Who's the second greatest welterweight? Woodley or Hughes

For me I'd say Hughes is the second best WW of all time but I don't see anyone stopping Woodley anytime soon, so he will surpass him in a couple years unless he loses soon. Hughes dominated the division for awhile and didn't put on boring fights either.
 
woodley resume:
2 losses
18 wins
Defended title 3 times
Top wins: wonderboy(controversial),prime lawler,prime paul Daley,Maia(prime?),out of shape gastelum(spilt decision),primeCarlos condit,dong Hyundai kim,hieron.
Hughes resume:
45 wins
9 losses
Defended title 6 times
Top wins : prime bj penn,Gsp 1.0,Sean Sherk

Woodley would beat up any version of Matt Hughes. So I'll go with Woodley.
Hughes. Dude is an icon.

The old guys get nowhere near the respect they deserve today...

<{hughesimpress}>
Probably go with Hughes. He always fought the best of the best
Well is pretty obvious that Woodley would destroy Hughes but we are talking about resume
Woodley is not a top 3 Welterweight of all time

1. GSP
2. Hughes
3. Shields

Hughes' legacy is greater. Woodley would beat the hell out of him, but that's besides the point.
The game has evolved so much, along with techniques, training, supplements, etc, that it's hard to compare.
Personally, I think Hughes, just based on his complete domination of most opponents, the comparative skill of those opponents, and his overall record. Woodley has benefited skill wise in this era, but he is not even close to being as far ahead of the rest of the pack as Hughes was at the time.
Woodley's story isn't done yet so Hughes but probably Woodley when it's all said and done.
Agreed. It will not be a popular opinion but I still have Hughes as the GOAT at WW. He has 8 defenses over 2 reigns (if you count Riggs) plus a superfight win over Royce. That's 11 fights for or with the Strap. 10 of those being finishes.
I'm pretty sure Hughes wasn't 6 times defending. He had 2 reigns, one for 2, and one for 5 defenses, 7 defenses in total.
I'd say Hughes but Woodley could surpass him.
I have Woodley behind shields
I get your point. At the same time, most current athletes, in most sports, are better than the athletes of older generations—partly BECAUSE they’ve learned from the older generation, of course.

But facts are facts.

In MMA, because it’s a relatively new sport, the evolution of skill and athleticism is much faster than other sports—and it’s much more obvious.

As far as overall greatness goes, I’d pick Hughes all day.

But not because a prime Hughes would beat a prime Woodley (because he wouldn’t. At all).
If we are talking just defenses and not consecutive ones it has to be

1.Georges St. Pierre 9 Defenses

2.Matt Hughes 7 Defenses

3.Pat Miletich 4 Defenses

4.Tyron Woodley 3 Defenses

Of course Woodley beat guys that are way better then the Hughes or even the Miletic era but as far as resume he is getting close but as far as defenses i dont think he will get past Hughes. He is in the second strongest Division in MMA so any fight will be a hard one but its not impossible but close to.
Hughes actually fought the best guys. Woodley is a great fighter , I think. Hughes fought every 4 to 5 months when he was the title holder. Tyron looks like he's going to take a year off between defenses. He was fine for the first 3 but its been 7 months and he has no plans to get back in the ring and fight a top contender, he wants a money fight after 3 defenses.
Woodley beat a burnt out lawler, it was just a matter of time before Lawler would get knocked out from all the wear and tear.
Woodley is ducking fights and trying to pick opponents.

I don' think Hughes ever did that and also has more title defences so my pick is Hughes.

Woodley need to beat diaz, RDA and Darren till then he is nr 2, if he beats that hulk that marked Johnny Hendricks then he is number 1
Woodley only has two successful title defenses btw lol not three
Hughes was a better champ, irregadless if woodley could best him or not. M

One thing about Hughes he never got his head bounced off the cage against marquart did in his prime like woodley did.
Woodley is only champ because WW is lacking right now.

Hughes,bj, GSP all destroy him by not getting matrixed by marquart
Are we talking legacy wise or who would win in a fight? Legacy wise it's Matt Hughes I really don't like the guy but he'll always be remembered as the 2nd greatest WW of all time behind GSP. In a fight with both I'm their primes Woodley takes it all day imo.
Ask yourself a very simple question.

Did Hughes pull ANY of the bullshit Woodley has ?

Did he sit out 18 months whining until he got a TS ?
Did Hughes immediately try to cherry pick fights ?
Did Hughes try to duck anybody ?

Come on, man. How is this even a question that needs to be asked ?

