Matt Hughes

UFC 103 Notes: Belfort Moves to Forefront of Middleweight Title Picture

A win over Rich Franklin was expected to make Vitor Belfort an instant contender for Anderson Silva’s UFC middleweight title. But according to UFC President Dana White, Belfort may have positioned himself as the leading candidate for Silva’s next title defense, even before Dan Henderson and Nate Marquardt.

“You know, I think he might be ready now,” White said at last night’s UFC 103 post-fight press conference.

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Matt Hughes Re-Signs With UFC

Former UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes has announced that he has signed a new multi-fight contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

“Last week I went out to Vegas and I signed a multi-fight deal with the UFC, which is much like my last contract,” Hughes said via his official website. “They still have to find out who, where and when my next fight will be and I will try to post that info ASAP.”

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Video: Verbal Battle Continues Between Hughes, Serra

In the above video, former UFC welterweight champions Matt Hughes and Matt Serra continue their war of words leading up to their anticipated grudge match at this weekend’s UFC 98 event, which will take place Saturday night in Las Vegas.

Serra Wrestling to Keep Hughes Fight Standing

The long-awaited grudge match between Matt Hughes and Matt Serra is finally upon us. In less than three weeks, the two coaches from the sixth season of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality show will finally clash, over a year and a half since they were originally scheduled to.

Earlier in his career, Serra may have been keen on letting a fight against Hughes to the ground for the chance to submit him. After showing off his heavy hands in one of MMA’s biggest upsets to date over Georges St. Pierre two years ago, Serra is now training in wrestling more than ever in order to keep his showdown with a fellow former welterweight champion on the feet:

As a relatively small 170-pounder, Serra, 9-5, has relied on conditioning, jiu-jitsu and an underrated standup game. Against Hughes, he’ll need to stay on his feet, and Longo says that’s exactly what they’ve been working on.

“We’ve been in training camp about two months now. At first, we just worked on conditioning. He feels great, and his back feels great,” Longo said. “That was (originally) a concern. Between that, he’s doing a lot of sparring and a lot of wrestling. He’s doing more wrestling than I’ve ever seen him do.”

It’s hard to believe Serra will be able to prevent Hughes from taking him down no matter how hard he’s working right now. The ability to wrestle doesn’t exactly come overnight. Serra was taken down at will by GSP in their rematch, but St. Pierre has morphed into one of the best wrestlers in the sport. Chris Lytle and Karo Parisyan were both able to take Serra down multiple times in his two professional fights prior to GSP and neither of them are known for their wrestling.

Even against a Hughes that is a shell of his former self, the only way I see Serra winning this fight is if Hughes opts to keep it on the feet as he’ll be able to dictate where the fight goes throughout. Unfortunately for Serra, all signs point to Hughes returning to his old, effective strategy of the past - dishing out some relentless ground-and-pound. It’s a style that Serra hasn’t been too effective against.

Serra Fight May Not Be Hughes’ Last

Months before Matt Hughes even signed to fight arch-rival Matt Serra at UFC 98 in May, the former longtime UFC welterweight champion revealed that he would be taking some time to think about whether or not he wanted to continue fighting in a sport that almost seems to have passed him by.

He might not be able to compete at the level he did in the past, but it seems that Hughes still has the urge to fight regardless from what he told USA Today’s Sergio Non:

“I still feel healthy. I’m 35 years old. Randy Couture’s what? 44, 45 or something? If he can do it, I can do it. This is what I do — I’m a fighter. I still want to fight, I still want to compete.

“I’ve never been that guy chasing titles, chasing awards. To be honest, after I won my first five belts or something, they were underneath my bed, I didn’t even take them out. As far as plaques on the wall, I could care less. I want my hand raised. I’m a competitor.”

The difference between Hughes and Couture is that Hughes has shown that he can’t keep up with the welterweight division’s best while Couture, at least for now, is still one of the top contenders at heavyweight. I’m glad to see that Hughes still wants to fight. Many of his bouts are exciting. However I don’t see him being anything more than a gatekeeper for the remainder of his professional career. He could be fine with that though, we’ll see.

