(DO NOT run an unfiltered image search for ‘Matt Hughes’. EVER. This photo is nothing. Learn from my mistake, kids.)
Just four months after putting himself “on a shelf”–a euphemism for the dreaded ‘R-word‘–Matt Hughes is ready to glove up once again. After suffering back-to-back first round knockouts to BJ Pennand Josh Koscheck, the UFC Hall of Famer made a non-committal pledge to walk away from the sport, a move he’d pondered openly while winding down his career.
As we’ve seen time and time again, getting your head bashed in is surprisingly difficult to walk away from. Hughes has undoubtedly made enough money to retire comfortably, has plenty of hobbies to occupy his time, and with nine UFC titles to his name he has nothing left to prove. But Hughes didn’t start his MMA career in search of fame or fortune; the man simply loves to compete, and pounding his brother behind the barn just doesn’t cut it these days.
Ultimately, his fate lies in Dana White’s hands, not his own, and most certainly not his wife’s. During an interview on FUEL last night, Hughes established the pecking order in his household: “I think Dana could be the final decision maker. My wife’s a great lady, but she’s not going to tell me when Matt Hughes retires.” Well, I guess we know who’s cooking up the country breakfast this morning.
(DO NOT run an unfiltered image search for ‘Matt Hughes‘. EVER. This photo is nothing. Learn from my mistake, kids.)
Just four months after putting himself “on a shelf”–a euphemism for the dreaded ‘R-word‘–Matt Hughes is ready to glove up once again. After suffering back-to-back first round knockouts to BJ Pennand Josh Koscheck, the UFC Hall of Famer made a non-committal pledge to walk away from the sport, a move he’d pondered openly while winding down his career.
As we’ve seen time and time again, getting your head bashed in is surprisingly difficult to walk away from. Hughes has undoubtedly made enough money to retire comfortably, has plenty of hobbies to occupy his time, and with nine UFC titles to his name he has nothing left to prove. But Hughes didn’t start his MMA career in search of fame or fortune; the man simply loves to compete, and pounding his brother behind the barn just doesn’t cut it these days.
Ultimately, his fate lies in Dana White’s hands, not his own, and most certainly not his wife’s. During an interview on FUEL last night, Hughes established the pecking order in his household: “I think Dana could be the final decision maker. My wife’s a great lady, but she’s not going to tell me when Matt Hughes retires.” Well, I guess we know who’s cooking up the country breakfast this morning.
Filed under: UFC, NewsFormer UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes is expecting to meet with UFC president Dana White and make his case for at least one more fight in the UFC.
During a Saturday night interview on FUEL TV, Hughes said that while his wi…
Former UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes is expecting to meet with UFC president Dana White and make his case for at least one more fight in the UFC.
During a Saturday night interview on FUEL TV, Hughes said that while his wife wants him to retire, he has the itch to return to the octagon. Hughes (45-9) has lost each of his last two fights by knockout.
“I think Dana could be the final decision maker,” he said. “My wife’s a great lady, but she’s not going to tell me when Matt Hughes retires.”
Hughes fought just once in 2011, getting KO’d in the last second of the first round of a UFC 135 bout against Josh Koscheck. Prior to that, he suffered another knockout, this one to BJ Penn in just 21 seconds in November 2010. After each of those defeats, he has publicly mulled the possibility of retirement.
Overall, Hughes is just 3-4 in his last seven fights.
The UFC Hall of Famer had one of the most dominant stretches in UFC history during the early-to-mid 2000s, boasting a 19-1 stretch at one point before losing the welterweight title to Georges St-Pierre.
But despite his status as a legend of the sport, Hughes seems to believe it’s no sure thing he’ll be welcomed back. Asked who he might want to fight upon his return, he said his fate is in Dana White’s hands.
“I’m just hoping I can fight next,” he said. “We’ll see what happens. I’m not scouting anybody out. I’m just hoping the opportunity is here for me now.”
(First off, let me just tell you that I fought the urge to use a “Businessasusual” headline. You’re welcome.)
News trickled down last week that Zuffa has instituted a sponsorship ban on all firearm, ammo, hunting, and knife companies. Essentially, no more Matt Hughes. Starting January 23rd, Ammo To Go and The Gun Store, among others, will no longer be able to sponsor fighters. When contacted by CagePotato in hopes to better understand the reasoning behind the less than popular decision, the UFC said only that “These are rules set in place by Fox” — who declined to comment.
