UFC Fighter, Firefighter, Father… Politician? Chris Lytle Exploring Political Office

Chris Lytle

UFC veteran Chris Lytle has a UFC on Versus 5 headlining bout against Dan Hardy already on tap for Aug. 14 in Milwaukee, Wisc., but he may soon be picking a fight of another kind. He’s considering running for State office in 2012 in his home state of Indiana.

First emerging in mixed martial arts in 1999, Lytle has long been a fan favorite that has fought at the highest levels of the sport, while maintaining his roles as both a full-time father (he has four children) and full-time fire fighter.

Lytle on Thursday released a statement saying that he has formed an exploratory committee to help him determine whether or not he will run for either a spot in the State Senate or State House in Indiana.

Like many Americans, Lytle told MMAWeekly.com that he’s fed up with the way politics currently operates in the United States, and decided it was time for “Joe average” to step up.

“People have gotta get sick of the two choices they’re getting,” said Lytle. “It’s like you get either Coke or Pepsi; some people wanna drink Sprite.

“There are people that have been rich their whole life. They don’t understand real people’s problems and don’t understand what most people have to deal with, and you expect those people to come in here and talk about fiscal discipline? They don’t have any idea about this type of situation. That means they can only use one of the yachts this weekend.

“That’s not how this should be in life. Until local people start getting in and normal people start get involved, we’re gonna have some huge problems.”

Although he’s obviously not a fan of the way the current two-party system operates in the U.S., Lytle does consider himself an “old-school” Republican, “like someone out of the 30s,” and would run as such.

Asked who he would identify with or maybe admire in today’s political climate, Lytle mentioned 2012 Republican Presidential Nominee candidate Ron Paul.

“There are certain things that I disagree with him on, but the one thing I like about him is no matter what, he’d never change. I believe what he says,” which is a key part of what Lytle sees in himself as a political candidate. “He’s a man of integrity and he stuck by his guns for the last 20-something years, even when he sounded foolish at times.

“He was never going to lie to people, he was never going to play the political game. That’s the type of thing we need.

“Right now people are just worried about getting re-elected and that’s all they’re doing. You can’t make real change when people are worried about that.”

If he is elected, the position is basically part-time, although he said he probably wouldn’t fight during the legislative session, which runs from January through April. The 36-year-old Lytle sees that as possibly the first time in his career that he might have an off-season in fighting, a chance to let his body recoup as he gets older.

“I had a couple of knee surgeries, had a lot of back problems. I’m always getting ready for a fight. I think it’s just slowly kind of taken its toll,” said Lytle. “My body could actually probably use the rest.”

Lytle doesn’t make a lot of promises heading into his possible candidacy, other than to serve with integrity.

“If I am fortunate to get in and people get rid of me in one term, that’s fine. I’m not gonna change what I do to try and get re-elected, I promise that.”

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Ken Pishna is the managing editor of MMAWeekly.com.
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