After a second straight knockout loss, Matt Hughes’ fighting career may be over.
But should it be?
Hughes’ last two opponents have been elite fighters, providing immensely tough competition for the older Hall of Famer.
Neither bout made it out of the first round, but that should be a testament to the skill level of BJ Penn and Josh Koscheck and not to the waning skill of Hughes.
In his fight against Koscheck last night, Hughes stayed competitive and showed a real improvement in his boxing. Using the jab in a fashion similar to Georges St. Pierre, Hughes got into his opponent’s head a little and even got Koscheck so mad with the jab that he shot in for a take down.
There is no way Hughes is going to make a title run, but he still has gas left in the tank and can put on exciting match-ups against the lower tier of the division.
Taking on guys like Renzo Gracie and Ricardo Almeida in 2010, Hughes could still be competitive against similar opponents, fighters who are skillful and exciting, but not at the top of their game anymore.
Welterweights who would be interesting match-ups would be fighters like Dan Hardy or Brian Ebersole.
The question remains as to whether he wants to come back. Hughes has been in the fight game for a long time and should go out on his own terms.
He clearly still had the itch, or else who would not have agreed to fight Koscheck or Sanchez, originally. Hughes flew out a ton of talented guys to train with him and looked markedly improved in this battle.
But if this second loss puts a damper on his mind, then maybe it is time that one of the greatest welterweights of all-time hangs up the gloves.