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[Nos 5]

Interesting comments from Hughes: Matt Hughes talks BJ Penn, GSP, Jon Fitch, and his future in the sport

Thoughts?

Matt Hughes is a living legend.

When it's all said and done, the 9-time UFC welterweight champion will go down as a true pioneers of the sport and one of the first to successfully cross train disciplines at a high level.

Think Wilt Chamberlain, Babe Ruth and Johnny Unitas - early superstars who changed the way the game was played.

Already a Division I All-American wrestler at the start of his career in 1998, a young Matt Hughes worked hard under fellow grappling pioneer Pat Miletich to add high level jiu-jitsu to his devastating ground-and-pound - a practice which eventually enabled Hughes to become one of the sports' first dominant champions.

Now at 37 years of age and closing in on the twilight of his career, Hughes remains as relevant as ever. The Illinois native can still sell a fight card, still has fans hanging on his every word, and is still every bit as competitive as the first time he stepped foot inside the Octagon.

Recent rumors had Hughes contemplating retirement following a loss to BJ Penn last November, but Hughes says he has at least one more fight left in him.

"I'm gonna fight one more time," Hughes told MMA Fight Corner presented by FiveKnuckles.com. "Probably late summer-early fall and we'll take it from there. All I'm guaranteeing is one more fight. I'm not guaranteeing anything after that. I'll see how that goes and make a decision after that."

After that, Hughes who has always enjoyed coaching fellow MMA fighters, figures to continue coaching and recently added a surprising new protege in personal nemesis BJ Penn. In January, Penn asked Hughes to come to his native Hawaii to train with him in anticipation of Penn's fight last month against Jon Fitch. Hughes accepted on the condition that he could bring a guest.

"BJ texted me and said, 'Hey I got this fight against (Jon) Fitch," Hughes said. "I'd like for you to go over some stuff like takedowns against the fence, maybe some striking on the ground, blah, blah, blah...' And I said, 'let me go home, talk to my wife and look at my schedule.' So I did, I talked to her, she thought it was a great idea. I then texted BJ and said, 'Send me Fitch's last five fights as soon as you can, and I need two tickets to Hawaii. One for Mathew A. Hughes and the other for Hannah Grace Hughes,' my four and a half year old daughter. So Hannah and I went out there and we had a great time."

The two former rivals and bitter enemies quickly struck up a friendship and learned a lot from one another in their time spent together.

"It was actually pretty fun," Hughes continued. "BJ and I quickly found out that we're a lot alike. We both got kinda the same sense of humor, we're easy going and so we got along really good. We really did. I was out there for five days; flew in on Sunday, left on Friday and I had a great time. As far as training with BJ, I was able to learn a lot, I think BJ learned a lot and I had a great vacation with my daughter.

Under Hughes expert tutelage, Penn learned enough to out-Fitch Jon Fitch for two rounds before fading fast in the third. The fight was eventually scored a draw - a ruling Hughes disputes.

"Honestly, I watched the fight with a bunch of buddies of mine like I always do, and I scored the fight round by round, and...

[pantomime horse]

Note to Hughes: This is MMA and GSP has handled both you & Kos.

[TBEAR]

Originally Posted by pantomime horse

Note to Hughes: This is MMA and GSP has handled both you & Kos.

Not Matt's point, he said in pure wrestling and he is right KOS and alot of other could beat GSP.

GSP's wrestling is effective because of the way he transitions from striking to grappling.


Different note
Hughes has always been one of my Fav fighters. I am glad he spoke highly of BJ and said they both got alot out of training. I am also glad he has atleast one more fight

[Masscore]

Originally Posted by TBEAR

Not Matt's point, he said in pure wrestling and he is right KOS and alot of other could beat GSP.

GSP's wrestling is effective because of the way he transitions from striking to grappling.


Different note
Hughes has always been one of my Fav fighters. I am glad he spoke highly of BJ and said they both got alot out of training. I am also glad he has atleast one more fight

^This.

GSP does a lot of things "wrong" from a pure wrestling stand point. Perfect example is when he did that throw on Hughes in their 3rd bout. It only worked because Hughes was worried about getting hit. If he tried the same throw in an actual wrestling match he would have planted on his back because of the way he stepped into it.

In actual wrestling Kos, Fitch and Hughes would all beat GSP and probably beat him handily. The second you add in strikes everything changes because no one mixes them up better then GSP.

[rivethead]

Hughes is correct. He's not talking about fighting, he's talking about wrestling.

Since it wasn't included in the teaser, I'll give the relevant quote from the article

Though Hughes takes exception with St. Pierre's much talked about wrestling prowess.

"He's a phenomenal athlete, no doubt about it, but you know, he's not a great wrestler," Hughes said. "I think if you put him and Koscheck in a wrestling match, I think Koscheck would eat him up. From take downs to rolling him, I really do. But if you watch GSP fighting, he does a very good job transitioning from striking to takedowns. He does great with his striking, so that's what really enables him to take people down like he does. And of course he's very quick, but if you put him up against a wrestler on a wrestling mat, I don't think you'd see that great wrestling that you do in a fight."

and Matt is correct in his statements.

rh

Note to noobs: do not change the title of articles you are reposting. It makes it difficult for other posters to determine if they're posting the same thing or a different one, which makes more work for mods. And specifically, do not change the articles to misquote in order to create a more dramatic impression.

[captonion]

There are alot of I THINK, and WHAT IFs in Hughs statements. There is no way anyone will ever know. All speculation IMO!

[Chute_Boxe44]

Can there be one Hughes interview where he doesn't get at least one dig in on GSP?

[TBEAR]

Originally Posted by Chute_Boxe44

Can there be one Hughes interview where he doesn't get one dig in on GSP?

I dont think it was a dig, I think it is true...in a pure wrestling match GSP would not be as good. I think that was the point and I dont think it is a dig

[Chute_Boxe44]

Originally Posted by TBEAR

I dont think it was a dig, I think it is true...in a pure wrestling match GSP would not be as good. I think that was the point and I dont think it is a dig

Fair enough, let me rephrase

Can there be one interview of Hughes where GSP is not brought up?

[rivethead]

Originally Posted by Chute_Boxe44

Fair enough, let me rephrase

Can there be one interview of Hughes where GSP is not brought up?

It's not like he's writing his own questions. That's as much the responsibility of the journalist as anyone else. But that's what the public is drawn to, drama. The title of the post was initially changed to focus entirely on the GSP comments, and take them out of context...because that's dramatic.

It's like me saying "can there be one time where a quote is actually read with some understanding instead of people jumping to a defensive, angry interpretation?" Hughes calls GSP a phenomenal athlete, and actually praises his striking and transitions...and yet, his comments are immediately misinterpreted as a dig by you and many other posters.

rh