Track & Field Star Loves MMA and Matt Hughes
Published by Scoop Malinowski on August 23rd, 2009 in Interviews

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Track and field and mixed martial arts are about as similar of sports as ice hockey and swimming, so you would not expect that one of the top female track athletes in the world to be into MMA.

“I love the sport. It’s so awesome how skillful and tough the fighters are,” says Jenn Stuczynski, the 2008 Olympic silver medalist in the pole vault event. “I’m amazed how calm and composed the athletes are before they are about to fight. It takes so much skill, concentration and courage to be an MMA fighter. It’s an amazing sport, I’m amazed watching it.”

Stuczynski, age 27 and a four-time U.S. outdoor pole vault champ, hasn’t yet been to a live MMA event but she has a favorite. “I like Matt Hughes the best. He’s very humble, I like how he carries himself. I just read his book. I really enjoyed it too.”

So how does a pole vaulter from up-state New York became a fan of Ultimate Fighting? “My coach (Rich Suhr) is from upstate New York. We train there. Wrestling is big up there. His son is a wrestler in high school. So I kind of got interested in wrestling from them. Then from there I became interested in the UFC and MMA. The fights are so exciting. I also like Georges St. Pierre, Randy Couture and BJ Penn.”

What was the most exciting fight you ever saw so far? “GSP and BJ Penn, that was a great fight.”

“I just can’t believe sometimes what they do as athletes. It’s such a dangerous complex sport. It takes so much courage and bravery to do it. All of the top fighters, I think, are some of the most amazing athletes in the world.”

We can’t disagree with that point.

Stuczynski is also a remarkable athletes in her difficult event, the pole vault. She cleared 15-feet, nine inches to clinch the silver medal last summer in Athens. Stuczynski, a basketball player in college, also won a world indoor silver medal last year. But she has not yet been able to overcome the reigning queen of the pole vault, arch-rival Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia. Isinbayeva has been so dominant at the Olympics and world championships, you could call her the Fedor of female pole vaulting.

Stuczynski is presently competing at the 2008 World Athletics Championships in Berlin, Germany.