Chris Lytle – The Ambassador heads to Australia
Rhett sent this in:
At The Ultimate Fighter Season 9 Finale last June, where Chris Lytle the fireman extinguished Kevin “The Fire” Burns via unanimous decision, the world saw “Lights Out” get back on the winning track following a hard fought split decision loss to Marcus Davis at UFC 93 in Dublin, Ireland earlier in 2009.
The win over Burns gave Lytle a renewed spark that only grew brighter with the announcement of his next opponent at UFC 110: rising newcomer and H.I.T. Squader, Brian Foster. Seemingly born with an old-school fighter’s mentality, the pleasure in fighting for Lytle derives from the spirit held by his challenger, and apparently Foster has made the passing grade.
“I think this a good fight because this is exactly the kind of fight I’ve been telling the UFC I want right now,” said an elated Lytle, toiling in the Indiana firehouse. “I want a guy who’s going to come out there and is going to look to finish me. I want guys who are going to try to knock me out try or to submit me, or whatever. I don’t want to fight guys whose goal is to outpoint me. I don’t like those types of fights and those aren’t fun to me anymore, just trying to outpoint somebody.”
In his UFC debut, Brian Foster silenced any doubters when he battled Rick Story at UFC 103. Already coming into the fight on a three fight win streak, Foster had such a long two-year candy cane-like string of first round victories from 2006-2008 that it could decorate any Christmas tree. His two round standup meets action-packed grapple fest against Story at UFC 103 netted him Fight of The Night honors and ignited a competitive desire in Lytle, whose admiration of Foster only grew when he saw the Oklahoma native take out Brock Larson in his second Octagon bout last November.
“I want guys who are going come out there and really try and take me out because those are the exciting fights and that’s the kind of fight that really gets me going. I feel when people try to do that I usually get the better of them and I’m going to take them out, so this is exactly what I want. I’ve seen (Foster) fight before and he’s going to come and try and take my head off so it makes for a fun fight for me and usually a fun fight for the fans. His strengths are that he’s going to be a pretty strong guy and he’s a heavy-handed guy, so he can hit pretty hard. He’s very aggressive and kind of awkward, so he brings a lot of raw power and athletic ability. I think he probably is going to do some wrestling because I’ve seen him throw people around a little bit. He’s just going to be a hard, awkward guy to deal with because of his style. He’s coming throwing heavy bombs and he’s looking to take people out so those are definitely his strengths right there.”
As an 11-year MMA veteran, it is no wonder that Lytle thrives on the challenge only a slugfest can provide. His wins and losses read like a Who’s Who to MMA
Notables, and each fight, regardless of the outcome, is guaranteed to be a barnburner. A true fighter, Lytle seeks nothing more than a good old fashioned war as a prerequisite every time.
“I’m one of them guys who’s been fighting for a long time, since before money was involved, and it was something that you enjoyed it’s just kind of who you are. People ask ‘well, why did you choose to be a fighter’ and I say I didn’t choose to be a fighter; it chose me. Certain times in my career I went through certain phases as far as what type of fights I like, and here, towards the last third of my career, I just like knockdown, drag out fights where I’m going and trying to take the guy’s head off and I want him to try to do the same to me. If they gave me a fight that I thought was going to be kind of boring I wouldn’t be motivated, and I wouldn’t really want to do the fight, so I tell them these are the type of fights I want and the UFC has been very good lately about doing that. If not, I probably wouldn’t train very hard and I just wouldn’t be into it.”
As the UFC continues its world tour, now into the bowels of the Pacific Ocean venturing down to Sydney, Australia, Lytle has been bringing the pain across the world under the UFC banner since UFC 89 in 2008, where he defeated Paul Taylor in a Fight of the Night outing. The 2009 bout with Davis in Dublin (also warranting a FOTN bonus – do you notice a trend here?) also aided in the growth and expansion of the sport throughout the world, so with his upcoming clash with Foster having Fight of the Night written all over it once again, Aussie fans will soon bear witness to the Indiana fireman bringing good old-fashioned scrapping to the rebellious shores Down Under.
“I kind of asked for (the fight to be overseas) because I enjoy traveling, I enjoy going to other places and you get to go over there and try to represent the UFC and try to get a whole new group of fans interested in the sport or even more interested. Being the ambassador, I really enjoy that a lot. It feels good to build those relationships with other people and try to put the right foot forward for our sport, so I really enjoy going to other places and fighting for the UFC.”
Part ambassador, part athletic veteran and all heart, Lytle is part of an overall brand expansion package these days, and “Lights Out” understands that the hardcore fans and the casual viewer covet his brand of entertainment. This ambassadorship is necessary to spread the word of MMA by his unique sacrifices, however, Lytle just wants to have fun, and now 11 years young in the game, it’s still the only thing that matters.
