How can anyone look at '04 Hughes, '10 Shields and '19 Colby/Usman and say the sport has evolved?

Nothing of importance changed. But more fighters are into mma, because of higher pay.
 
Twixt said:
Covington and Usman are both far superior athletes compared to Hughes your point sucks.
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Hughes is a two sport hall of famer.

He was nearly 50 fights into his career when he lost the GSP rematch and started falling off.

Most guys today are done before they reach 30 fights.
 
I don't think MMA has evolved much from the mid 2000s, there is more depth in most divisions but not all, HW for example has less depth than it did from 2005-2010 and most of the HWs are less well rounded.
 
Usman would murder every version of Hughes... he'd be dead. Usman versus Royce would be straight up unethical, it would be carnage.
 
cmw43 said:
Hughes is a two sport hall of famer.

He was nearly 50 fights into his career when he lost the GSP rematch and started falling off.

Most guys today are done before they reach 30 fights.
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This just doesn't change the fact that there is no version of Hughes that would be remotely competitive in an MMA fight against either Usman or Covington. If you can't see that you're blind.
 
Eczemaaa said:
Hughes was good at wrestling. Usman and Colby can beat any fighter anywhere the way they mix things up. Two best welterweights ever.
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Hughes was fantastic at submissions as well.

In his prime he even got a young GSP.

hughesarmbarsgsp.gif


Even later in his career you couldn't count out that farm boy strength.

 
Mamou said:
Lmao no your haven't. The left hook he landed on Almeida is the best standing strike he's ever landed. His wrestling/grappling was fantastic but his striking wasn't even average, maybe not even below average.
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Hughes' striking got much better after his prime was over, I think TS is combining Hughes' striking skill post-prime and his grappling and physical ability during his prime which would be better than Hughes was at any point in his career. Hughes was beating Kos pretty badly on the feet till Kos realized Hughes didn't have enough power to hurt him.
 
Twixt said:
This just doesn't change the fact that there is no version of Hughes that would be remotely competitive in an MMA fight against either Usman or Covington. If you can't see that you're blind.
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Prime Hughes would be the best wrestler with dangerous sub grappling that either of them have ever fought. I would favor Usman over prime Hughes but Covington would be a toss up, RDA was able to take him down a few times, Hughes likely would do better than that.
 
r-harper-1 said:
Hmmm Hughes never looked anywhere close to 200 lbs .... maybe someone was exaggerating lol
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I don't know how much he weighed in the cage but he was pretty thick for 170lbs.

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Robotnickx said:
Usman would murder every version of Hughes... he'd be dead. Usman versus Royce would be straight up unethical, it would be carnage.
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Kinda like Hughes did. Breaks his arm with an inverted arm bar then pounds him out.
 
NoBiasJustMMA said:
Prime Hughes would be the best wrestler with dangerous sub grappling that either of them have ever fought. I would favor Usman over prime Hughes but Covington would be a toss up, RDA was able to take him down a few times, Hughes likely would do better than that.
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Covington would annihilate Hughes, you cannot be 1 dimensional today. That's what you aren't grasping. Hughes' standup was so terrible he would never get a takedown on a modern high level mma fighter, he wouldn't even get close.
 
Natural Order said:
The skillset doesn't evolve in leaps and bounds. The techniques we see have been in place for decades, if not hundreds of years. Nobody is making new shit up that hasn't been done before.

The evolution, like all professional sports, is in the athleticism (better nutrition, training, understanding of physiology, recovery, etc.). This results in faster mechanics, quicker reflexes, faster thinking. Better conditioned athletes. That's where the evolution comes from.
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Probably better peds as well
 
Natural Order said:
The skillset doesn't evolve in leaps and bounds. The techniques we see have been in place for decades, if not hundreds of years. Nobody is making new shit up that hasn't been done before.

The evolution, like all professional sports, is in the athleticism (better nutrition, training, understanding of physiology, recovery, etc.). This results in faster mechanics, quicker reflexes, faster thinking. Better conditioned athletes. That's where the evolution comes from.
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There's truth in your second paragraph, but make no mistake - people are absolutely coming up with new techniques, new combinations, and new ways to surprise and exploit their opponents' weaknesses. And that's true in all sports. What worked in the 70s wouldn't have worked in the 90s, and what worked then doesn't work now.
 
Not too long ago Conor 2.0 introduced effective shoulder strikes to the sport in his stunning comeback performance against Legendary Fighter Cowboy Cerrone
 
Hughes has the best jiu-jitsu out of those three by a large margin.
 
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