Another legendary former UFC welterweight champion is reportedly considering a comeback.
Weeks after longtime former champion Georges St-Pierre reveled he would be coming out of retirement to fight Michael Bisping for the middleweight title, the man whom he took the crown from – decorated MMA pioneer Matt Hughes recently told Joe Buck he’d consider a comeback on his “Undeniable” show (via MMA Fighting):
Hughes revealed he would come back versus an opponent he knew he could beat:
“If I could find an opponent that I could definitely beat, I would go again.”
The longtime champ then teased he would fight a former guest of Buck’s show, with many sources speculating that was fellow MMA pioneer Royce Gracie, whom Hughes demolished via TKO in a 175-pound catchweight bout at UFC 60 in 2006.
Hughes went on to mixed results from that point, however, going 5-5 over his next 10 bouts, including a TKO and submission loss to “GSP” and knockouts to Thiago Alves, BJ Penn, and Josh Koscheck that ultimtely lead to his retirement in 2013.
From there, Hughes took a position as the UFC vice president of athlete development and government relations, a position he was let go of as part of sprawling layoffs in the company following talent giant WME-IMG’s takeover of the company in mid-2016.
Although Hughes failed to respond to attempts to clarify the report, several sources have reported he has been in talks with Bellator MMA, and even though the talks are reportedly of a preliminary nature, it would no doubt put him in line for a potential rematch with Gracie.
And hey, there’s always one former legend – and feverish Hughes rival -who doesn’t exactly want to call it quits either, a fellow former champion who might get better match-ups in a Bellator cage.
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