Hughes Says St. Pierre “Felt Greasy”

Jason “Mayhem” Miller stated his feelings earlier this year. Matt Serra and Sean Sherk followed. Now former UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes is the latest fighter to claim that Georges St. Pierre has potentially been greased up in past fights. In a post today on his official website, the future UFC Hall-of-Famer stated that St.Pierre felt a little slippery:

Now, on to what everybody is talking about, the greasing. I’m not the only one who has said that GSP felt greasy during a fight. I know Matt Serra has mentioned it and, even in their first fight, I think BJ said something. I’m not saying GSP did something wrong and I’m not saying that it would have changed any outcomes of any fights; but what I am saying is, for my last two fights against Georges, he felt greasy.

I have a question for Hughes: If GSP really did feel that slippery during your last two fights, why are you waiting to say something about it until now? It’s somewhat helpful that while wading through this Vaseline mess that past opponents of Georges are coming out and stating that they believe he greased. But at the same time, it’s not, because they are making these accusations months and years after these fights took place.

Hopefully a ruling by the commission and a decision by B.J.‘s camp comes relatively soon, because this issue is getting old fast.

Hughes-Serra Could Happen in April

The long awaited grudge match between former UFC welterweight champions Matt Hughes and Matt Serra has been put off for almost a year now due to separate injuries to both fighters. However with all parties still willing to make the fight happen, we may be seeing the anticipated bout early next year.

In a recent blog post on his official website, Hughes stated that he had spoken to UFC matchmaker Joe Silva regarding a potential date for the fight. According to Silva, Hughes and Serra may be pitting against each other at a yet-to-be-announced UFC event in April 2009.

“This week, I talked to Joe Silva at the UFC and a possible date for Serra and I is in April,” Hughes said in the blog post. “I don’t know the exact date right now or venue. So, that is something that I can look forward to and I can set my training up for that schedule.

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Back to the Future: Recap Edition

Here’s a little recap of what we might have missed over the past few days or so…

Gomi, Trigg Win at Sengoku IV

Former PRIDE standouts Takanori Gomi and Frank Trigg were victorious in their respective bout Sunday morning at World Victory Road’s “Sengoku IV” event in Japan. Gomi earned a decision over Seung Pang Hwan while Trigg went all three rounds with Makoto Takimoto.

Former IFL lightweight champion Ryan Schultz was upset in the first round of World Victory Road’s inaugural lightweight grand prix, losing via knockout to Mizuto Hirota. Kazunori Yokota, Eiji Mitsuoka, Satoru Kitaoka all also moved on to the tournament’s next round.

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White Confirms UFC’s Venture to Chicago

It seems that the rumors are true - the Ultimate Fighting Championship will be traveling to “The Windy City” for the first time in the promotion’s history when they visit Chicago for a planned UFC 90 event on October 25th at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois.

White confirmed the date and location during a recent interview with The Chicago Sun-Times.

‘‘Chicago is a huge market for us,’’ White said in the article. ‘‘We track pay-per-view buys for our events and ratings on Spike TV, and Chicago is a killer market for us. There are tons of fans in Chicago and around Chicago, and it’s going to be one of the places we hit often. It’s a great fight town, and we’re really pumped that we’re finally getting this done.’‘

While White was unable to confirm any fighters for the card, one notable name who may not be able to compete is Illinois native Matt Hughes, who is currently recovering from multiple torn ligaments suffered in his recent loss to Thiago Alves and has stated that he will likely be out of action for 6-7 months.

Another potential bout for the card was a previously rumored matchup between welterweight contenders Alves and Diego Sanchez. The bout was said to be happening at England’s UFC 89 in October but Dave Meltzer has since learned that the bout is not even signed and will definitely not be added to the overseas card.

HT: MMA Junkie

UFC 85: Bedlam Post-Fight Videos

Former UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes and the man who defeated him over the weekend, American Top Team product Thiago Alves, discuss their main event battle at the post-fight press conference for UFC 85: Bedlam in the above video courtesy of ESPN.

After the jump, England native Michael Bisping talks about his win over Canadian middleweight Jason Day and the signings of more mixed martial artists from his home country by the UFC in recent months. Mike Swick, Kevin Burns, and Nate Marquardt also discuss their respective fights at the event as well.

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