It's hard to believe it's been FIVE long years since the very unfortunate passing of Ryan "HITMAN" Bennett. Sometimes it feels like it happened a lifetime ago and sometimes it feels like it happened yesterday. You have to shake your head and wonder why some of the best people this planet has to offer get taken away from us in the prime of their lives.
For those that don't know, Ryan was a true pioneer in the Mixed Martial Arts game. He was an absolute visionary that was taken from this world and the world of MMA way too early. He undoubtedly left his mark on both worlds, but had he been allowed some more time on this planet, his mark would have been absolutely legendary. Actually, his legacy is legandary! When you talk about vision, Hitman had it in spades. In the earliest days of MMA radio streams and podcasts, Ryan started Sound-Off, still the best MMA radio show EVER! Now MMA radio shows are a dime a dozen, available in every imaginable format. In the earliest days of MMA websites, Ryan co-founded MMAWeekly, one of the oldest and best sites on the sport. Now there are hundreds, if not thousands of MMA websites of every size and style, from all over the globe. There's no telling what his creative, intelligent mind would have come up with since, but I guarantee this, whatever it was would have been brilliant and groundbreaking.
He was such a natural interviewer. Nobody to this day has come close to him in this regard. When listening to Ryan interview fighters, it was more like eavesdropping on their personal conversation than it was listening to a Q&A that was streaming live. He always had his guests relaxed and comfortable, which ultimately made for some amazing exchanges. Besides that, all his guests loved him so there guard was completely down. I never heard a fighter get even the slightest bit agitated in a conversation with Ryan. It was truly an amazing skill he had and one that many aspiring interviewers could learn from. There's a hell of a lot more to interviewing someone than just asking questions and Ryan exemplified that reality like no one else in the sport. Believe it or not, Ryan actually had a day job outside of everything he did in MMA. He was a sportscaster for an NBC affiliate in California. In addition to that job, running the MMAWeekly website and doing a daily radio show, he somehow squeezed in working for the UFC doing post fight interviews as well as doing fight commentary for other promotions. Of course, we can't forget his most important job, that being a husband and father. That's a lot on one man's plate yet he always seemed to flourish at all of those roles.
I never met Ryan, but considered him a friend. You might ask how that is possible? Well, we had at least a hundred conversations on his radio show and on the phone. I was a daily caller into the show as well as a guest on certain special segments he did. It honestly felt like we "met for lunch" everyday. The show was on at noon and I always worked my schedule around it. After at least a hundred "lunch meetings", you definitely become friends in a sense. That morning, five years ago today, I sat down at my desk at work and logged onto MMAWeekly to see what was happening in the MMA world. When I saw the news posted that Ryan had been killed, it felt like someone smashed me in the stomach with a bat. Here I was, reading about the death of someone I never met, yet I was visibly crushed by the news. Some co-workers even asked what was wrong since I couldn't hide the pain of the news. It was a very strange situation, I honestly didn't know how to act or react. A "friend" that I never actually met in person had just died and I was completely devastated! Life is bizarre, but that's the kind of amazing guy Ryan Bennett was!
Rest in Power, Hitman, you were the best of the best! I know you must be incredibly happy to see where the sport of MMA has gone since you left us, the sport you loved so very much. Thanks to you, Ryan, it was well on the path to greatness!
