This Country Boy more than survived

This week we say goodbye to one of the greatest defensive players in the history of the NFL and last week we bid farewell to possibly the greatest welterweight in MMA history.  While there are many differences between Ray Lewis and Matt Hughes, the same competitive spirit drove them to championship performances. 

"Matt Hughes made me.  He made me and Georges (St. Pierre)." - BJ Penn

I feel bad for the newer fans of MMA that never got to see Hughes in his prime tossing and smashing dudes as if they were in different weight classes.  Personally, the earliest fight of Hughes' that I saw was actually his first fight with Carlos Newton.  It was in this fight that he first won the UFC welterweight championship.  Although, the fight had one of the most controversial finishes of any MMA fight.  Newton wrapped Hughes up in a triangle choke.  Instead of trying to turn the corner, stack, or any of the other escapes you would get taught in you beginner's jiu jitsu class, he slammed his way out.  He is, after all, Matt Hughes.  He picked Newton up, walked to the side of the octagon (with Newton's legs still wrapped around his neck and arm) and set him up on top of the six foot fence.  After a few seconds, Hughes smashed Newton onto the mat, knocking him out.  This is where the controversy started.  Hughes appeared to be unconscious as well and had to be told that he won.  When he ran over to his corner, he admitted that he was out when he dropped Newton.  Rightfully, Newton should have won, but Hughes was awarded the championship that night.  Eight months later, Hughes knocked out Newton once again to silence all doubters.

This was my first introduction to Mr. Hughes, but one of my favorite moments in all of MMA happened during a much earlier fight in his career.  In 2006 or 2007, I bought "Reality Champions," a DVD that contained early fights of UFC stars such as Hughes, Diego Sanchez, Rich Franklin, and Rashad Evans.  One of the fights was from Extreme Challenge 35 and matched the 19-1 Matt Hughes against the 0-0 Joe Guist.  Yep, according to sherdog.com, it was his first professional fight.  It looked like Hughes' previously scheduled opponent had taken off and so they grabbed someone from the crowd.  Anyway, this was the 8 pack monster Matt Hughes, after he had his UFC debut but before he was a household name.  Apparently, his corner wanted him to work on his hands during this fight.  Multiple times during the 3 minute fight, the men would get into an exchange, Hughes would drop Guist, and then back out to let Guist back up and go back in again.  Finally, Hughes decided to take Guist down and quickly gained the mount.  And now, this is the point where I wish Youtube had a video of this because I could never do it justice.  While Hughes was in the mount, he obviously was being yelled at by his corner. While on his knees, he did a lighting fast quarter turn, dragging Guist's body with him, and stared at his corner.  Apparently, they were telling him to get up and use his hands.  Hughes, looking much the spoiled child, threw an extremely hard right to Guist's head and stood up.  Guist sat up, shook his head like a cartoon character, and made his way to his feet.  Hughes tapped him out with an armbar maybe 45 seconds later.  How quickly he turned that dude's body and the way he threw a tantrum by punching the guy incredibly hard always cracks me up.  Guist, as you might assume only had one more fight in his career.  Hopefully he is successful somewhere doing anything other than getting punched. 

When I first started watching MMA, Miletich Fighting Systems ruled the American landscape.  Anchored by Matt Hughes, the team also included UFC champions in Tim Sylvia and Jens Pulver.  The team also included standouts Robbie Lawler and Jeremy Horn.  Former UFC welterweight champion Pat Miletich had forged a team of hard nosed battlers in the nothingness of Bettendorf, Iowa.  Believe me, if you've ever driven through Iowa, there's a whole lot of nothing there.  The stories of those practices are legendary.  On such a team of beasts, the farm boy from Illinois stands above the rest. 

Just as Hughes' win over Royce Gracie showed a passing of the baton, Matt Hughes himself gave rise to two legendary fighters in GSP and BJ Penn.  He set the mold for for many fighters to follow - mixing their strong wrestling with jiu jitsu.  The result can be seen in his submission of Ricardo Almeida.  In his prime, Hughes was the best 170 pound fighter on the planet and arguably the best of all time.  (Something I'll look into on my next post)  Although I found myself on both sides rooting for or against Hughes, but I have always respected as an all time great.  Thanks for the memories Mr. Hughes.  Good luck in your job as a UFC VP.  If your previous endeavors are any proof, you'll do great.