Posted on 09/30/2006 9:54:38 AM PDT by SShultz460
Matt Hughes has beaten nearly everyone put in his path, but even he knows he can't beat Father Time.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight titleholder turns 33 on October 13. He's been on top of the 170-pound scene for most of the past five years, an eternity in fight time, and has won 19 of his past 20 matches.
"I'm getting old, I need to fight when I can," said Hughes. "My clock's ticking."
But Hughes isn't thinking of slowing down. Just the opposite. Coming off his gutsy three-round victory over B.J. Penn at UFC 63, Hughes will fight on less than two months' turnaround when he puts his belt on the line against Georges St. Pierre at UFC 65 on Nov. 18 at Arco Arena in Sacramento.
"Before I only fought three times a year, but now that the UFC is doing shows every month, I like it," Hughes said after beating Penn. "If I could get four, five fights per year, I've never been one to turn down competition."
Hughes certainly got his share of competition at UFC 63. Penn, the only man to beat Hughes in the past six years, gave the champion all he could handle for two rounds before fatigue and injury allowed the champion to turn it up to another level and hold on to his title in one of the year's most dramatic fights.
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I always had the utmost respect for Rocky Marciano for walking away before he lost it. Hopefully Hughes will do the same. From what I read, he should have lost his last fight, but the other guy petered out.
True about wanting to see Hughes walk away at the top. The conundrum is knowing when to do that. Now, one more fight, etc.? Now with the guaranteed money it might be a little harder to say no to one more.
If Franklin wasn't the Middleweight champ I'd really like Matt to move up in weight and see if he could put one of those historic runs but in a higher weight division. Who wouldn't like to see Hughes vs Swick or The Crow etx. It would be brutally hard because those guys walk around at 200-210 and are so much taller.
I think after ufc64 it will be Anderson Silva as the middleweight champ. Also, what are your thoughts on Jardine, where has he been for ages? I think he should have been on TUF4 he's been gone so long. Hughes has nothing to prove at any weight class but his. IMO If he did it i'd support him, but i don't see him as the ego to try it.
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