UFC 135 Fight Card: Is Matt Hughes Being Thrown to the Wolves?

Not long after Diego Sanchez bowed out of his UFC 135 match with MMA legend Matt Hughes, UFC president Dana White announced that contender Josh Koscheck would be stepping in to replace Sanchez for the welterweight matchup.

Sanchez is currently ranked around No. 10 in various consensus rankings. Koscheck (despite his nine-month absence from the sport following his own injury) is at about No. 7. Hughes, by contrast, is barely within the limits of the top 15. Furthermore, according to Hughes, the other contender to replace Sanchez was second-ranked Jon Fitch. 

Not exactly novelty acts there. So the question is, is this a signal that White and the UFC are subtly edging 37-year-old Hughes toward the door?

My first thought was no, or, to be more precise, “No, that’s ridiculous.” What would be the upside in doing that?

But then I thought about it some more. I remembered that White is an unabashed Hughes fan. And why shouldn’t he be? Hughes has long been a loyal company man, as well as a great champion. So what if there’s some tough love at work here?

Perhaps this simple realization, combined with the small matter of Hughes’ recent track record in the cage, means that, yes, the UFC may be throwing Hughes to the proverbial wolves, under the logic that a couple of brutal losses might be preferable to a string of legacy-tarnishing embarrassments, or even a serious injury. But let’s dive a little deeper, shall we?

After Hughes’ lopsided loss to B.J. Penn at UFC 123, White said flat out that “Hughes should retire.” Underpinning that assertion, however, is a previous White statement that Hughes has “a home in the UFC” for life, whether he is fighting or not.
 
The subtext here, in my estimation, is that Hughes—like Chuck Liddell before him—doesn’t need to worry about being forgotten or fading into irrelevance once he hangs up his gloves. White is saying he believes Hughes can be a useful and productive member of the UFC and MMA communities even if he is no longer active in the cage.

Also like Liddell, Hughes has shown that he is flagging in the Octagon, particularly against top competition. It’s true that before losing to Penn, Hughes posted three straight wins. But those came over 43-year-old Renzo Gracie, almost-35-year-old Matt Serra and Ricardo Almeida, a relative spring chicken at 32 when they fought, but who retired just six months after losing to Hughes.

Against top guys Thiago Alves, Georges St-Pierre and Penn, the record plays a different tune. Hughes not only lost three times to these three in his last six fights, he also lost in dominant fashion (one first-round KO, one second-round TKO and one second-round submission).

Hughes’ schedule has also slowed considerably of late, as the Koscheck tilt will only be his sixth fight in three years.

That brings us back to the UFC 135 matchup, which has a few telling qualities of its own. After Sanchez bowed out, White and company could have teed up a cupcake or another legends match. Hughes has drawing power regardless of his opponent, and his fans (not to mention Hughes himself) would surely love to see him win.

The fact the UFC, then, chose not only Sanchez but top-flight opponents as fill-ins for Sanchez means their decision to pit Hughes against a top fighter was not a one-off. 

I have no access to the UFC’s inner matchmaking circle. I don’t know Matt Hughes, Dana White or Joe Silva. So this is all pure speculation. But my guess is the UFC wants to demonstrate to Hughes that another title run, or even strong showings at the top level, may be farther away from Hughes than they appear in the old rear-view.

Hughes has carte blanche to fight for as long as he wishes, and rightly so. He’s earned the right to go out on his own terms, whatever those terms might be. But the UFC doesn’t seem interested in watching him be humiliated, and throwing him to a younger, stronger opponent hunting a legendary trophy for his mantelpiece may be their way of telling Hughes that it’s better to burn out than to fade away.