UFC's Matt Hughes Considering Retiring: The Top 5 Fights We Still Want To See
Former UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes may be contemplating retirement following his most recent fight, a humbling loss to B.J. Penn.
ESPN reported that the 37-year old Hughes hinted at a possible retirement after his next fight—the final fight on his current UFC contract.
"I don't know if I'll sign another contract with the UFC," Hughes said just days before he cornered Strikeforce middleweight Robbie Lawler for his title fight with Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza on Saturday night.
"I would have to talk to my wife. I'd have to talk to Dana," he continued. “I wouldn't call it a retirement. It wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility for me to fight two or three times. I have said I'm going to fight one more time for the last three fights. I meant it. I really have.”
Hughes had been on a three-fight winning streak prior to his humiliating 21 second loss to B.J. Penn at UFC 123. The streak included wins over former UFC welterweight champion and The Ultimate Fighter winner Matt Serra, Renzo Gracie and Ricardo Almeida.
Hughes became the first man to ever finish B.J. Penn in 2006 when he did so at UFC 63. The two legends have now fought three times in their career, with Penn coming out on top twice and Hughes once.
While many consider Matt Hughes to be on the cusp of being a top-10 welterweight in the world, Hughes himself appears to be very discouraged by the loss.
An opponent has not yet been named for Hughes for the final fight on his existing UFC contract but there are still fights that fans would love to see him in before he retires.
Here are the top five opponents that we still want to see Hughes fight!
5. Josh Koscheck
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As the most recent contender for Georges St. Pierre’s 170-pounds crown, Josh Koscheck may be above Matt Hughes’ level at this point, but a potential fight between the two is still intriguing.
Koscheck called out Matt Hughes after his victory at UFC 103 over Frank Trigg back in Sept. 2009.
"I know there's a guy who just signed a new contract, and his name is Matt Hughes," Koscheck told the fans in attendance in his post-fight interview. "I've been asking for that one for a long time...but I'll fight anyone, anytime, anyplace."
Hughes was quick to respond on his website, essentially questioning why Koscheck was calling him out instead of the current champion, Georges St-Pierre.
Koscheck isn’t the only member of American Kickboxing Academy to have called out Hughes, though.
Mike Swick also called out Hughes after his victory at UFC 99. Of course, Swick then lost back-to-back fights to Dan Hardy and Paulo Thiago, which makes a fight with Hughes fairly unlikely.
“I’ve been asking for that for a long time,” Koscheck said regarding Hughes. “Rumor has it that (Hughes) doesn’t want to fight myself or Jon Fitch. You know, that’s his decision. That’s on him. But the AKA guys are willing to fight anybody anytime anyplace, I can guarantee you that.”
Koscheck brings an interesting stylistic matchup for Hughes as he is also a very good wrestler but has drastically improved his standup since his UFC debut.
4. Kazushi Sakuraba
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Perhaps the most beloved fighter in Japanese MMA history, Kazushi Sakuraba, like Hughes, has already cemented his legacy.
Unfortunately for him however, things have taken a downturn in his career over the past few years.
Since 2008, Sakuraba is just 3-5 in DREAM and Dynamite!! Events, with three straight losses in 2010.
Nevertheless, the ever-popular “Gracie Hunter” Sakuraba remains and boasts impressive wins over Masakatsu Funaki, Kevin Randleman, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Royce Gracie, Vitor Belfort and a host of other legendary combatants.
Both fighters are well known for their desire to fight members of the Gracie family and both have had great success in doing so which adds a bit to the interest of this potential dream fight.
Of course, Hughes would be the odds-on favorite to win this fight as Sakuraba seems to have taken a real tumble in his career, but there is no doubt that a fight between these two MMA icons would have a fun nostalgic feel to it.
3. Jon Fitch
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The second member of the AKA team on this list is likely the group’s top fighter, Jon Fitch.
Many consider Fitch’s current skills to be similar to those of Matt Hughes in his prime. In fact, Matt Hughes is training with B.J. Penn to help prepare Penn for his upcoming fight against Fitch.
