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Fight Path: Why the lure of MMA proved strong for NFL lineman Rex Richards - MMA News
Several years ago, Rex Richards arrived at a submission grappling tournament hosted by Brad Barnes, a professional fighter. Richards,
the skilled offensive lineman standing at 6 feet 5 and 320 pounds who was still a mixed-martial-arts novice, was placed in the beginner division.
"He walked right through it," Barnes told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com).
Barnes, meanwhile, was handling the advanced division with ease, including a quick disposal of an opponent at least Richards' size. When both
were through, they agreed on a friendly exhibition.
"I went up, kind of faking a shot, and went high," said Barnes, now MMA coach at West Texas Mixed Martial Arts and Fitness in Lubbock, Texas,
and a close Richards friend. "It was a full-size collegiate wrestling mat, and he literally picked me up and threw me outside the big circle.
I was 6 feet (tall), maybe 265 pounds at the time."
Barnes reset, and they continued.
"I thought maybe he's just a strong upper body," Barnes said of the former Texas Tech University, Indianapolis Colts and San Jose SaberCats
offensive lineman. "I pulled guard, and he just went ahead and passed a half guard and sat on me. He went for a key lock."
Barnes, not a quitter, gulped.
"I tapped," Barnes said. "I thought, 'This guy will rip my arm right out of my body.'"
This is the story of big, bad, analytical and (some say) UFC-ready Rex Richards, a hope to beef up the organization's heavyweight division and
make a stronger bridge between the NFL and MMA.
Richards' professional career has quickly led him to an 8-1 record, and his only loss came to Shane Carwin, the respected and undefeated UFC
fighter. Each of his fights has ended in less than one round, underlining his power.
Yes, he's big enough to do all those things.
"His size is hard to describe," Barnes said, "unless you meet him."
Football first
On Nov. 12, 1993, Richards sat with his father and watched the first Ultimate Fighting Championship event broadcast. His mother wandered in and
out of the West Texas family room.
"She thought we were scumbags for watching it," Richards said with a laugh. "Blood, punching in the groin. She was like, 'Great, my son wants to
be a scumbag.'" But first Richards filled his life with football, the pride of Midland, Texas. By his senior season at Midland Lee High School,
Richards was a highly sought-after offensive line recruit, and he received 40 NCAA Division I scholarship offers.
Richards chose Texas Tech, and he became an All-Big 12 Conference performer. His 40 starts set a school record for offensive linemen, and he later
signed a free-agent contract with the Indianapolis Colts and then with the Arena Football League's SaberCats.
While at Texas Tech, though, Richards couldn't shake the feeling he experienced watching UFC 1. He signed up for a Brazilian jiu-jitsu class taught
my Klay Pittman at Pittman's Academy of Martial Arts in Lubbock, Texas. He could already bench press 515 pounds, but the skill of this new art was
a unique thrill.
Not long after, Richards found himself inside a New Mexico gym waiting for his first professional fight, against Ashley Rivers in a Renegades Extreme
Fighting show. That November 2005 crowd of 300 or so wouldn't even have formed the concession-stand force at his college football games.
"I'm sitting there, hands wrapped, hitting Thai pads, thinking, 'What the hell are you doing?'" Richards said. "I'm telling myself, 'This is ridiculous.
I'm gonna fight for 200 dollars. This guy could beat the hell outta me.' That's the only anxiety I had about it. Then it was like, 'Why didn't I do this
sooner?'"
Growing career, slimming down
Yes, soon. That's how the fight ended. Richards beat that first opponent with an 84-second TKO.
In the next two years, Richards began his professional career 4-0 fighting in REF, Fightfest and Strikeforce events. In October 2007, he faced Shane
Carwin in Art of War 4 and, this time, lost in the first round via guillotine choke.
Since, he licked Jeremy Carver in King of the Cage with a rear-naked choke and TKO'd Sunia Filikitonga in a Katana Cagefighting show.
In those professional fights, Richards has been viewed as a big, strong, commanding fighter who is both comfortable with large crowds from his football
days and trained to study opponents from his hundreds of hours in film rooms.
"He has that raw talent and raw power," said Richards' manager, Mickey Dubberly of KO Dynasty Sports Management. "He's an offensive lineman who can pick
you up and slam you, but he also studies and learns."
Now, supporters say, if only Richards could devote himself to MMA full time. If only his training schedule hadn't always been weighed down with other
concerns - college football, professional football, a day job as a salesman with the family's oilfield company and, now, as a medical-sales representative.
Well, the latest one isn't so bad.
"Sometimes I'm in the operating room, watching them work on people's spines, working on their brains," Richards said. "It's interesting."
In fighting, Richards is entering the most important two months of his burgeoning career. He'll fight again Feb. 20. By his March bout he hopes to make
the drop from super-heavyweight to heavyweight and fight at 265 pounds.
UFC officials have told Dubberly they like what they see, but Richards has to prove himself as a heavyweight. That means the next few weeks will be filled
with 90-minute morning cardio routines to begin grueling days of workouts and a severe lack of carbohydrates in the diet.
"I work hard; I don't expect handouts," Richards said. "I've been hooked from the day I saw that first fight. I'm not just jumping on the bandwagon. I
want to make it to the highest level, and I'm working as hard as I can to get there."
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