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

[MemphisMafia]

With a country breakfast, yes.

Sadly most posters will not get this.

 

[michi972]

Champion : Tyron Woodley woodley by ko
1 Stephen Thompson Matt get tool'd
2 Rafael Dos Anjos ^
3 Colby Covington Colby by better striking
4 Robbie Lawler lawler by ko
5 Demian Maia Matt get submitted
6 Jorge Masvidal masvidal by ko
7 Darren Till till by ko
8 Neil Magny mangy by UD
9 Kamaru Usman by whatever he want

Magny would get destroyed by prime Matt

 

[michi972]

If Colby is #3 then Hughes sure as hell could be #3. Is anyone really going to argue that Colby has better wrestling, subs, and strength than Prime Hughes? (And I like Colby)

How can someone like colby

 

[WARinsertname]

Sadly most posters will not get this.

 

[michi972]

Ya Colby only got that by beating Maia and I guarantee prime Hughes could’ve done the same. Maia is great, but if he can’t take you down he gasses himself out trying to. He’s also struggled with big wrestlers on top of him. Weidman beat him on a weeks notice. Shields rolled with him well. Rory stopped the td’s and lit him up.

Rory got taken down 2 times, once single after SPRAWL, 2nd time when Maia was GASSSED.He has cardio issues, but one time he can go 3-5 rounds, one time he gasses out.If Hughes fights the best version of Maia, Maia wins

 

[Makani]

He'd be a favorite against all of those guys except Woodley, Thompson, and Lawler. I also think Rory would probably beat him. But Matt had the wrestling to beat most of the rest. Maia would give him problems on the ground, and Magny would be a great fight, but Hughes would be right in the mix.

 

[Dirge]

Lol at Colby having better striking. He got outstruke by Maia.<Lmaoo>

Try watching the fight .., maia had some serious lacerations on his face.

Also 88-53 significant strikes in favor of Covington

 

[linvillegorge]

Hughes would absolutely be top 5 today and that's putting him in this generation's division as he was without the benefit of coming up in this generation.

 

[Mask Of Winters]

Hughes would absolutely be top 5 today and that's putting him in this generation's division as he was without the benefit of coming up in this generation.

Yup. Rasslin' somehow works better today than it did ten years ago and Hughes at least had some G&P to go with it unlike the blankets of today.

 

[SKITZADACTYL]

Why you think I favored Matt or Colby? Cause K1 Hughes is when Matt went super saiyan.

i just look for any chance i can to bring up k1 hughes

 

[WARinsertname]

Yup. Rasslin' somehow works better today than it did ten years ago and Hughes at least had some G&P to go with it unlike the blankets of today.

And competent submission grappling.

 

[daniel san]

Hughes might be able to be a top 10 fighter but he'd get tooled by most in the top 10.

 

[Flokk]

K1 Hughes runs shit. Well, would be top 10-12 anyway.

 

[DOMMA]

Lol at Colby having better striking. He got outstruke by Maia.<Lmaoo>

Really, the stats tell a different story:

Significant strikes:

Maia: 53 of 151
Covington: 88 of 317

Total Strikes:

Maia: 59 of 157
Covington: 121 of 351

 

[Thad Castle v2]

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

 

[WARinsertname]

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

And yet here is Khabob...Doing the exact same shit Hughes did in his day...

 

[Thad Castle v2]

And yet here is Khabob...Doing the exact same shit Hughes did in his day...

Hughes is not on the same level of grappling as Khabib

 

[tenniswhiz]

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.

 

[JayE]

Hughes could still beat a lot of WWs, but anyone with strong TDD and even mediocre striking would be very problematic for him.

 

[chinarice]

I hated Hughes but I think he could beat several top WWs today if he was in his early 30s.