How good was Matt Hughes?

Paolo Delutis said:
45 wins...- 9 losses..

Do i need to say more...


The guy was a stud for his era...and to this day ive never seen anyone GNP and change fights so quickly once they hit the floor , outside of may be prime Tito Ortiz , the way Matt Hughes did...he was a GNP master and had a tight submission game too ...he was a well versed grappler only knock on his game was his stand up...but 45 wins most in the top promotion out there dont lie...
Click to expand...

Plenty of those 45 wins weren't in the top promotion at all
 
Bend NvR Break said:
Would've been 170 and 185 champ simultaneously in the UFC if his friend and sometimes training partner Rich Franklin wasn't 185 already.

Friendships have caused us some amazing fights.
Click to expand...

Not sure he would beat Franklin. Hughes vs Tanner would have been interesting though. He already beat Menne before he became champ. I think Bustamante finishes Hughes though
 
At his peak, he was the GOAT. Fitting that he passed the GOAT torch to GSP.
 
Yrat said:
Matt Hughes was the best we 15 years ago. Had noteable wins over Gsp and Bj Penn.

Had plenty of fights and have fought the best ww. During this time I guess nobody in pride would be able to beat him at 170 lbs or even 185 lbs to be honest.

After Matt lost GSP 2006 do you think he should make the move to 155 lbs back then? Would he able to beat Sean Sherk and Frankie Edgar?
Click to expand...
Here's Hughes getting stopped by one of Pride's middle of the pack fighters Pele Landi.

ConventionalNimbleBarnswallow-max-1mb.gif



Also, Anderson Silva was a WW back in those days and probably would have done much worse to Matt.

<BC1>

But fighting ability aside, by most accounts Matt seems to be a major douche, so he wasn't all that "good".
 
He was champ in a time of great competition. /
 
gravel said:
Some of the new fans have no idea how good he was and should not be disrespecting him as it exposes their lack of knowledge. At 170 I don't think Edgar gets to the end of the first round.
Click to expand...
a lot of people can't separate a fighter from the person
 
pankrat said:
Not sure he would beat Franklin. Hughes vs Tanner would have been interesting though. He already beat Menne before he became champ. I think Bustamante finishes Hughes though
Click to expand...
You don't remember TUF 2 when both Hughes and Franklin were coaches? The UFC wanted to set them up to fight at the conclusion but Hughes didn't want to fight his friend title or not.
 
I don't think he would've made 155 and performed well. Strong as hell. Stories about him tossing Sylvia and Franklin around at Miletich's. 185 is more likely, and there was some talk of it. Matches up well with Anderson. The Pele fight comes up, but Pele was physically stronger than Anderson, also more explosive.

He beat Sherk at 170 in a bigger/smaller wrestler type of fight. Sherk fought at 170, but was always really a LW. Frankie even smaller than Sherk, so no chance in wrestling.

Hughes was probably the best combo of wrestling/grappling before GSP peaked. 7 title defenses is very impressive. Not just that, he was 41-4 at one point, then declined.
 
Yrat said:
Matt Hughes was the best we 15 years ago. Had noteable wins over Gsp and Bj Penn.

Had plenty of fights and have fought the best ww. During this time I guess nobody in pride would be able to beat him at 170 lbs or even 185 lbs to be honest.

After Matt lost GSP 2006 do you think he should make the move to 155 lbs back then? Would he able to beat Sean Sherk and Frankie Edgar?
Click to expand...
Matt was amazing.
IMO, GSP took the crown from Hughes as WW GOAT very late in his career, and it was exactly because of how good Hughes was (in his time, obviously!).\
I don't think he would be able to make LW, but I don't think it matter.

Time passed him by at the tail end of his career, and while he survived on his amazing strength and wrestling/BJJ skills, I don't think he would be the top of his own division, since he was not as well rounded as the top fighters who came after GSP became the champ (and he declinied/retired).
 
Matt Hughes was strong as an ox. I don't think his striking would be enough to Crack the top 5 in the current WW division. With that said if Matt came up in a time where fighters were more well rounded, he would have developed better striking. He was a gifted athlete.
 
pankrat said:
Plenty of those 45 wins weren't in the top promotion at all
Click to expand...


Alot were though...especially the fights that mattered ..

Hughes is the 2nd welter weight Goat...GSP is 1st and Usman is closing in on hughes in 3rd..

Watching prime hughes fights were crazy u always had the feeling all he had to do was get a hold someone and it was over...and most times it was
 
Bend NvR Break said:
You don't remember TUF 2 when both Hughes and Franklin were coaches? The UFC wanted to set them up to fight at the conclusion but Hughes didn't want to fight his friend title or not.
Click to expand...

Yes I know. I'm saying that in case they weren't friends, I'd favour Franklin in that match up
 
pankrat said:
Plenty of those 45 wins weren't in the top promotion at all
Click to expand...

No body had 45 wins in the UFC....Half of Khabibs 30 wins are against Russian scrubs.

Fact is he won 9 UFC title fights which puts him at #5 in the record books for most UFC title fight wins.

Plus 13 UFC finishes.
 
Paolo Delutis said:
Alot were though...especially the fights that mattered ..

Hughes is the 2nd welter weight Goat...GSP is 1st and Usman is closing in on hughes in 3rd..

Watching prime hughes fights were crazy u always had the feeling all he had to do was get a hold someone and it was over...and most times it was
Click to expand...

He was certainly the best competing at 170, but I disagree that he showed such superiority over his peers. I mean compared to Usman and GSP.

Pelé finished him, Halmman subbed him twice, Sakurai coming off a car accident almost KOed him and only started losing after he gassed battling the bigger man, KOed himself vs Newton; Sherk, Kanehara and Serra gave him very competitive fights. And then GSP arrived.

As I said, unquestionably the best 170lber of his era but GSP or Usman showed more superiority imo.

#3 of all-time above Woodley, and I could see a case for him still #2 above Usman even though I disagree
 
cmw43 said:
No body had 45 wins in the UFC....Half of Khabibs 30 wins are against Russian scrubs.

Fact is he won 9 UFC title fights which puts him at #5 in the record books for most UFC title fight wins.

Plus 13 UFC finishes.
Click to expand...

Impressive indeed. Just saying that a good portion of those 45 wins werent in a major promotion.
 
Once the wrestlers started to develop natural striking abilities, Matt Hughes was obsolete.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
1,236,980
Messages
55,458,922
Members
174,787
Latest member
Freddie556

Share this page

Back
Top