Not satisfied with that answer, I called up the man himself. And by “called up,” I mean tweeted. And by “the man himself,” I meant Dana White – not Sheik Tahnoon. His answer only raised more questions, primarily why doesn’t the UFC President know that some of his fighters will soon receive one less paycheck courtesy of FOX? Talk about bad timing, too. Wasn’t it just a week ago that Lorenzo Fertita was touting to ESPN the significant amount of money to be made in sponsorships?
(First off, let me just tell you that I fought the urge to use a “Businessasusual” headline. You’re welcome.)
News trickled down last week that Zuffa has instituted a sponsorship ban on all firearm, ammo, hunting, and knife companies. Essentially, no more Matt Hughes. Starting January 23rd, Ammo To Go and The Gun Store, among others, will no longer be able to sponsor fighters. When contacted by CagePotato in hopes to better understand the reasoning behind the less than popular decision, the UFC said only that “These are rules set in place by Fox” — who declined to comment.
Not satisfied with that answer, I called up the man himself. And by “called up,” I mean tweeted. And by “the man himself,” I meant Dana White – not Sheik Tahnoon. His answer only raised more questions, primarily why doesn’t the UFC President know that some of his fighters will soon receive one less paycheck courtesy of FOX? Talk about bad timing, too. Wasn’t it just a week ago that Lorenzo Fertita was touting to ESPN the significant amount of money to be made in sponsorships?
According to reports by Ingrained Media, the ban applies to all Zuffa promoted events. Even if you won’t be appearing on any of the FOX Broadcasting Company’s channels, you are still not permitted to be sponsored by any of the aforementioned types of companies. We all knew that concessions were made in order to secure the FOX deal, but did we really think it would come to this? You know somewhere in the pine-covered backwoods, a lonely and shaken two-time Welterweight champion is weeping bitterly – not because he needs the extra money, but because it’s still America to him dammit.
What are we to make of all of this? Don’t even dare asking if this is ‘fair‘ or not. Would we be justified in crying outrage, pointing to the food stolen out of fighter X’s mouth? Is it safe to say that a company on the rise is distancing itself from things that are potentially lethal in order to gain mass acceptance? Before we get up in arms, let’s wait for the fighters who are actually affected by this to give us their take. In the meantime, let us know in the comments if you think this is a step in the right direction for FOX and Zuffa or if they’re shooting themselves in the foot on this one.
Well, at least he attained the proper tags. None other than former UFC welterweight champion and avid hunting afficionado Matt Hughes tweeted this picture early today, which was taken on a recent hunting trip he made to the Midwest. After more than a few of his followers had something to say about it, Matt responded with the following tweet:
(Nah, he’s just sleepin’.)
Well, at least he attained the proper tags. None other than former UFC welterweight champion and avid hunting afficionado Matt Hughes tweeted this picture early today, which was taken on a recent hunting trip he made to the Midwest. After more than a few of his followers had something to say about it, Matt responded with the following tweet:
Now, I know many of you are probably up in arms over the fact that Hughes would kill such a cute, defenseless animal; one he won’t likely be eating to boot. But allow me to lay some knowledge on you real quick. Bobcats, like the one in the above photo, are nasty, viscous, opportunistic little assholes. They are kind of like the Joe Son’s of the animal world, if you will, so before you start spouting off about what an “ignorant redneck” Matt Hughes is, just take a moment and watch this video, in which a rabid Bobcat attacks people in a bar. Think that would suck? Check out this story about a 62 year old Vietnam vet who had to strangle one to death to stop it from attacking him. In both cases, the Bobcats had rabies. So suck on that, PETArds *snicker* of the world.
Coming off back-to-back losses knockout losses to B.J. Penn and Josh Koscheck, perhaps we will be seeing Hughes on one of those MSNBC hunting shows before we see him in the octagon. Then again, if Dan Hardy has his way, Hughes may be called off the range sooner than later. Speaking of the Brits, have any of you ever seen a British hunting show? I just stumbled across one, and as is the case with most British television, it’s kooky as shit. Check it out.
(Clip taken from the show Constable Murray of the Forest Nether-regions.)
