At UFC 85, Matt Hughes took a licking from up-and-comer Thiago "Pitbull" Alves. Many athletes have acquired a lifetime of experience by age 34 and are in their prime. Matt Hughes looked like a tired old man in the Octagon.
While Alves is no joke, and has some impressive victories over good fighters like Karo Parisyan, Alves is well known as a heavy handed striker, and has finished the majority of his fights with knees and punches. Alves has yet to fight the best of the best. By contrast, Hughes has beat the best of the best; some of which would likely school the "Pitbull". So why does Hughes looks like he's done?
I used to admire Matt Hughes as the great champion that he was. Hughes was one of the guys that other fighters idolized and wanted to be like. So I'm left wondering why Matt Hughes looks less like a world champ and more like a man that's desperate to survive a fight?
What has changed for Matt Hughes? Did he forget how to fight? Does his fear of losing outweigh his hunger to win? Did his ego finally usurp his ability? Or has what motivates him to fight changed?
It appears that Matt Hughes is in there fighting for Matt Hughes. I don't think that he cares about the fans at all. I think the main reason that Hughes is still in the game at all is strictly for selfish reasons. He wants to leave the game with a win over Matt Serra.
I feel like Matt Hughes really showed his true colors on The Ultimate Fighter 6. He was more concerned with winning the stupid contest than he was about mentoring the young fighters on the show. He came off as cocky and arrogant and the fact that he was so affected by Matt Serra's comments speaks volumes about the guy. I think that his whole motivation for fighting changed at that point. I think that Hughes ego was rocked by Serra's comments, and by getting a couple of lessons from Georges St. Pierre in the Octagon.
On that note, I think Hughes is finished. I really wouldn't be surprised if he loses to Matt Serra, if he is allowed to fight him, because of his motivations. Many fights have been lost by those who aren't mentally prepared to fight. I think Hughes lost his mental edge a long time ago and I don't think it's ever coming back.
About Matt Serra, Hughes said, "I want that fight. My wife wants that fight." If I could ask Matt Hughes one question it would be, "What about the thousands of MMA fans Matt? Did you forget about the people that helped you get to where you are today?"
by JP Berube of MMA-Underground.com
No comments:
Post a Comment