I know this has been written about before, but it definitely deserves mentioning again. I know some may consider this trivial, but how a fighter dresses can be impactful in many respects. I'm not saying wear a suit and tie to every public function, but at least wear dress slacks and a suit jacket to the pre-fight press conferences or something when in the public eye. For instance, in the pic below we have one of the best fighters of our era in a t-shirt speaking to reporters.
Now, I understand that Matt Hughes is a country boy and he may not feel comfortable in a suit jacket/slacks. But wearing a t-shirt, jeans, and sandals when speaking to a group of reporters is just not acceptable. It just feeds into that whole niche sport that will never be mainstream stigma in my opinion(I know that's stereotyping but it's true). In contrast, when NFL players speak to the media during post-game news conferences...what are they wearing more times than not? Exactly, dressing professionally is something simple that ALL fighters can do to project a better image of themselves and the sport of MMA. It's a proven fact that people judge you on your appearance, and I'm definitely a by-product of that. I could wear two different set of clothes in my line of work, and get two TOTALLY different perspectives.
However, there are some exceptions to the rule and I won't name them all. But, GSP is a prime example of what I'm talking about...check out the pic below.
He's dressed in the standard suit jacket, button up shirt, and dress slacks. Take a look at the GSP pic...then take a look at the Matt Hughes pic in this post. It's like night and day isn't it? When fighters start being professional OUTSIDE the cage/ring as well as inside...they'll start to reap the benefits of both.
Some folk may say that Matt Hughes was promoting one of his sponsors in the pic. I can understand that, but there's a time and place for everything. Michael Jordan was/is sponsored by Nike and most of the time he was dressed professionally when speaking with the media...not in Nike apparel. So fighters, please take your appearance into consideration from here on out...it may just pay off for you in the future :)
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