Maine heavyweight striker Ras Hylton notched his fifth professional victory last Saturday night when he finished Brad Lee at NEF 42 in round two, via TKO.
The First Class MMA product had to overcome some significant pre-fight trash talk and illegal hair pulling in round one before finding his groove and getting the victory, much to the delight of the Portland Maine crowd.
We asked Hylton if this was the most gratifying win of his career, and here what is “The RasQuatch” had to say: “Yes, and ironically enough, yeah there was a lot of trash talk going on but it wasn’t so much that. I heard and felt everything last Saturday night. It was absolutely beautiful.”
The trash talk and hostility from his opponent was something that continued to creep into the conversation.
“My only response to the trash talk was okay, I’m gonna let you throw absolutely everything that you can at me,” said Hylton “Go ahead throw in the kitchen sink too and lets see what you can make stick and regardless of whatever he had said prior to stepping in the cage with me, it wasn’t enough”.
In between rounds one and two, there was a special moment that took place. Hylton’s teenage daughter, Genieva, was yelling very loudly trying to get her father’s attention. Ras proceeded to speak directly to his daughter to calm her nerves. “The tenor of Geneiva’s voice let me now that she might be a little concerned with the way things are going, and I just wanted to let her know that I heard her and I was going to use what she was talking about.” His daughter is an up and coming combat sport athlete in her own right, so Hylton takes what she says very seriously.
One new wrinkle to Hylton’s camp is former competitor and BKFC heavyweight Chris Sarro. The two met last year at NEF 40 where Sarro KO’d Ras in the very first round. The two men have since began a friendship that has seen Ras travel up to Sarro’s gym in Ellsworth to train together. The key catalyst for this is Hylton’s wife, Janice, who started messaging Sarro directly so the two men could find time to train together. Asked if there was one thing Sarro has helped with more than any, Hylton answered “Simplification. Really the perspective shift from Sarro and his coach Garth is what I needed to get back to.”
Now, Ras Hylton has accepted a fight for Premier FC against Terrance Jean Jacques for the Cruiserweight Title on February 29, in Springfield Massachusetts.
Jacques is a former D1 wrestler who beat Hylton’s teammate and friend Nick Gulliver in 2017. His teammate’s loss gives Hylton a little more motivation to go in and win, and get some retribution for Gulliver in the process. “Yeah, I’ll admit there is some saltiness going on on my part. I feel like [that fight] didn’t really exemplify what Nick is capable of and yeah I want that strap.”
Hylton wasn’t quick to predict a round one finish, but does see himself getting his hand raised. And ultimately he envisions a KO win for himself. ”I don’t know exactly when, I’m not gonna call it. But yeah at some point.”
Watch our full chat with Ras Hylton below!
