Matt Hughes is one of the most polarizing figures in MMA. His fans view him as a soft-spoken dedicated athlete whose success was paved strictly through hardwork, will power, and tenacity, while his haters view him as a cocky grappler with no striking and a loud mouth. What all sides can agree with, however, is that he has fought and beaten and incredible list of fighters, and that he is easily one of the most successful and accomplished fighters in the sport. From his UFC debut as a one-dimensional wrestler to his submission victory 11 years later on Saturday, he's done and seen more than almost any other fighter.
While his recent submission win over BJJ black belt Almeida was certainly his most impressive win for years, his storied career has seen him victorious over some of best in the sport time and time again, and his accolades speak for themselves: He's a former champion that has won more title fights in the UFC than anyone else in the history of the organization, has more wins on his record than any other former champion of any weight class, he has the second most consecutive title defenses, he was only the seventh fighter inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame, he's beaten every UFC Welterweight besides his former trainer Pat Miletich, and his win over Almeida broke the tie he had previously had with Chuck Liddell for most wins inside the UFC (18).
Because he has been so successful, it is incredibly difficult to pick out when exactly he was at his most impressive, but as a Hughes' fan, I'm going to enjoy trying. Here's my dedication to Country Breakfast.
5. UFC 45, Matt Hughes vs. Frank Trigg 1
The build-up: Frank Trigg was a NCAA division 1 wrestler and a judo black belt who was coming off a win over Dennis Hallman, a man who submitted Hughes two times in under a minute. Despite it being his debut in the UFC, he had got an immediate title shot against Hughes, who was the 4-time defending world champion coming into the fight. Trigg's shit-talking and wrestling accolades made up for his lack of fan-fair or experience in getting the MMA community excited.
The fight: Trigg shocked audience members (and Hughes.) by immediately getting a takedown. He couldn't do anything with it or hold Hughes down for long, and soon the positions were reversed. After Hughes softened him with strikes, Trigg got desperate and turned, which allowed Hughes to take his back and sink his hooks. Since he had nothing better to do, Trigg stood up to try to ward off the choke, but the only thing he accomplished was changing a notable rear-naked choke victory into an awesome STANDING rear naked choke submission. Unless he wanted to lose in a way to make people bring it up as much as possible, I doubt Trigg took solace in the submission being crowd-pleasing.
Why I chose it: First and foremost is that it was an incredibly rare submission. As far I as I know,that was the first time it has been done in the ufc, and it hasn't happened since. On top of it being one of the most memorable submissions of all time, it was the 5th successful consecutive title defense for Hughes, which at the time tied him with Tito Ortiz for most of all time, a record that has only recently been broken by Anderson Silva.
4. UFC 34, Matt Hughes vs. Carlos Newton
The build-up: To new UFC fans, it may sound odd that Hughes was a substantial underdog coming into the fight, but he absolutely was. Newton was the reigning champion who had just tapped out Hughes' coach to win his title, and he was viewed as being extremely dangerous off his back. Since Hughes was, at the time, a wrestler with submission skills best described as rudimentary, it appeared to be a bad match-up for him.
The fight: For the first bit of the fight, Hughes' detractors looked like they were correct in their assessment: he spent too much time avoiding submissions to do anything offensive from on top, and he was close to submitted on more than one occasion. Then, in the second round, Carlos quickly cinched up a perfect triangle choke, and it was deep. His face purple, Hughes went into desperation mode and powerlifted Carlos all the way up, and walked him to the cage. He was dazed from the choke, hardly conscious, but he positioned himself to put as much power into his slam as possible, presumably because he wanted to make a hole big enough to add a basement underneath the ring. For half a second, the slam was delayed by Carlos holding onto the fence, but immediately after he let go, Hughes delivered one of the greatest KO's of all time via slam. The best part? He was so woozy from the choke, he didn't even know he won until his corner told him.
Why I chose it: It was how Hughes got his first belt, and he did it while avenging his coach at the same time. On top of that, it was one of the best slam KO's, and slam KO's are fun to watch for the same reason racing car wrecks are: Because they are fucking awesome.
Because of the semi-controversial finish, which some people think should have been a draw or a no contest (as both of them were unable to fight at the conclusion), they had an a rematch about a year later. This time there was no question who deserved the win, as Hughes dominated his way to a 4th round TKO stoppage from a crucifix position, which is one of Hughes' favorite positions, probably due to him being a hardcore christian.
3.UFC 50, Matt Hughes vs. GSP
The build-up: GSP wasn't as well-known or regarded as he is today, but he was viewed as more than a challenge for Hughes-many fans thought GSP was the uncrowned king. He had 2 fights in the ufc prior to his title fight, a dominating knockout against Jay Hieron and a one-sided decision against highly-touted Karo Parisyan. Hughes, on the other hand, was in a bit of a rough patch. He had lost his belt in embarrassing fashion against BJ Penn, who was a natural lightweight, and then in his return fight he won a decision against Renato Verissimo that many felt he didn't deserve. Still, it was a win and he was a former champion, so he was set to fight GSP for the welterweight strap, as BJ had vacated.
