The news came quickly and quietly. Matt Hughes, until a few years ago the best welterweight ever, kind of sort of announced in the not-exactly-nationally-circulated Iowa Daily Gate that, yes, he is fully retired.But then, the plot thickened a…
The news came quickly and quietly. Matt Hughes, until a few years ago the best welterweight ever, kind of sort of announced in the not-exactly-nationally-circulated Iowa Daily Gate that, yes, he is fully retired.
So the jury remains confused on the state of affairs here, but it’s probably safe to say that the end is either very near or already here for the multi-time UFC champion.
As one of MMA’s great careers taxis into the hangar, why not take a moment to celebrate all those memories he left us in the cage? Here’s a ranking of his 10 best performances.
We are all familiar with the clichéd tale of the great champion who can’t walk away from the sport he loves. While we admire the courage of these athletes, we wince every time we watch them climb inside the ring or the cage and take unnece…
We are all familiar with the clichéd tale of the great champion who can’t walk away from the sport he loves.
While we admire the courage of these athletes, we wince every time we watch them climb inside the ring or the cage and take unnecessary punishment.
We know that they should have retired years ago, yet we can do nothing to stop them from putting themselves in harm’s way for one last shot at glory or a much-needed paycheque.
With that in mind, here is my list of the top seven fighters who really should call it quits.
Believe it or not, somebody not named Georges St-Pierre once held the UFC welterweight title. The dominant champion prior to St-Pierre’s reign was Matt Hughes. Matt Serra was able to defeat GSP to win the belt, but other than him, it has been Hughes an…
Believe it or not, somebody not named Georges St-Pierre once held the UFC welterweight title. The dominant champion prior to St-Pierre’s reign was Matt Hughes.
Matt Serra was able to defeat GSP to win the belt, but other than him, it has been Hughes and St-Pierre on top of the UFC’s welterweight division. Fans of today are fascinated with the ease with which St-Pierre defeats his opponents, but it’s not anything we haven’t seen before.
Hughes entered the UFC all the way back at UFC 22 against ValeriIgnatov. However, Hughes wouldn’t become a mainstay in the UFC until UFC 34 in 2001. That bout became one of the most memorable fights in UFC history.
The UFC welterweight title was up for grabs as Hughes faced Canada’s Carlos Newton. Hughes found himself caught in a triangle choke with no viable way out. Hughes entered “Hulk Smash ‘Em” mode and picked Newton off the ground.
Hughes slammed Newton to the mat, causing Newton to go unconscious. Hughes was awarded the UFC title but was choked unconscious himself and initially had no idea he had won.
Following the title victory, Hughes won his next three fights via TKO, including the rematch against Newton at UFC 38. At UFC 45, Hughes would encounter his first career rival.
Frank Trigg entered the UFC with the specific goal in mind of taking out Hughes for the title. Two rear naked chokes later and Trigg was out of the UFC title picture forever.
Sandwiched between the Trigg bouts was Hughes’ shocking upset loss to former lightweight champion BJ Penn. The loss sent shockwaves throughout the MMA community as Hughes was heavily favoured to defeat the much smaller Penn.
At UFC 50 Hughes was able to defeat a young challenger with the last name of St-Pierre. Hughes secured the tap out due to an arm bar with only one second remaining in first round.
Hughes would run a streak of six-straight victories after the Penn loss until his rematch with GSP. Hughes lost the bout in what became a symbolic passing of the torch, as Hughes represented the “old guard” with St-Pierre representing the future.
The former welterweight champion would never again become the dominant force he once was, as Hughes sported just a 4-4 record since the second fight with GSP. After the loss to Josh Koscheck at UFC 135, many fans speculated that Hughes may step away from the game, and all signs seem to point to Hughes becoming the farmer rather than the fighter.
What will Hughes’ legacy be if UFC 135 was his final appearance?
Without a question Hughes’ legacy will be that of one of the all time greats in MMA. The era of dominance shown by Hughes is unrivaled by anyone in the division other than GSP.
St-Pierre will be credited with a lot of things in the welterweight division, but he owes a lot to Hughes accomplishing so much before him. Without defeating a dominant legend like Hughes, St-Pierre could’ve possibly never become the superstar he was.
Other than Hughes becoming one of the most dominant forces in the UFC, the guy has also been involved in some of the most memorable fights in UFC history. There’s the aforementioned battles with GSP, Penn and Trigg, but fans shouldn’t forget his battle with Royce Gracie either.
