Would Matt Hughes be top 9 in today stacked welterweight division?

[JayE]

K1 hughes pieces colby the fuck up, and prime hughes was a better, more well rounded grappler than colby.

Hughes had a better top game, but he wasn't a better wrestler than Covington is. We'd get a shitty striking match which Covington would likely edge.

 

[BALLERSTATUSMCG]

Mike perry kills him

 

[WARinsertname]

Hughes is not on the same level of grappling as Khabib

I'd pick prime Hughes over Khabob at ADCC any fucking day, You had MW/LHW guys grappling with Hughes stating he was p4p one of the strongest grapplers they'd ever faced.

And this is coming from a guy who despised the person he was...The guy was a tank in his prime. He wasn't facing the likes of Michael Johnson or Barboza, but other strong wrestlers and grapplers.

 

[cmw43]

Nah, he would not be Top 10.

He was a wrestler who learned submission wrestling.
He cut a lot of weight at a time when most guys walked around just a few pounds over their fight weight.
His striking was terrible. Without a TD, he would be in very deep shit, just as he was when Pele Landi escaped and ended him.

He was a dinosaur and the pack collectively caught up to him quite a while ago.
This, and some stupid matchmaking, combined to mess up the WW rankings for a few years. A win over Hughes was still considered a big deal, and guys like Thiago Alves got ranked P4P after beating him.

Alves was roided to the gills and significantly missed weight as well.

USADA Alves

 

[tenniswhiz]

Alves was roided to the gills and significantly missed weight as well.

USADA Alves

Damn!
All this time I thought it was because he stopped lifting heavy!

 

[ElLunico]

Not really fair to Hughes. He wouldn't do too well simply because he was very one dimensional and todays fighters are much more well rounded than before.

If Hughes was fighting today he would have beeb more well rounded because of better competition and training partners.

 

[Oboeplata]

I think Hughes might even get submitted by Dong Hyun Kim.

 

[fortheo]

LMAO. I didnt want to say nothing cause their striking both suck but I think Matt might be better. Also I think Matt Could have beaten some of those guys in a good night. Against all those 9 fighters I would say he would go 3-6. The only definite losses for him are Till, Stephens and Woodley

Till? Lol he'll lose to the first decent Wrestler he fights.

 

[bubbleboyjones]

No. For one, I think people would be shocked at how small Hughes looks next to modern welterweights. Matt's wrestling would carry him against some guys, but the very best Matt Hughes ever would lose to almost all of the UFC Top 15.

People tend to overrate the current generation of fighters. The funniest one was the MW division. When Weidman beat up old man Silva and then Rockhold beat Weidman the internet proclaimed the current MW division to be this untouchable division that the world has never seen before.

And then what happened?......

Bisping(who everyone though sucked in the TUF years) KOs Rockhold
GSP comes out of retirement and is the MW champ


The same idiots out there said prime 2009 GSP would get eaten alive by todays WW division and what do we see? Colitis GSP comes out of retirement takes the MW belt instead.

Here's what I do know. Saying Hughes couldn't survive in the top 15 is trolling. The sport hasn't progressed that much.

 

[cheesus]

Matt would be a tiny WW by todays standards, he'd probably be fighting at LW. But you have to remember Matt Hughes was brought up in a different era...training methods, sports medicine, training partners, techniques, camps etc were all different. He would obviously have a different potential if he came out in todays era.

 

[SKITZADACTYL]

Hughes had a better top game, but he wasn't a better wrestler than Covington is. We'd get a shitty striking match which Covington would likely edge.

BS, hughes was a monster wrestler, and hughes was definitely stronger than colby.


prime hughes would treat colby like a bale of hay.


colby hasn't done anything impressive.

 

[JayE]

BS, hughes was a monster wrestler, and i guarantee hughes was stronger than colby.


prime hughes would treat colby like a bale of hay.


colby hasn't done anything impressive.

No one at WW is treating Covington "like a bale of hay" when it comes to grappling. Maybe he was physically stronger than Covington, but he would not have anywhere near an easy time getting Covington down (Covington's creds are every bit as good as Hughes'). By far the most likely scenario would be a shitty striking match between two shitty strikers. I would slightly favour Covington in such a matchup.

 

[Seaside]

i doubt it. all top guys can strike, defend takedown and are equal or better versions of koscheck.

 

[SKITZADACTYL]

No one at WW is treating Covington "like a bale of hay" when it comes to grappling. Maybe he was physically stronger than Covington, but he would not have anywhere near an easy time getting Covington down (Covington's creds are every bit as good as Hughes'). By far the most likely scenario would be a shitty striking match between two shitty strikers. I would slightly favour Covington in such a matchup.

lol ok then

 

[surgeyou1]

Hughes would get smoked if he fought now, fighters are too well rounded nowadays for his one dimensional attack

Like Colby Covington?

 

[bubbleboyjones]

Matt would be a tiny WW by todays standards, he'd probably be fighting at LW. But you have to remember Matt Hughes was brought up in a different era...training methods, sports medicine, training partners, techniques, camps etc were all different. He would obviously have a different potential if he came out in todays era.

Explain to us how Matt Hughes would be too small. How much bigger do you think Tyron Woodley is?

 

[Ancient Warrior]

I'd pick prime Hughes over Khabob at ADCC any fucking day, You had MW/LHW guys grappling with Hughes stating he was p4p one of the strongest grapplers they'd ever faced.

And this is coming from a guy who despised the person he was...The guy was a tank in his prime. He wasn't facing the likes of Michael Johnson or Barboza, but other strong wrestlers and grapplers.

That’s true about ADCC.

Hughes vs Ortiz:

Match is forced to overtime.

There also used to be a video of him going head to head with Jeff Monson and losing on points.

 

[JayE]

lol ok then

So you're confident that Hughes would just go in there and toss a wrestler like Covington around? Are you under the impression that Hughes has much better wrestling credentials than Covington, or something like that? I'm not saying that Covington is levels better, I'm saying they're fairly similar fighters and that with the way their styles clash it would be a very tough fight for Hughes to win.

 

[blkdynamite]

The fact that Lawler has been around as long as Matt Hughes yet still top 3 says MMA has not changed that much. Prime Hughes would be just fine.

 

[Kingz]

Top 9? I wouldn’t rule him out as champ. Dudes grappling, strength, and motor was vicious. He had a mean streak too. He’d make half of the top 10 give up.