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[Ubermensch]

Hughes 'nuff said

[Intellectual]

as of now, it's Hughes, no question.

in a few years, i see GSP surpassing him.

[Repenter]

absolutely hughes. he ran the WW division for a very long time, and we haven't seen what GSP has in him for longevity. i think that after another year's worth of title defenses, (IF he gets by penn, which i don't have my money on), we'll look at the picture again, and still probably pick hughes.

also, i don't like to see people claiming GSP is the best WW ever judging on the last two matchups between the two. yes, GSP easily hands it to hughes currently, but GSP is on the cusp of his prime, while hughes is on the decline. we need to also point out that the majority of hughes' losses have come very recently in his career, to absolutely top-tier fighters in BJ and GSP, and if you should choose based on his potential, alves.

this is a true changing of the guard that we're seeing, but like i said, it will take a lot more good showings from GSP to surpass hughes in history. this is NOT a dig at GSP, just saying that at this very early point in his career, there is no pressure on him to dethrone the greatest. give him time, test his longevity, and we'll see.

[BigBanda]

At this point in time... Hughes. I really dont see much argument to that either when you break it down.

[travtera]

I agree for now, Hughes because of the longevity of his reign.

But to be fair to GSP, he's fighting in a different era than Hughes. I doubt GSP will ever have as many fights on his record as Hughes just by the nature of how often he'll fight. Fighting 3 times a year, GSP it'll take GSP a long time to reach that aspect of Hughes' legacy. The game has evolved so much and the competition GSP has faced and will face in the future will be much steeper. Let's face it, with better athletes entering the sport, better training methods and partners to work with, and superior game planning you have to wonder where an even prime Hughes would fit in with today's and tomorrows crop of fighters. Either way, the debate is going to be going on for years to come.

[rivethead]

The UFC has changed quite a bit in the way it does things as well...there is pressure now for every fight to be a superfight, and I agree you won't see champions fighting 4 or 5 times in a year again. It's really just a matter of time before GSP is called in to save a failing TUF franchise as a coach, and there goes six months of title defenses right there.

Also, in a very real way, Henderson has kind of fucked up MMA. Don't get me wrong, I am a huge Hendo fan, but him holding both the MW and LHW PRIDE belts simultaneously has set a standard that a lot of fighters feel pressure to live up to...with talk of Penn moving up from LW [which I'm more comfortable with, because I honestly don't feel there is a lot of competative fights for him at LW left--entertaining, yes; competative, no...] and GSP potentially moving up to MW [premature, at this point; I think there are competative fights for him at WW still...] you get fighters who aren't focused on a single class and are more focused on a p4p motif.

rh

[SWIFTboy]

After reading all the posts and thinking about it a little more, is it possible to make a distinction between greatest ever welterweight FIGHTER and greatest ever CHAMPION. I think my original claim that a few more defenses might tie hughes, only stands true for overall fighter. However, Hughes legacy as a CHAMPION (as in defending the belt infinite times) might take a while longer to overtake.

As for this claims of Serra knocking out GSP that sounds made up. I have no recollection of this in my memory banks, and theres no way I went to see a doctor and had it surgically removed from my brain....no way.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see and possibly argue about it more again if GSP reels off a few more wins. Until then...