And, to those saying Woodley would kill Hughes. Hughes beat an undefeated young machine, known simply as GSP. So, don’t be too fuckin sure of yourselves, alright.

rckstr.gif

Shoot, I had forgotten about Shield's wins over:
Demian Maia
Tyron Woodley
Yoshihiro Akiyama
Martin Kampmann
Dan Henderson
Jason Miller
Robbie Lawler
Paul Daley
Carlos Condit
Yushin Okami
Dave Menne

Damn, what's a lot of champions and title contenders that he beat!
Well, on the strength of the resume, Hughes and Shields are before T Wood.
Hughes

Come on.. easily..
Maybe but it is about longevity. Matt Hughes accomplishments in the sport have to be respected.
Lawler was unforgettable.
Dunno man, can make the argument Shields has a better resume than both. Also has a dub over Woodley.
1. GSP
2. Matt Hughes
3. Jake Shields
4. Robbie Lawler
5. Tyron Woodley

Depending on how Woodley's career progresses, he could potentially surpass them, but I don't know how likely it is given his age.
 
Woodley would beat up any version of Matt Hughes. So I'll go with Woodley.
For a sport that is as new, has been evolving as fast, as MMA, thats not fair, though.

It's almost like saying that Bolt is better than Jesse Owens, because he'd beat him.
 
1. GSP
2. Matt Hughes
3. Jake Shields
4. Robbie Lawler
5. Tyron Woodley

Depending on how Woodley's career progresses, he could potentially surpass them, but I don't know how likely it is given his age.

I don't disagree but in Woodley's mind he has already surpassed GSP. Its pretty weird.
 
I don't disagree but in Woodley's mind he has already surpassed GSP. Its pretty weird.
We can speculate whether Woodley truly believes that, but it's definitely likely that Woodley feels compelled to say those sorts of things because he's trying to elevate his name value, especially since he's a new champion.

On a side note: "definitely likely" sounds like an oxymoron.
 
Woodley is almost 36. I don't think he will add much more onto his resume.
Look at Randy Couture. Steroids improved his longevity but my case stands. When you take out a lion like wb you're destined for greatness.
 
It's just the opposite. Everybody will forget woodley like everyone has already forgotten Hendricks and Lawler once they lost a few times
That's a hypothetical assumption. Lawler should be a legend in anyone's book and Hendricks was great pre-USADA. That aside, Lawler and Woodley's careers are polar opposites. Woodley didn't have 10 losses in his resume when he captured gold. I believe Woodley is smart enough to retire after losing/retiring the strap, anyway.
 
I have Woodley behind shields

Fun fact Shields never beat the #2 WW in the world, while Woodley has. Shields has 9 loses Woodley 2. Condit and Okami weren't top fighters when Shields beat him. A good chunk of Shield's best work was at MW. Not ahead of Woodley, enough with this talking point. 3/4 of Shields UFC WW wins were razor thin split decisions (most thought he lost vs Kampmann).
 
It's just the opposite. Everybody will forget woodley like everyone has already forgotten Hendricks and Lawler once they lost a few times

Keep hating, Hendricks and Lawler never defended 3x.
 
Hughes. I don't see how this is even open to debate to be honest.
 
Shields has a better resume than Woodley, and beat Woodley too.
 
it shouldn't be counted, you didn't beat the challenger
Right but your personal feelings and how the rules actually work are two different things though.
 
Fun fact Shields never beat the #2 WW in the world, while Woodley has. Shields has 9 loses Woodley 2. Condit and Okami weren't top fighters when Shields beat him. A good chunk of Shield's best work was at MW. Not ahead of Woodley, enough with this talking point. 3/4 of Shields UFC WW wins were razor thin split decisions (most thought he lost vs Kampmann).
woodley has 3 losses and only like 20 fights. lets talk how many losses woodley has if he fights 20 more times. that aint an argument lol. on top of that he BEAT woodley and has more names on his resume. i dont care how u spin it, that rumble on the rock tourney was stacked with name guys and he won the tourney. its about as good a win as when woodley beat condit for example. condit's won like 3 outta his last 10.

he was 26-4 going into the gsp fight, woodley prob gonna finish up with a worse record then that by the time he retires
 
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Look at Randy Couture. Steroids improved his longevity but my case stands. When you take out a lion like wb you're destined for greatness.
So your case hinges on an extreme outlier? What's more Randy started mma when he was older too, so didn't have tons of wear and tear for his age.
 
woodley resume:
2 losses
18 wins
Defended title 3 times
Top wins: wonderboy(controversial),prime lawler,prime paul Daley,Maia(prime?),out of shape gastelum(spilt decision),primeCarlos condit,dong Hyundai kim,hieron.
Hughes resume:
45 wins
9 losses
Defended title 6 times
Top wins : prime bj penn,Gsp 1.0,Sean Sherk

hughes isn't the 2nd goat he is the goat ww.
 

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