How does Prime Matt Hughes fair against today's top WWs?

Watch the Hallman fights, then imagine him against Maia.
 
I understand what you're saying but Matt Hughes has exceptional skill sets of his own that are still unmatched by many of today's competitors. Plus, I could see him holding a lot of them against the cage and earning boring decisions.

That isn't Hughes' game. He finished 35 times in 45 wins. Want to talk about a finisher, he didn't lay and pray, he ended a bunch of fighters.
 
Could beat:
Lawler
Maia
Condit
Gastelum
Magny
Brown
Story
Kim
Nelson
Saffeidine
Cerrone

Would lose:
Thompson
MacDonald

On the fence:
Hendricks
Alves
Woodley

Matt Hughes' incredible strength and grappling acumen would still give a lot of guys trouble these days.

I think he loses to all those dudes on your list, and thats just because they would all be good matchups against him
 
Could beat:
Lawler
Maia
Condit
Gastelum
Magny
Brown
Story
Kim
Nelson
Saffeidine
Cerrone

Would lose:
Thompson
MacDonald

On the fence:
Hendricks
Alves
Woodley

Matt Hughes' incredible strength and grappling acumen would still give a lot of guys trouble these days.
Sorry mate. Matt had a wonderful run as the best of his time.few people didn't fear his previous fight lion walk.now time have changed. His striking has been exposed and so on.
Maya would most likely choke him. Lawler would knock him out. So would condit woodley and so many others.
 
Really? I don't find that to be the case at all. Matt Hughes finished more fighters than most fighters have fights. He had 18 submission wins and 17 KO's. He had excellent wrestling, competent stand up, and a solid BJJ game. .

yes but all those accomplishments,who did he do that to? who were those opponents? alot of them are forgettable now. They were one dimensional fighters like himself who could not counteract his wrestling. Anyway...dont getm e wrong im a huge matt hughes fan and he was one of the most dominant fighters of his day,but that was THEN.I mean his fights with BJ Penn ought to answer this question the TS poses,completley. You have a fighter who was more skilled than hughes and most everyone back then,and he defeated matt. Penn back then represented closer to what fighters are like now.
 
i think people would be surprised that he'd be successful - he did a good job of avoiding the big shots earlier in his career and had a skill set that gave most people problems - he wouldnt be champ, great wrestlers w better striking would get him - but he'd surprise and win a lot, in my opinion
 
Really? I don't find that to be the case at all. Matt Hughes finished more fighters than most fighters have fights. He had 18 submission wins and 17 KO's. He had excellent wrestling, competent stand up, and a solid BJJ game. He also had intangibles to go along with that skill set which allowed him to win the belt twice and defend it a total of 7 times.

You're mostly listing historical facts about his career. I've already granted all that. That's what I mean by "I'm not saying that he hasn't earned his place in history."

The only part that I'm talking about is his skill set.

Yes, he had good wrestling. But was his wrestling better than Hendricks' or Woodley's? Not even close. Those giant slams he used to do wouldn't work on ANYONE IN THE TOP 15 IN THE UFC TODAY.

And for the many fighters who don't have great offensive wrestling, defensive wrestling is light years ahead of what Hughes' opponents had back in the day.

Sure, he had competent standup--competent at best. But his level of competence wouldn't even be the worst part of his troubles in the modern UFC. The one thing that has changed more than anything since his time are the body types. We see a lot of longer, leaner, athletes who know how to strike, wrestle, and use their reach advantage. And Hughes got mauled on his feet by BJ Penn because he couldn't handle his speed. Now imagine him handling Woodley's speed.

His solid BJJ game was fine for his time, but he got armbarred by Dennis Hallman, he almost got RNCd by Frank Trigg, and did get RNC'd by BJ Penn. How do you think he'd handle Maia?
 
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Matt was freaking awesome, and In his time, he was THE welter weight. With the skill set he possed though, I think he'd have a very tough time with the current stable of fighters. Tough to say, but I think a lot of the better strikers that could manage to defend his TD would pick him apart.

Still, legend.
 
yes but all those accomplishments,who did he do that to? who were those opponents? alot of them are forgettable now. They were one dimensional fighters like himself who could not counteract his wrestling. Anyway...dont getm e wrong im a huge matt hughes fan and he was one of the most dominant fighters of his day,but that was THEN.I mean his fights with BJ Penn ought to answer this question the TS poses,completley. You have a fighter who was more skilled than hughes and most everyone back then,and he defeated matt. Penn back then represented closer to what fighters are like now.

Yea, I don't agree lol, but that's alright man, we don't have to agree. Prime country breakfast would be a strong contender in any era.
 
How does Prime Matt Hughes fair against Optimus Prime?

Also an important question.
 
I don't see him beating half those guys. He was no doubt a very well rounded fighter at the time but his bread and butter was always his ground control. If his opponent didn't fear his ground game, he's pretty much in hot water and I think a fight with Demian Maia would be one of his worst favorable match ups Imo.

Surprisingly, he did pretty well against Thiago Alves, considering the amount of juicy juice Alves probably was on.
 
He could definitely beat a lot of them

Rory, wonderboy, condit & magny would give him the biggest problems I think


He would never fight robbie

Rory and Wonderboy, yes
Condit and Magny, no

Hughes would crush both Condit and Magny. Neither have the wrestling to keep it on the feet with him nor do they have Maia/BJ level grappling to put him in danger. Those would be 2 of the easier fights for him.
 
Oh please. Bodyslamming ain't gonna be enough in today's mma.
All-rounders babe, all-rounders...
 
Old school Matt, focusing on his wrestling and not trying to strike his opponents, would be in the top 10. His strength was insane and no one could handle his wrestling. This "New Breed" of fighters talk gets old. If you take the top 5 from his prime and put them up against the top 5 of today's roster, I'm sure they'd be able to compete.
 
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