Both fighters bring a smothering wrestling technique, brute strength, and a round-winning style of fighting that would make this fight an interesting style vs. style matchup.
In 2009, Fitch was asked about the possibility of fighting Hughes, but he seemed to be discouraged by the lack of respect that he received.
“[American Kickboxing Academy] has been asking for that fight for a very long time, and that fight is continually not made to happen or isn't allowed to happen,” Fitch told Heavy.com.
“He's publicly said that we're not big enough names and that we're not important enough for him to fight us. It kinda rubs us the wrong way. If you're trying to be a contender and you're trying to earn a title shot, then you need to fight the top guys. And Matt doesn't want to fight us.”
At this point, though, Jon Fitch is widely considered to be one of, if not the top contender for the next shot at George St-Pierre’s UFC welterweight title.
Perhaps now that Hughes is thought of as being outside the top-10 by many experts, he will be a bit more encouraged to step in the cage against a member of AKA and finally put to rest the assumption that he’s ducking them.
2. Dennis Hallman
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The legend of Matt Hughes started early, before he even made it to the UFC, but it has always been tarnished a bit by the way that Dennis Hallman handled him.
Hughes was 21-1 through the first 22 fights of his career with his only loss coming in his fifth professional fight at the hands of Hallman who submitted Hughes with a guillotine choke just 17-seconds in.
This, of course, set up the obvious rematch as Hughes wanted to avenge the only loss on his professional record at that point.
The UFC booked the rematch at UFC 29 in Dec. 2000. But lightning struck twice as Hallman, once again, shocked everyone when he submitted Hughes just 20-seconds into the fight, again by submission (this time with an arm bar).
The two wins over Hughes are the biggest of Hallman’s career but he still boasts an impressive 50-13-2 career record. He made his return to the UFC in 2009 after spending more than four years outside the company.
Hallman’s most recent win over Karo Parisyan in Nov. 2010, combined with his 7-1 total record in his last eight fights makes this a potentially interesting fight for Hughes, who must still be fuming over having never defeated Hallman.
1. Rickson Gracie
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Perhaps the biggest remaining fight possible for Hughes is a dream bout with yet another member of the legendary Gracie family, Rickson Gracie.
Rickson is a seventh degree black and red belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and is widely considered the best Jiu-Jitsu practitioner in the entire Gracie family.
“Without question the best Jiu Jitsu fighter to ever live,” said David Camarillo, creator of the Guerilla Jiu-Jitsu system, regarding Rickson’s legendary status.
“Training with Rickson is like trying to move a house…From the moment I engaged my guard, till the moment I was tapping, I felt as if there was nothing I could have done to better my situation.”
Current fighters also attest to Rickson’s skills on the ground, as Paulo Filho did when he boldly stated, "I have no doubt that Rickson Gracie is the best ground fighter of all time. I bet on him against any athlete of today.”
Hughes himself has defeated both Renzo and Royce Gracie, which brings a bit of added intrigue to this potential contest. But even the world-renowned Royce Gracie admits that his older brother is the better of the two.
”Rickson is 10 times better than me. He’s the only one who can beat everybody,” Royce once said.
Though Rickson only had 11 official MMA fights, he won all 11 by submission.
The legend is that Rickson has had well over 400 fights in his lifetime including Jiu-Jitsu tournaments, freestyle wrestling, Sambo, and street fights—but that he only ever lost one fight due to not understanding the rules back in 1993.
Though he hasn’t fought in MMA in over 10 years, Rickson still claims that he could beat the world’s top fighters. In an interview with Tokyo Sports, Rickson declared that Fedor Emelianenko only possesses “so-so” technical ability and that he is 100 percent sure he would defeat him.
If Rickson really believes he could still defeat the world’s top fighters, then perhaps a “retirement vs. retirement” bout with Matt Hughes would be a good way for him to prove it. He could also redeem the Gracie family name that was dragged through the mud a bit in the dominating losses Hughes gave to Royce and Renzo.
A sanctioned bout between Rickson Gracie and Matt Hughes in Brazil could be one of the biggest MMA fights of all-time.
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