A UFC Fan's Plea to Dana White

At times, I have been accused of hating Dana White. This is patently untrue.

Although I call myself an MMA fan, I typically like the fighters who are in the UFC much more than those in any other organization. Other than UFC 's "mini-me," the WEC organization.

Kind of redundant if I do say so myself, but I am sworn to tell the truth as I know it. Isn't that somewhere in the pledge of the sports journalist's code of contact oath?

Regardless, it is my own code of conduct. I am, if nothing else, an opinionated—yet very honest—sports fanatic.

My current concern is the health and safety of 35-year-old Matt Hughes.

In blogs on his own website he often alludes to using the excuse of having been frequently hit on his head, as a reason for being forgetful, especially in relation to forgetting promises he has made to his wife.

I applaud his honesty and think his assessment of his memory is completely on-target in this case.

I live close enough to the Hughes' farm in Illinois that I feel like I am truly sticking my neck out (although some old-timers would just accuse me of sticking my nose where it doesn't belong), because the Hughes twins could certainly ferret me out and "take care of me."

Illinois rural areas are notorious for having bodies buried out beneath the barns, as is often reported in Midwest newspapers.

I would not be the first old granny to meet the fate of later being discovered in my own underground cistern many years later.

It certainly isn't wise to tempt a person who raises hogs, as the Criminal Minds TV series just made clear.

But Dana White must be fair and also consider Matt Hughes' welfare when it comes to forcing retirement upon his oldest and best friend in the UFC.

Matt has been an institution, just as Chuck Liddell has been. Both are faithful buddies of the UFC's big boss, have done countless favors for him, and stood by each other through good times and bad.

After learning that Matt had to ask his own corner "if he had been knocked down" in his recent fight with Matt Serra, and did appear to "lose himself" while trying to get to his corner, it is time to become concerned with Hughes' health.

Even though I am not a Hughes fan, I would hate for a father—who is just a year from the age my father was when he died—to risk having a stroke or irreversible brain damage.

Young wives and children are not keen on being put in the difficult situation of losing the man of the family.

I have survived it, but hate every day that I remember "losing my Daddy." He was my world.

So I am pleading with Mr. White to have that same tough talk with Matt Hughes that he has had with Chuck Liddell.

Dana, you cannot force either one of your friends into retirement, but you and Grandma Dee both know it is time to try to reason with your friend Matt Hughes.

So have the tough talk, and we will both pray that he will follow your well-meant advice.