How does Matt Hughes do in today's era of Welterweight?

dipstickjimmy said:
In today's MMA landscape Matt Hughes at 5'9" with a 73" reach probably fights at LW.
I think Matt Hughes vs Islam or Khabib would be very interesting.
He beats many of the top LWs of today in fact possibly all of them.
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Yep that's what I reckon too. I'd back Islam and Khabib against him but he probably beats the rest like you say, Olivera would be an interesting one though
 
TankAbbott4Eva said:
Yep that's what I reckon too. I'd back Islam and Khabib against him but he probably beats the rest like you say, Olivera would be an interesting one though
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Khabib's actually a perfect match-up for Hughes since he also has pretty shitty striking and I don't think he'd be able to stop Hughes' TDs. The real questions would be if Hughes could stop Khabib's TDs and if he could survive on his back if Khabib managed to get him down. Hughes also had way nastier GNP, so if Khabib got him down, I think Hughes would have to be more careful of subs than GNP, whereas if Hughes got Khabib down, he could pulverize him and threaten with subs. That'd be a fascinating fight.
 
Hughes get little to no respect for how good he was. Every one has there top 5-10 GOAT fighters and Jones, Anderson, GSP, Kahbib, Aldo, MM in some order. Hughes was the GOAT when they showed up.

Just imagine if he retired after the second Penn fight.
He'd finish 41-4, with 9 title fight wins plus 2 exhibition wins (Riggs didn't make weight, Royce was 175)
Wins over GSP, Penn and Gracie to end his career.
 
Ginja_Ninja said:
Hughes get little to no respect for how good he was. Every one has there top 5-10 GOAT fighters and Jones, Anderson, GSP, Kahbib, Aldo, MM in some order. Hughes was the GOAT when they showed up.

Just imagine if he retired after the second Penn fight.
He'd finish 41-4, with 9 title fight wins plus 2 exhibition wins (Riggs didn't make weight, Royce was 175)
Wins over GSP, Penn and Gracie to end his career.
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And three of the four losses early in his career pre-championships and his last loss avenged. Hughes was the quintessential champion: Remarkably consistent and incredibly dominant over a long period of time and a substantial number of fights against elite competition, and all the while he continued to improve and evolve. It's fun to think about how Matt Hughes from UFC 36 or UFC 38 time-machined into the cage against Khabib or someone would go, but if Hughes came up today and got his start training and competing in a later era, he would've been even more impressive, and that's crazy to think about.
 
Bullitt68 said:
And three of the four losses early in his career pre-championships and his last loss avenged. Hughes was the quintessential champion: Remarkably consistent and incredibly dominant over a long period of time and a substantial number of fights against elite competition, and all the while he continued to improve and evolve. It's fun to think about how Matt Hughes from UFC 36 or UFC 38 time-machined into the cage against Khabib or someone would go, but if Hughes came up today and got his start training and competing in a later era, he would've been even more impressive, and that's crazy to think about.
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100% agree. Probably only my opinion but he was more dominant than Khabib (while the same size at a higher weight class). He was KOing guys with slams, picking them up and carrying them to his corner and dominanting guys who were known to be some of the best grapplers in the sport. If he retired at the right time, his only knock would be the Hallman fights. 2 quick submissions that he did not get to avenge. Those were also very early when he was coming from college wrestling and learning on the job.
 
Ginja_Ninja said:
100% agree. Probably only my opinion but he was more dominant than Khabib (while the same size at a higher weight class). He was KOing guys with slams, picking them up and carrying them to his corner and dominanting guys who were known to be some of the best grapplers in the sport. If he retired at the right time, his only knock would be the Hallman fights. 2 quick submissions that he did not get to avenge. Those were also very early when he was coming from college wrestling and learning on the job.
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Legacies are interesting. I've often said similar things about Ken Shamrock. If he never came back from the WWF, he'd be talked about as a potential GOAT. When he first retired in 1996, he left with a record of 23-5-2 and was the very first individual belt holder for the Pancrase and the UFC. But even with his comeback, if he would've retired after UFC 48, dispatching Kimo in that legends rematch with a first-round KO and dedicating the victory to his adopted father Bob Shamrock on Father's Day, he'd be revered as a legend of the sport. Instead, he stuck around for a long time and amassed a post-WWF losing record of 5-12 and now it's virtually impossible for people (and literally impossible for noobs) to understand just how good he was. Even for someone like BJ Penn, long regarded as one of the best to ever compete, going out on such a disastrous losing streak tarnished his legacy to the point where I have no doubt that lots of newer fans have no idea why he was ever seen as the prodigy that he was.