The Ultimate Fighting Championships have been around for nearly 20 years. In that time we have seen some of the world’s greatest fighters battle inside the octagon. UFC history is littered with great Brazilian jiu-jitsu artists, tactical wrestler…
The Ultimate Fighting Championships have been around for nearly 20 years. In that time we have seen some of the world’s greatest fighters battle inside the octagon. UFC history is littered with great Brazilian jiu-jitsu artists, tactical wrestlers, and perennial strikers such as: Royce Gracie, Georges St. Pierre, and Anderson Silva. The greatest of them have proven themselves to earn the title of “Champion.”
Like every other sport, fans will long debate who are the best. The conversation gets even deeper when discussing champions. Where it gets difficult is naming the champion of champions. Who is the best ever? Montana or Elway? Louis or Ali? The UFC has produced many champions over the years. Here are the selected few that can call themselves the best of the best.
Perhaps you guys remember a time…oh, let’s say around 9 months ago, when former welterweight title challenger Dan Hardy had just dropped his third straight match to Anthony Johnson. In desperate need of a win, Hardy decided that he should call out a fighter by the name of Chris Lytle. You see, Lytle was on the tail end of his career, and plus, Hardy knew that “Lights Out’s” style would play perfectly into his strengths. Hardy claimed however, that he chose Lytle out of the need for “an old school shootout with a guy that wants to throw down.” We saw through the bullshit.
But then, after getting his wish and finding himself on the wrong end of a good old fashioned Lytle ass-whooping, Hardy dove in for a takedown at the end of the third round, and was promptly submitted. He claimed he needed some time off to think about his future, even though he knew it was safe in the UFC.
Well, it seems that Hardy has spent a good deal of time thinking about a solid, game opponent for which he should begin his comeback. A young, feisty up and comer by the name of…Matt Hughes? Hardy told ESPN:
Perhaps you guys remember a time…oh, let’s say around 9 months ago, when former welterweight title challenger Dan Hardy had just dropped his third straight match to Anthony Johnson. In desperate need of a win, Hardy decided that he should call out a fighter by the name of Chris Lytle. You see, Lytle was on the tail end of his career, and plus, Hardy knew that “Lights Out’s” style would play perfectly into his strengths. Hardy claimed however, that he chose Lytle out of the need for “an old school shootout with a guy that wants to throw down.” We saw through the bullshit.
But then, after getting his wish and finding himself on the wrong end of a good old fashioned Lytle ass-whooping, Hardy dove in for a takedown at the end of the third round, and was promptly submitted. He claimed he needed some time off to think about his future, even though he knew it was safe in the UFC.
Well, it seems that Hardy has spent a good deal of time thinking about a solid, game opponent for which he should begin his comeback. A young, feisty up and comer by the name of…Matt Hughes? Hardy told ESPN:
I’ve mentioned Matt Hughes to Lorenzo. He’s been on a rough streak as well recently, he’ll look at me and see I’ve lost four fights and think he can outwrestle me. I also genuinely don’t like him. I need a fight to get up for and I’d take great pleasure in smashing him in the face. I won’t talk about why I don’t like him, it’s some knowledge I have about him away from the sport. Even students around where he lives bet against him. Lorenzo would love to see it; more than anything he just likes a good fight! That’s why I’ve not been cut yet because I come to fight. I think Matt Hughes would be an entertaining fight.
If anything, this without a doubt proves that Hardy lives up to his nickname, because only a true outlaw would choose to rebuild himself using the fragile, osteoporosis-ridden bones of the elderly.
Now, we here at CP understand that it sometimes takes a couple lower level fights to build a fighter’s confidence back up; it’s part of the game. And we definitely understand that someone could clash heads with Matt Hughes, but you gotta be kidding with this one, Dan. Not only has Hughes been discussing retirement for like 3 years now, but the man is coming off back-to-back knockout losses for Christ’s sake. And don’t give us this “entertaining fight” routine again; what’s next, you want to fight Renzo Gracie to show us how far your ground game has come?
And we’re just going to brush over the fact that Hardy had the balls to mention an opponent to Lorenzo Fertitta, a man whom he should be thanking each time he looks down at his plate and sees that there is still food on it. It would be like if we all quit work today, only to come back a year from now and request a raise along with some stock options.
Perhaps even more ironic is the possibility that if Hardy was somehow given this fight, we could see him being listed as the underdog considering that Hughes presents the exact kind of gameplan that just one fight ago, Hardy was complaining about having to deal with.
Does anyone out there think this is a legitimate, respect based request by Hardy, or are y’all calling shenanigans like us?
Former 
