Man you are wrong all over the place, to the point you dont even make sense
- You list Hughes legit wins and you dont even mention Sakurai
- Sakurai, Newton, BJ, Sherk were unanimously top ranked in the division at the time. Tanner, Okami, Loiseau, Quarry were not. Only Tanner and even him was less established than the aforementioned opponents for Hughes
- Wand and Liddell fights werent at MW. Anyways both were past their primes, unlike Hughes best opponents.
UFC was fine with Rick Franklin as an American posterboy, and invested more money for contenders in other divisions. Even Lindland and Bustamante - who would be slight underdogs at best vs Franklin back then - left for more money lol