UFC 117: Matt Hughes - “Planning a Ground Attack”

Matt Hughes faces Ricardo Almeida at UFC 117 on August 7th

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Anyone who is a UFC fan knows the name Matt Hughes. The Illinois-based welterweight is a two-time 170-lb. champ, a UFC Hall-of-Famer, and the promotion’s all time victories leader. Knowing what you do about the 12 year mixed martial arts legend, you would think that he doesn’t have much left to prove, right? Wrong, Hughes, at the age of 36, continues to win fights in hopes of getting that final chance at welterweight gold.

Hughes can take a big step toward his title dreams with his upcoming UFC 117 co-main event brawl against Gracie Jiu-Jitsu-trained Ricardo Almeida. A victory over Almeida would not only give him three straight victories, but also three straight wins over Gracie-trained fighters. Not to mention, a victory would put him in a prime position to be mentioned for a potential number one contender bout.

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This one however, will be arguably the toughest of his last three bouts. Not to discredit his victories over Matt Serra and Renzo Gracie, but Ricardo Almeida is at another level at this stage of his career. He is on a level that neither Serra nor Gracie has seen for years.

A victory over Almeida will not come easy, and it will almost certainly have to come after three hard-fought rounds. Almeida has only been finished once in his career, and has never been finished by submission. With that said, Hughes isn’t known as a hard hitter, especially at this stage of his career, so, that leaves one way for him to earn this victory. I’m not saying that Hughes isn’t capable of knocking out or submitting Almeida, anything is possible in this sport, but it just isn’t that likely.

Hughes has no problem grinding out decision victories; he is practically built to do just that. His world-class wrestling should allow him at least some opportunity to take Almeida down; from there however, it gets harder. He must try and get the top position while keeping his arms and legs away from Almeida. It sounds quite simple for Hughes, but execution against a top-level grappler like Almeida, is harder than it sounds.

The unpredictability that this sport has is always present, but for that matter, Hughes has experience to help him through. With over fifty career bouts to his credit, he has seen nearly everything. That in itself is an intangible that is vital to have, especially in a match-up as even as this one where both are so technically sound.

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Whether he wins or not, Hughes will go down as one of the best in UFC history. This bout will not make or break his legacy. One thing that it will do, however, is shape the direction for his immediate future. If he isn’t able to get past Almeida, there may just not be enough time left for him to build another lengthy winning streak that is now needed to get to that championship level.

Then again, Hughes has been counted out and called too old and washed up before. The thing is, he has seen just about everything and dealt with it inside the octagon before. You just can’t count out Matt Hughes just yet; it just isn’t a smart thing to do.

By Nick Russell
ProFighting-fans.com Senior MMA Staff Writer