The fight: GSP was as good as people had been saying or better. He showed great takedown defense, he got Hughes down, and he won the stand up easily, even landing a couple flashy moves like spinning back kicks. Still, Hughes got him down and started working his game, throwing strikes to try to work submissions or advance position. Right as the announcers were wondering out loud who deserved to win the round, Hughes countered a kimura attempt by sliding over and locking in one of the smoothest and fastest armbars in MMA history. It happened in the first round, literally at the bell, and the official time: 4:59 of the first. Hughes got his belt back in dramatic fashion in the same year he lost it.
Why I chose it: Well,he got his belt back, and winning title fights is the story of his career. On top of that, GSP was and is a fantastic fighter who is currently considered at least in the top 3 of the best fighters P4P, and finishing him is one of the best feathers in Hughes' proverbial hat. The fact that it was another submission win from Hughes that could be listed as one of the best of all time didn't hurt, either.
2. UFC 63, Matt Hughes vs. BJ Penn 2
The build-up: Despite coming off a close decision loss to GSP, BJ got another title fight due to GSP injuring himself and being unable to challenge Hughes. Given that BJ had soundly dominated and submitted Hughes in the first round in their first fight, I'm sure Hughes was more than happy to take a fight with someone coming off a loss, since it gave him a chance to avenge his embarrassing loss to Penn.
The fight: BJ started strong, as BJ always does. He had Hughes rocked a couple times standing, he was defending takedowns in ways we haven't seen before (including doing the splits to avoid a single leg), and near the end of the second round, he had Hughes in a submission that would have stopped the fight had the bell not gone off. It wasn't looking good for Hughes or those of us that bet on him, but it all changed in the third round. BJ came out sloppy and slow, which Hughes took advantage of by rocking him several times standing (a feat in and of itself), then against the wishes of his coaches and Rich Franklin, took BJ down. He was told not to, since a tired Penn is still a dangerous Penn off his back, but Hughes wanted to make a statement. He advanced position, put BJ in a crucifix, and then proceeded to hit him with 42 unanswered strikes before the ref stopped it, making him the first person to finish BJ, and to this day he is the only one who has done so in the middle of a round.
Why I chose it:: So many reasons...these last two are extremely hard to pick from. I've switch this one to second and first several times, and as I write this I'm still wondering if I made a mistake. Well, anyway, it was great in so many ways. He avenged his loss, he defended his belt for the last time, he stopped BJ for the first time, he overcame adversity through sheer grit, and although many people claim that BJ was injured and unable to breathe right, to me the reason he looked so tired was because...he was tired. He had a bad habit of not training hard at the time, which put him as basically the polar opposite of Hughes. This fight was won for Hughes based on his work ethic, and his heart and will are really the things that define who he is as a fighter.
1. UFC 52, Matt Hughes vs. Frank Trigg 2
The build-up: Another rematch, this time with Trigg. After he lost to Hughes, Trigg had back-to-back TKO wins over someone that had beaten Hughes twice (Hallman...again.) and someone people felt deserved to beat Hughes (Renato Verissimo), and was running his mouth off again, basically saying he was the one that made the mistake, and that Hughes was just lucky he had made that fluke mistake. Hughes came into this fight saying he wanted to beat Frank down hard enough finally get him to shut his mouth. You could see the animosity between them in the pre-fight staredown: pressed his nose too close to Hughes, and Hughes responded by shoving him backwards. In response to that, Trigg blew Hughes a little kiss, which made Hughes angry enough to look at Trigg like he was a piece of meat. I guess nobody told Trigg that insinuating homosexuality towards a farmboy is a terrible, terrible idea, especially when he is just about to be allowed to legally kick your ass.
The fight: A short exchange against the cage led to Hughes taking a knee to the groin so hard that Joe Son felt sorry for him, but the ref didn't notice it. Trigg, not having the ref tell him to break it up, knocked a retreating Hughes down while he was trying to signal the ref, then landed several strikes against the cage before going down and taking Hughes' back. He locked in the rear naked choke, the same move Hughes beat him with, and Hughes' face turned as purple as a San Fransisco flag. The fight looked like it was just about to be over, but Hughes miraculously escaped the choke, then reversed Trigg. After he did so, he picked him all the way up and ran all the way across the ring before slamming him down. With the tables turned, he hit Trigg a few more times before Trigg turned over and allowed Hughes to sink in another rear naked choke, just 10 seconds longer than it took him the first time.
Why I chose it: Well, in my opinion it was one of the best fights of all time. Hughes got hit illegally, rocked, out-wrestled, and almost submitted before dramatically turning the tables and winning the fight, and it all happened in just over 4 minutes. This fight and the last showed Hughes at his best, not in spite of him being put in bad positions but BECAUSE he was put in those bad positions and stayed in the fight until he got his chance to come back. On top of all that, When he reversed Trigg and slammed him down, the crowd erupted in the loudest cheer I've ever heard in MMA. The only time I can think of where it was anywhere close to being as loud was when Sylvia knocked Arlovski out in their rematch. It was truly an epic moment and although it was hard to put any fight ahead of his TKO of Penn, it is in my opinion the best fight Hughes ever had.
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