Everyone expected Hughes, a fighter who was still in his prime, to defeat Gracie, but there was still the chance of the Brazilian pulling off another miracle. Hughes’ defeat of Gracie became similarly symbolic of a torch passing due to Gracie being the “old guard” and Hughes not so much representing the future but merely the present.
Hughes’ accomplishments, like so many of his seasoned veteran colleagues, happened well before the explosion in popularity brought by The Ultimate Fighter and will likely be forgotten or diminished in memory.
He definitely was not always a popular fighter with the fans, but Hughes brought his “A” game every time he stepped into the Octagon. Possessing a dominant wrestling background combined with submission skills, Hughes conquered his foes despite being completely one-dimensional.
Ultimately Hughes will go down as one of the greatest fighters to step foot in the cage but will likely be shadowed by St-Pierre’s accomplishments.
Still, Hughes should feel at ease knowing he ruled the landscape at 170 pounds in the UFC for five years and will forever be enshrined in the UFC Hall of Fame.
A little over a year ago, Georges St. Pierre was riding high. He had defended his belt for the sixth straight time against Jake Shields at an event that both obliterated North American attendance records and satisfied his home country’s need for bloodshed without having to sacrifice his first born child, as is tradition. Although he was being bashed by some critics for his apparent lack of finishing power, “Rush” would quickly meet a challenger that would bring out the inner killer his fans had been waiting for since UFC 83. Needless to say, things were going well for old GSP.
Yes, after blowing out his ACL, the welterweight kingpin was forced out of action for so long that even his stand-in championwent missing in an apparent attempt to find him. In the time since we last saw St. Pierre, his beloved homeland of Canada eeked out a respectable 36th place in the Summer Olympics, celebrated the 60th anniversary of one of their biggest television programs, and even closed the book on one of the most bizarre crimes in the country’s history. So overall, it was a decent year for any Canadian not named Georges St. Pierre.
But come November 17th, all that will change for at least one man, as GSP is set to finally make his triumphant return to the cage at UFC 154. And to celebrate his return, we’ve decided to dig up the fight that started it all. It took place in January of 2002 in Montreal and pitted the future champ against future UFC/WEC bantamweight (sheesh) Ivan Menjivar in his professional debut.
A little over a year ago, Georges St. Pierre was riding high. He had defended his belt for the sixth straight time against Jake Shields at an event that both obliterated North American attendance records and satisfied his home country’s need for bloodshed without having to sacrifice his first born child, as is tradition. Although he was being bashed by some critics for his apparent lack of finishing power, “Rush” would quickly meet a challenger that would bring out the inner killer his fans had been waiting for since UFC 83. Needless to say, things were going well for old GSP.
Yes, after blowing out his ACL, the welterweight kingpin was forced out of action for so long that even his stand-in championwent missing in an apparent attempt to find him. In the time since we last saw St. Pierre, his beloved homeland of Canada eeked out a respectable 36th place in the Summer Olympics, celebrated the 60th anniversary of one of their biggest television programs, and even closed the book on one of the most bizarre crimes in the country’s history. So overall, it was a decent year for any Canadian not named Georges St. Pierre.
But come November 17th, all that will change for at least one man, as GSP is set to finally make his triumphant return to the cage at UFC 154. And to celebrate his return, we’ve decided to dig up the fight that started it all. It took place in January of 2002 in Montreal and pitted the future champ against future UFC/WEC bantamweight (sheesh) Ivan Menjivar in his professional debut.
As was the case in Jon Jones’ UFC debut against Andre Gusmao, we can see a similar yet less refined fighter in GSP here. Watch in awe as he tests out the superman punch that would eventually find it’s way onto the Sportscenter top 10 when he used it on BJ Penn at UFC 94. Marvel at his superhuman ability to thwart a takedown as he would against Josh Koscheck at UFC 74. But we’ll give Menjivar credit where credit is due; his experience surely helped, but couldn’t possibly make up for his definitive size disadvantage, yet he still managed to take GSP down. Sean Connery approves.
But once St. Pierre is able to capitalize on a Menjivar trip around the 8:40 mark, he unleashes a hailstorm of punches and elbows that, while not enough to put Menjivar out, are apparently enough to get the ref to jump in and call the bout. Definitely an odd ending to an otherwise great bout. St. Pierre would go on to win his next six bouts before being armbarred just before the bell by Matt Hughes at UFC 50 in his first ever welterweight title shot.
