I Don’t Understand Why Some Fans Put Usman Over Hughes at 170 All Time

[Sean Chowdhury]

Unlikable and a creep for sure, but I don't think he's objectively higher. I don't think Hughes would have sniffed title contention in the era that Usman held the belt.

usman is a better fighter than hughes and would beat him prime for prime, but I think resume and overall accomplishments goes to Hughes

 

[EndlessCritic]

Usman Best Wins:
Woodley
Covington
Burns
Masvidal
RDA

How can anyone not have Hughes as the second best welterweight of all time? His resume is obviously better than Usman no question.

Uhh... your list is conspicuously missing Leon Edwards and Sean Strickland.

 

[Skarsgard]

usman is a better fighter than hughes and would beat him prime for prime, but I think resume and overall acomplishments goes to Hughes

That's fair. I just think either guy has a solid claim over the other. Hughes was fortunate to fight in an era when fighters were promoted by the UFC, not the other way around. Nowadays, no one would give a flying fuck who Sherk or Newton were.

 

[WoozyFailGuy]

Unlikable and a creep for sure, but I don't think he's objectively higher. I don't think Hughes would have sniffed title contention in the era that Usman held the belt.

Fucking Masvidal sniffed title contention twice against Usman, come on now...

 

[13Seconds]

Usman was a rematch machine

That Masvidal rematch was a giant waste of everyones time.

 

[SamuraiBro]

What I don’t understand is why Usman won’t release the belal podcast episode.

 

[VAfan]

two words - recency bias. that's all it was.

 

[ricc505]

I think younger and newer fans will always think the fighters they came up watching are better then the ones we old guys did. I feel it was more difficult to train back in the day but now you have a much deeper talent pool. I used to pick which fighter I wanted to win the night now it's all about it all time. In 10 years they won't understand why no one put respect on usmans name!

 

[savemgs]

It is evident that Usman, while formidable in his era, does not surpass Matt Hughes in the grand hierarchy of all-time rankings—at least, not in my estimation. However, one cannot dispute his status as one of the most dominant figures of his time. That said, neither he nor Hughes approaches the level of achievement attained by Georges St-Pierre. In the end, this discussion revolves around second and third place. And regardless of how one arranges them, the outcome is hardly a matter of grave injustice.

 

[JohnMandick]

Because of what he and his brother did behind the barn.

Agreed, he should be #1.

 

[BjPenn2017]

It is probably personal bias/GSP fans doing there best to discredit, his win alone over GSP and Penn are worth 10x more than anything Usman has done. Usmans best win is a guy who got KO’d by Jake Paul, let that sink in for a minute.

 

[Elvis.]

Recency bias is a powerful thing , and a lot of people who claim they were watching 20 years ago weren’t

 

[krelianx]

The answer is too obvious: Hughes was champion a long time ago, before the sport grew to mainstream popularity. Most fans, and even media, did not see him fight or know how impressive his accomplishments are. Most fans aren't even old enough to have followed him.

 

[Thy]

all time lists, are dumb. but usman seems like a better fighter imo.

 

[KhabibPink]

Most mma fans are new to the game and couldn't pick Hughes out from a lineup.

Especially if his twin brother was in that lineup aswell

 

[BowserJr]

Sports casuals thi k that every newer athlete is always better than the ones from the past which has proven to not be the case tons of times

 

[r-harper-1]

I agree Hughes is 2nd ….but just listing a fighters wins and not losses can be a bit misleading

 

[gentel]

Most mma fans are new to the game and couldn't pick Hughes out from a lineup.

I got into MMA around Usman-Covington 1 and yeah I never saw Hughes, but it's hard to argue with the evidence, mainly having beaten GSP and prime BJ Penn

 

[sabretitan]

I do..
Recency bias..
And read Matt's book.
Or just Google it and someone on here did a chapter by chapter summary. Messed up

 

[snugglecakes]

well unlike some divisions the WW competition has gone up over the years while MAtt was the champion during the tail end of the dark ages where just being in the UFC automatically makes you ''ranked" even if you're a bum off the street.

nothing impressive about going 1-2 against a featherweight Bj when you are so clearly the most roided out WW there ever was that was teasing MW fights. UFc flunk out Dennis speedos Hallman completely having your number is not a good look. GSP nullified that inexperienced early in his career loss by domination in the rematch. Frank Trigg is kind of a UFC flunk out as well so those wins do nothing. Sean Sherk is a bloated up LW so that's just another weight bully and superior "supplement'' bully win. Carlos Newton is barely a .500 fighter. Nothing to be impressed about there either.