How good do you think Matt Hughes would be in todays UFC?

I don’t see him as top 5 .....maybe he’d be forced to evolve more if he was around today.... but with his 2003 skill set he’d get creamed against the elite ....he might beat Masvidal lol
 
I think he'd do well. I think the #1 question would be if he could pass the stricter drug testing.
 
HunterAcosta said:
What exactly would be different though besides better drugs? I know the sport has "evolved" but he trained at MFS and had a plethora of great muay thai guys, boxers, wrestlers and bjj guys to hone his skills against. Its not like he was training at a mcdojo or some bjj school. I think he would physically and technically be as good as he was then. Hughes just never had the knack or coordination to be a good sttriker. Some guys athletic at one thing aint got it in another, like jake shields. Pat Miletich is a well rounded coach and I dont see ATT or Jacksons or Tristar making him that much better.Now if you talk about better peds(yes i know he never pissed hot but cmon) then maybe youre on to something.
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Because throughout his career, he basically was a part time fighter. He wasn't in the gym every single day honing his skills. When fights came up, that's when he put in his time. Usually anyway. He beat sherk with basically a 2 week camp or something like that.

With Hughes, his farm and family always came first. He was open about not even enjoying watching MMA because he thought of it as a job.

He had two times in his career where he really started to try to evolve his game. The first was after losing to BJ Penn. That's when he was tutored by Jeremy horn and really started adapting subs and bjj into his arsenal.

The final improvement came too late, that was when he became "K-1 Hughes". He started putting more time into his striking game but it was too little and too late. Had he started incorporating all of these things full time from a younger age it's a rally interesting question how he would have done.
 
Hed be even better than he was as would any fighter in his era or older eras and still dominating
 
Takedown defense has evolved tremendously. Condit is really the only WW these days that can't stuff one.....and he isn't even relevant. Hughes would get pieced up pretty hard the feet before being able to force a takedown.
 
His bod wud deflate worse than vitors did if he ever had to face usada. His performances would proportionately drop down into the dumpster as well
 
he wouldn't be top 20. the game has surpassed where his skill level plateau'd. very limited striking and I don't see his striking being able to evolve to a competitive level in this day n age.
 
Another issue with Hughes he clearly didn’t respond well to getting hit ....besides his Serra win once he get buzzed in a fight he’d never recover....his face would instantly turn red and I’d know he was done
 
POWER2 said:
You obviously started watching MMA when Brock joined. LOL
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I’ve been watching since ufc 3 ....Hughes has zero standup, no recovery from getting rocked and wouldn’t get takedowns because his standup wasn’t any type of threat
 
If he fought today, considering the weight cutting, what makes you think he'd be fighting at WW
 
Bob Gray said:
Because throughout his career, he basically was a part time fighter. He wasn't in the gym every single day honing his skills. When fights came up, that's when he put in his time. Usually anyway. He beat sherk with basically a 2 week camp or something like that.

With Hughes, his farm and family always came first. He was open about not even enjoying watching MMA because he thought of it as a job.

He had two times in his career where he really started to try to evolve his game. The first was after losing to BJ Penn. That's when he was tutored by Jeremy horn and really started adapting subs and bjj into his arsenal.

The final improvement came too late, that was when he became "K-1 Hughes". He started putting more time into his striking game but it was too little and too late. Had he started incorporating all of these things full time from a younger age it's a rally interesting question how he would have done.
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I hear you but you’re basically agreeing with me . HAD he been full time at MFS he would have been THAT much better. How much we will never know . But him training full time at a lot of top gyms now ( if he was young ) with his talent Would produce the Same results as MFS would HAVE had he been full time during that time period too imo. I don’t think Delagrotte , Longo, Roufus , Winklejohn, Zahabi , ATT coaches or Jackson are better striking coaches than Pat Milietich. If he trained there FULL TIME at those gyms now would he have been better ?! Prob. But he would’ve at MFS too full time rather than being a two week training camp guy .
 
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His game was good enough I’d at least call him a gatekeeper. I never liked him, but him and Sherk could lay and pray like none other. No KO power, but they could control and neutralize with the best of them.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see either of them in the top 10 today. Their style would hold them back, but the talent remains.
 
Only one thing is sure.

They would feed him RDA (like they do with all grapplers)
 
Guys like Woodley and Usman who can stop takedowns and turn into a striking match will give him trouble.
 
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