St. Pierre would get his revenge not once, but twice on Hughes, and it would be smooth sailing from there on out. Mostly.
(See that there on the right? That’s Matt Hughes’s autograph. So this photo is relevant)
In a recent feature profile on him written by Iowa’s The Daily Gate, former UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes says that he is “fully retired.” Hughes last fought in September of 2011, when he was knocked out by Josh Koscheck at UFC 135.
Up to this point, the farmer-fighter has resisted describing himself as retired even as Dana Whitesuggested that he should call it a career. Currently working on his family farm and only occasionally training, Hughes says that he’s content in retirement because the UFC still “treats him well,” as they tend to do with their former champions in good standing.
“I’ve not announced my retirement, but right now it looks like I’m fully retired,” Hughes told the Gate’s Brad Cameron. “The UFC still treats me well so I can be retired. It’s just funny, when God puts you on a road, you don’t know where you are going. I have all the faith that he put me there, and I have to thank him from that.”
(See that there on the right? That’s Matt Hughes’s autograph. So this photo is relevant)
In a recent feature profile on him written by Iowa’s The Daily Gate, former UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes says that he is “fully retired.” Hughes last fought in September of 2011, when he was knocked out by Josh Koscheck at UFC 135.
Up to this point, the farmer-fighter has resisted describing himself as retired even as Dana Whitesuggested that he should call it a career. Currently working on his family farm and only occasionally training, Hughes says that he’s content in retirement because the UFC still “treats him well,” as they tend to do with their former champions in good standing.
“I’ve not announced my retirement, but right now it looks like I’m fully retired,” Hughes told the Gate’s Brad Cameron. “The UFC still treats me well so I can be retired. It’s just funny, when God puts you on a road, you don’t know where you are going. I have all the faith that he put me there, and I have to thank him from that.”
The rest of the article is worth reading as well, as it brings out more from the tight-lipped Hughes than we’ve seen in some time. He talks about his best opponents and reveals that he would have retired ten years ago had he lost to Carlos Newton. This really makes you think how lives can easily go in different directions considering the fact that it was a bad referee call that gave Hughes the win, after he was choked out by Newton, fell on top of him and accidentally knocked out the then-champion.
“If I would have lost that fight, I would have stepped away and retired,” Hughes told the Gate. “I would have went back to the family farm and probably be in the combine right now cutting beans or hauling beans. I won that fight and it kept me in it. It was that defining moment where I thought, ‘I’m done with this hobby,’ but I won the fight and I kept going forward.”
The former welterweight kingpin, Matt Hughes, hasn’t been in the Octagon since suffering a knockout loss to Josh Koscheck at UFC 135 over a year ago. After that fight, he said that he would essentially be putting himself on the shelf for an u…
The former welterweight kingpin, Matt Hughes, hasn’t been in the Octagon since suffering a knockout loss to Josh Koscheck at UFC 135 over a year ago. After that fight, he said that he would essentially be putting himself on the shelf for an undetermined amount of time.
Now, it seems that Hughes has finally officially retired—kind of. In an interview with Iowa’s Daily Gate, Hughes said,
I’ve not announced my retirement, but right now it looks like I’m fully retired. The UFC still treats me well so I can be retired. It’s just funny, when God puts you on a road, you don’t know where you are going. I have all the faith that he put me there, and I have to thank him from that.
That sure sounds like a retirement statement, and if Hughes never makes a return to the cage, he will finish his career with a record of 45-9, as a two-time welterweight champion with seven combined title defenses and wins over some of the greatest fighters in MMA history.
Although retired, Hughes will still have plenty to do, as he talked about a hunting show and helping his brother with the family farm.
I’ve got a hunting show, which I love, on The Outdoor Channel. I’ll stay with the hunting show. I like to travel. I like to hunt, so that suits me well, I’m helping my brother with the family farm. Right now, he is in the combine cutting beans. I still am very close to the family farm.
Here’s wishing the best to Matt Hughes, in or out of the cage.
Tim McTiernan is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. For the latest news on everything MMA, follow him on Twitter @TimMcTiernan.
Believe it or not, somebody not named Georges St-Pierre once held the UFC welterweight title. The dominant champion prior to St-Pierre’s reign was 
