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Who should Matt Hughes fight next in the UFC?
By Zach Arnold | April 4, 2011
It’s been a weird few weeks for Matt Hughes. Right as this video interview was posted online by HDNet, the H.I.T. Squad gym in the St. Louis area was sold to Jesse Finney. Before that announcement broke publicly, Matt Pena posted this item on the Underground Forum and Kyle Watson jumped in to add more details. During the HDNet interview, a relaxed and happy Matt Hughes answered questions from Ron Kruck about whether or not he was leaving the gym. He said he wasn’t. Travel to the H.I.T. Squad gym is an hour each way (so two hours out of his day is spent traveling). I would encourage you to watch the interview fully to get his thoughts on the subject matter.
The interview itself is intriguing on several levels. Matt Hughes talks about the fact that fighters can come to the area and camp out at their dorms ($100 every two weeks) while spending time training at the gym. He came right out and said that he enjoys being able to travel to different gyms and learn something new from each gym. His demeanor on the subject is a complete 180 degrees from the philosophy that Greg Jackson believes in. (Greg believes in having a loosely-affiliated circuit, like Grudge, Tri-Star, etc.)
Naturally, he defended the decision the judges rendered in scoring the BJ Penn/Jon Fitch fight a draw. (He did this while there was a John Deere tractor in the background with the UFC logo on the window.) As for who he wants to fight next, Matt made it clear that he wants to go out with a win and not with a loss. He says late Summer/early Fall is the plan for the next fight and that he would like to fight once or twice a year until he retires. He’s hosting a hunting show now (guess him and Shawn Michaels can share tips).
Kruck brought up the idea of another fight with GSP but Matt seemed sheepish on the idea. So, if you had to book a ‘final’ opponent for Hughes in a fight that he could win and put on a show with, who would you book him against and why?
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 11 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Book Hughes/Hallman 3, obviously. Let him finally get a win over Superman. Aside from that, I dunno. Maybe try to get n Sakuraba for a fight so we can say that fight at least happened, even if Saku is falling apart and a mess? Do it overseas where the commissions will likely approve anything.
I’d rather see an out-of-left field candidate than Saku (who, most likely, would be maimed both standing and on the mat). Frank Shamrock would make for an interesting catch weight match-up; despite his protests of retirement and his “feud” with Dana White, he, like all aging fighters, would surely set that aside for a big final payday. Pat Miletich is probably of the same countenance, but i am unsure if he’d fight an old MFS compatriot.
He called him a “brother” this past weekend on HDNet (Miletich) so I doubt they would fight.
Catchweight against Randy. final match for both.
Agreed. However I suspect Hughes would fear tarnishing his legacy by losing 3 times to Hallman. Hallman has looked pretty good of late.
Randy would be way too big for Hughes. Remember how Griffin absolutely dominated Franklin because of the size difference? They were closer on paper than Hughes or Couture are. It would not even be close.
Jerry Bohlander.
But in all seriousness I agree with Alan. Let him fight Superman. You can even call it “Matt’s quest for peace”.
Fitch. I could care less about them both but would like to see country boy knock the tofu out of Mr “I think I won 30-27 against BJ” Fitch
I hate the idea of booking a guy in a fight with the express purpose of them getting a win. Easing an up-and-coming prospect in their 20’s into things I understand…but a former multiple-time champ like Hughes (who hasn’t exactly looked Sakuraba-level decrepit in recent bouts) shouldn’t be getting freebies just because he wants to go out on a win.
Fight a Hardy, or a Kampmann or a Fitch or stay on the farm.
“Hardy, or a Fitch”
are fighters that Hughes really should be able to beat, a Kampmann would be a bit tougher but Hughes could beat him too