Hawn: Good Has Nothing I Haven’t Seen Before

Rick Hawn (above) is undefeated in 10 professional bouts. | Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com

“He’s very aggressive. He’s strong. He’s quick, but he doesn’t really have anything that I haven’t seen before,” Hawn said Monday on the Sherdog Radio Network’s “Beatdown” show. “I just have to go out there and play a smart fight and try to get him in a position where I can do whatever I do well.”

Hawn grapples well, for one. A U.S. Olympian in judo in 2004, he holds a 10-0 MMA record. Good, however, is a similarly impressive 11-1, with his only loss coming last October when he dropped his title via unanimous decision to Ben Askren.

In that bout, Askren’s stellar wrestling proved too much for the Tiger Schulmann product.

“I know he’s going to be better than he was in that fight,” Hawn said. “Askren is one of the top guys in the world at takedowns. He made it look so easy. I really can’t gauge anything off that and expect me, with my limited amount of wrestling, to go in there and do the same. But just watching that, just seeing how Lyman reacts, maybe it’s something during the fight that I’ll look for.”

Hawn’s takedown repertoire focuses on trips and throws far more than the shots Askren took against Good. The judo black belt’s style has proven effective too.

“I work a lot of the sweeps and the trips out of the clinch just because not a lot of guys have seen that or are used to it,” Hawn said. “It’s pretty easy to catch someone and get them in the right position.”

To be able to close the distance and clinch, Hawn has been improving his striking. In a welterweight tournament quarterfinal March 5 against Jim Wallhead, for instance, he showed capable standup.

“That’s what you have to do. Otherwise you’re going to get your head knocked off coming in,” Hawn said. “It’s working well. It’s getting better every time. I’m working my wrestling as well, so you might see a shot here and there, but definitely working on my striking the most just to set up the takedowns and the throws.”

Good will likely want to test Hawn’s striking ability as well. The biggest challenge for Hawn, though, could be the quick turnaround between fights. Experience is something he wanted as a newcomer in MMA, but now it’s time to deliver with limited preparation against a quality opponent.

“He’s a tough kid and he’s aggressive,” Hawn said. “I’m not going to say it’s going to be an easy fight at all. It’s going to be a brawl.”

Listen to the full interview (beginning at 28:05).