Was browsing the web tonight, looking at the weigh in pics for UFC 98 tonight. Unfortunately I won't be able to watch, I have a family event to go to, but I'm really hoping to hear about Matt Hughes putting on a great show tonight, this will likely be his last fight. Anyhow, I saw this pic, and it makes me like him even more. Look at the red arrow.........
LOL... It cost a LOT less to have that emblem on Matt's shorts than it does to run a full-color, double-truck ad in ANY of the archery magazines. Matt's one heckuva nice guy. I spent quite a bit of time with him at the ATA, and when we all were discussing the logo deal, I liked what he said that he didn't want this last fight to be about him being a walking billboard... he wanted to choose just a select few and that would be it. Hope he's able to do everything he wants to tonight. I'm just a few minutes away from heading out to watch it myself.
Man id hate to see Matt dissapere from the UFC. He was/is always one of my favorites. pound for pound, the guys an animal!
Awesome!! Hughes pulls out a victory from a not very exciting fight. Serra wanted to bang, and Hughes wanted to wrestle... and each were the weakness of the other. Hughes kept Serra frustrated throughout the fight, except at the beginning when Hughes about knocked himself out over serras head... My heart dropped when he went down. I'm so glad Hughes pulled that one off. And WOW!!! Machida and Evans, Thankfully someone finnally shut Rashads cocky mouth up. AND in STYLE, Awesome knockout"S" I think he probably knocked him out 5-6 times before he was out cold. I had never seen Machida fight before, but man did I like what I saw!
LOL, Even as HUGE an MMA fan as I am, I admit I usually find myself sitting back smirking a little when sitting in a sports bar watching the fights at people who yell at the screens like anyone in Vegas or wherever the Octagon happens to be can hear them. But when Hughes dropped, I found myself yelling "Get up, Matt! Get up!" I kept on until he regained his legs a bit, LOL. That would have SUCKED, big time. Glad he pulled it out, but I would have REALLY liked to have seen him just TAG Serra a few times, or at least get in some vicious ground-n'-pound for a minute or two. :d I bet the most satisfying part for him was when he was in Serra's guard and got to stuff his hands over Serra's mouth for a good bit. Yeah, Machida put on a SHOW didn't he? Relentless barrage when he turned himself loose, and very accurate striking. Great stuff!
Man was I wrong, Machida impressed the heck out of me. I knew he was good but after seeing his quickness next to Rashad's put it all in perspective. Rashad IMO is top talent so Machida proved he is the best. Great Fight and Machida is a deserving guy on top of being a great Ambassador for the sport. Serra vs. Hughes well kinda boring Serra knocked him down with a headbutt to the chin (unintentional) that's the only reason Hughes was ever in trouble. Hughes had a great throw to side mount and really overpowered Serra it just never went anywhere kinda like I expected. Was glad to see Hughes pull off the deserving decision.
I'm gonna take a different approach to this situation... I <3 Matt Hughes. I used to get chills when "Country Boy Can Survive" started. That was back when he finished fights in devestating style. Now I think it is time for him to think about concentrating on coaching. He beat Serra in a boring fight, and not by a whole lot, and Serra ain't a top 5 guy and I don't think Hughes is either anymore. He might not even be Top 10.
Couldn't agree more. Matt Hughes was once an unstoppable force, lately he's been just getting by. HOWEVER, the guy has 50 professional fights under his belt! That's double the amount most fighters have. The fight itself was boring, but other fights made up for it in the night. Machida stayed undefeated. Not only has he won every fight, he's won every round! And how about that kindergarden teacher?! The most bad ass teacher to date.
I don't think Matt Hughes has lost anything. He is in as good of shape as ever. But in the last 1+ years he has only fought twice due to knee injury and in that time guys are stepping up that are much more well rounded. Matt is still one of the best wrestlers in the game and surely one of the strongest in the division. I just think the top guys like GSP, Thiago Alves are too quick and well rounded or are too good of strikers, it was tough for Matt to find a way to get them down without getting caught or hit real hard. He for sure is a top ten but not top 5 talent. He just doesn't have the striking power or quickness to fight a well rounded fighter or a quick powerful striker with KO ability such as Alves. Hughes conditioning is still second to none. Serra is no push over and is probably better on the feet than Hughes. Hughes' strength neutralized Serra's Jiu Jitsu. I appreciated the stalemate but makes for a boring watch. They did what they could against eachother.
I am a fan of ground matches, and granted I know Hughes was being tenitive about Serra's ground game, but Hughes had/has underrated striking which we haven't seen in a quite a few fights. His BJJ is spectacular but we haven't seen that either. I'm not saying he's useless, I just think that there will never be another Hughes era with the belt, nor do I think he'll ever get another title shot.