For Hughes, he at least has the win over GSP in their first fight and the win over Penn in their second fight to add to his insanely impressive resume of victories over so many major fighters across eras and orgs over nearly a decade.
 
Pierce 34 said:
Lol he doesn't beat Usman, Garry, Colby and Belal.
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Usman is a toss up. The rest absolutely

People saying Matt was a small WW by today's standard is silliness. Bone structure and body frame has a lot to do with size.

Matts size and frame was similar to Sean Brady. Belal is not as dense as either if them and about the same height.

Hughes never got out wrestled by anyone except GSP. GSP only got out wrestled once by Hughes

Matt is underrated due to recency bias
 
Bullitt68 said:
Legacies are interesting. I've often said similar things about Ken Shamrock. If he never came back from the WWF, he'd be talked about as a potential GOAT. When he first retired in 1996, he left with a record of 23-5-2 and was the very first individual belt holder for the Pancrase and the UFC. But even with his comeback, if he would've retired after UFC 48, dispatching Kimo in that legends rematch with a first-round KO and dedicating the victory to his adopted father Bob Shamrock on Father's Day, he'd be revered as a legend of the sport. Instead, he stuck around for a long time and amassed a post-WWF losing record of 5-12 and now it's virtually impossible for people (and literally impossible for noobs) to understand just how good he was. Even for someone like BJ Penn, long regarded as one of the best to ever compete, going out on such a disastrous losing streak tarnished his legacy to the point where I have no doubt that lots of newer fans have no idea why he was ever seen as the prodigy that he was.

For Hughes, he at least has the win over GSP in their first fight and the win over Penn in their second fight to add to his insanely impressive resume of victories over so many major fighters across eras and orgs over nearly a decade.
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Ken is imo a bad example. People would be more willing to to look away from his losses if he hadnt been such a mental midget and quitter in a lot also showing horrible skillsets. It tarnished his previous wins because it kinda exposed the level of opponents he fought before. Not his fault. Ken just never was that good to begin. Frank Shamrock is a whole other ballpark and thats why he is nowadays still highly respected no matter the record.
 
jko1355 said:
You guys realize he wouldn't be able to lift people into the air from the ground and throw them off the juice right? He's a good wrestler he'd do fine in any era... but you can't take like pride era cardio and strength without also knowing none of the guys were clean and they couldn't use as many steroids as actively today without getting popped
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Hate to break it to you, but no one is clean now either. USADA doesn't even work with the UFC anymore.
 
Prime Hughes from back then into today's world: #7-9

Hughes with modern training from the beginning, top 5 or a top LW
 
Hog-train said:
Hate to break it to you, but no one is clean now either. USADA doesn't even work with the UFC anymore.
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Correct, we are seeing more and more guys going 5 rounds without breathing heavy nowadays.
 
Hog-train said:
Hate to break it to you, but no one is clean now either. USADA doesn't even work with the UFC anymore.
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If you don’t know the difference between random and testing and no testing on what you can and can’t use and how much .. that’s on you.
 
Bullitt68 said:
I know. I said "most of the WWs that Hughes fought back in the day," not that he beat. In fairness to Hughes, though, the two times that Hallman tapped him were early in his career before he became a proficient grappler. If after Hughes lost his belt to Penn at UFC 46 the UFC would've given him a third crack at Hallman at UFC 48 (instead of giving Hallman to Frank Trigg) that version of Hughes would've massacred Hallman.
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Good point about UFC 48, but Hughes had 23 fights before the second loss. Hughes was a good grappler at that point of time, but not great at submission defense.

Hallman was one of those wily and wiry fighters that slip in those chokes and armlocks from weird angles. Never liked him, but he was a bit of an overlooked fighter back in the day. Thanks for your thoughts. Cheers!
 
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