement. But when you fight as often as he does, there is no way to expect victory every time. And to prove that rule of fate, he ended up losing his next bout when he traveled to Japan to fight Hiromitsu Kanehara in the Rings: King of Kings tournament. If you hadn’t guessed it by now, that hardly sidetracked Horn who climbed right back into the saddle and started winning fights again.

Looking back now, his fight at World Extreme Fighting 8 should have been regarded with much more scrutiny than it was. Of course, at that time, in January of 2000, it was Horn that was the highly touted veteran and the more ‘named‘ fighter when compared to his opponent, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Back then Minotauro only had a record of 4-0 and had yet to be a blip on Pride Fighting Championship’s radar.

In a classic battle, Horn and Nogueira went back and forth for the duration. After three long rounds, I believe they were eight minutes each, it was Nogueira that was given the decision in a very close fight. In hindsight, it was an impressive fight for both Horn and Nogueira. 

Not surprisingly, Horn was back in the ring and winning again two weeks later. But over the next two years, he would step into some battles with some of the biggest names in the sport. Returning often to Japan, he dropped bouts to Kiyoshi Tamura and Ricardo Arona before defeating Eugene Jackson at UFC 27. Back under the Rings banner, he again lost in the King of Kings tournament, this time to future UFC multi-time champion Randy Couture.

Remember, amongst almost all of these bigger name fights that Horn had, he was also fighting two, three or four times on smaller shows against fighters that maybe hadn’t earned the distinction of the world stage. 

Despite his loss to Couture, he had fought well enough in his recent UFC bouts for them to bring him back to fight at UFC 30. His opponent was the relatively unknown Aussie, Elvis Sinosic. The distinctive characteristic of this fight was that the winner would move on to challenge Tito Ortiz for his UFC belt. Though Horn’s experience dwarfed that of his opponent, it was Sinosic who surprised everyone and submitted Horn with a textbook armbar/triangle choke combination to once again snatch the limelight from Horn’s grasp.

Over the next few years, Horn’s career would continue to follow this same pattern. He would fight constantly, racking up win after win on smaller shows with a smattering of higher-profile opportunities thrown into the mix. He would again lose to Ricardo Arona, but turn around and get victories over Akira Shoji and Gilbert Yvel fighting for Pride. Horn would take out Mikhail Avetisyan and Forrest Griffin in the International Fighting Championships’ (IFC) blockbuster light heavyweight tournament only to lose in the finals to Renato ‘Babalu’ Sobral. 

Seemingly erased from the UFC’s roster, Horn garnered wins over Dean Lister, UFC veteran David Loiseau and Team Quest fighter Chael Sonnen, then dropped a decision to Anderson Silva. Every time Horn is one step from the top, it seems that he comes up short.

Since that loss to Silva he has again put together an impressive string of victories (seven to be exact). And now, with the UFC’s top light heavyweights having nearly eliminated each other in round-robin fashion over the past two years, Horn finds himself again in that familiar position of being one step away. 

The question now is what has changed that will put Horn over the top? Is it that he is facing a fighter he’s defeated before? Is it that he’s much better than he used to be? Is it that Chuck Liddell is not any better than he was? Has Horn had some epiphany that has enlightened him to take that elusive step?

There’s really quite a lot that plays into the answers to those questions. But let’s talk first about Horn’s skills as a fighter. For the longest time, he has been known mostly as a submission fighter, and still is. To be sure, submissions are still a major part of Horn’s arsenal, but he has really rounded out his game with an impressive ability to strike, both with his hands and his feet. Just ask Chael Sonnen or Forrest Griffin about Horn’s newly-found abilities to throw down. He opened up a brutal, fight-stopping cut on Sonnen and knocked out Griffin, the ‘Ultimate Fighter’, with a high kick to the head. So it is safe to say that, yes, Horn’s skills have developed.

As for Liddell, he is better, but not really any different. Asked what is different about Liddell, Horn replied, “Nothing. He’s better. When we fought the first time he was a dangerous kickboxer that is hard to take down. That’s what he is today. He’s just better at it. He’s better on his feet, harder to take down, a better wrestler, but he’s got the same set of skills.”

Another factor is that lately Horn has been fighting mostly at 185lb (84kg) and the fight with Liddell will be for the UFC’s 205lb belt (93kg). He doesn’t seem too concerned, having fought the majority of his career at 205 or heavyweight, “I’ll change up my diet a little bit and put on a little weight and get back to 205. My fighting style is the same no matter what; I’ll just be about 10 pounds heavier.”

Probably the biggest factor in this fight, at least in regards to Horn, is how he comes into the fight mentally. Looking over his record it’s easy to see that he hasn’t always been successful in the traditional ‘big’ fight.

He’s always that one step away from breaking out, whether it was the loss to Frank Shamrock or the upset by Elvis Sinosic or the battle with Babalu. According to manager Monte Cox, “He can go on autopilot for five rounds, no problem. He’s done it numerous times. But he’s on autopilot; he’s not pushing the fight, and that’s been his problem. If you look at his losses, he had five losses in overtime, and it’s not so much that he just didn’t push enough, it’s that it should have never gone to overtime.”

That was one area of concern that Cox addressed with Horn straight away, “Part of it is, I just wouldn’t let him do it halfway. I’ve worked with [personal trainer] Billy Rush, who gets [Rich] Franklin ready… we sent him out there. Rush is right at [Horn’s] side for ten weeks. He started off with a week of puking every day and training like he’s never trained before.” Cox continued, “If things don’t go his way, it won’t be because he took it kind of halfway or tried to just get through with as little effort as possible. This time, for sure, he’s training like he never has and it’s going to be interesting. I don’t think any of us have ever seen Horn at 100%. I don’t think he’s ever given us that opportunity. This time, I think he will.”

Cox believes that this is really the first time that Horn has put everything together, especially the mental aspect. “So much of this is mental, and right now Jeremy 100% believes that he’s going to go out and beat Chuck Liddell. Adding the physical part and nutrition part and all of that is just things to help him in that direction, but it’s all in your head. He 100% believes he’s going to beat Chuck again… and if Chuck doesn’t knock him out, I don’t think Chuck can beat him.”

This fight is, again, that one big shot for Horn, that one step away. But you’d never know it by his mild-mannered attitude. Maybe it’s just the quiet confidence in him, but Horn doesn’t seem to let anything get to him. He really summed it up best himself when asked what it means to be back in the UFC: “Obviously, the UFC is the most well-known and biggest organization in the United States. It’s nice to get that recognition and be

in front of my family and friends on Pay-Per-View, but I’ll fight whoever they put in front of me. It’s for the title, so it is for a little more money and prestige.” Most telling of all was his statement that… well… makes Jeremy Horn… Jeremy Horn, “I treat every fight like it’s my toughest fight ever.”

And on August 20 it very well could be his toughest fight ever. Only this time it looks like we may get to see Jeremy Horn at 100% of his full potential. The question is, will it be enough for him to finally take that one final step?