https://youtube.com/watch?v=6fB9JEJswig
In celebration of the UFC’s 30th anniversary, Jon Anik, Daniel Cormier and Din Thomas break down the Ultimate 30 All-Time …
we are going to now Move Along gentlemen to our second selection to the ultimate roster a farm boy from Illinois who debuted in 1999 and went on to become one of the most imposing welterweights of all time a two-time champion a two-time hall of fam and one of the greatest welterweights of all time Matt Hugh’s very dominant that’s a different level of ground in town that most people are looking for oh big left hook Here Comes Hughes he might be that’s some serious strength there matthews’s Iron grip on the division began the very moment he slammed Carlos new at UFC 34 he’s out that freakish Farm Boy strength combined with world class wrestling ability produced a stifling fight style that bested a who’s who of the world’s Elite welterweights including PJ pen it is all over Matt Hughes George St Pierre Matt Hughes with a submission Victory bang arar over Matt Hughes is once again the welterweight champion plus an all-time classic against Frank Trish Matt’s face is going red he might have to tap [Music] ohou and here we go it’s and it’s all over mat showing incredible character Matt Hughes the former welterweight Champion’s truck was hit by a train Hughes was seriously injured inside the octagon and out Hughes could never be counted out of a fight he’s a fighter you either are or you aren’t and Matt Hughes is to this day his heart and determination are character traits that resonate with fans worldwide Hughes finished his career with 45 wins in his 54 Pro fights and a list of achievements and accolades that will keep him in the conversation of alltime greats for many years to come that man is as great a champion as we have ever witnessed what else can be said about the great Matt Hughes at one point he was on top of the world as the best welterweight on the planet at one point he reeled off 18 consecutive wins DC and I think you can argue this man was the face of American MMA for a Time absolutely Matt Hughes was different he was a farm boy that you knew when you went in there with him you had your hands full and he was a guy that was going to push you to lent that you didn’t know that you could make I remember him and Frank Trigg they had this real nasty rivalry and you knew how good Frank Trigg was but you also knew that Frank Trigg wasn’t going to be willing to go to the places that Matt Hughes went in order to be successful against him and I knew trig from wrestling and he was a better wrestler than Matt so he thought that that would actually help him get victories but Hughes was just so tough not only physically but mentally that he would just break him down and for so long man it was Matt Hughes at welterweight and even today many can still make a case for Matt Hughes being the greatest wealth weight of all time sure you absolutely can because he was a force and it wasn’t just him it was the team that he represented the militant that that was like the first big super team right they had all the stars but Matt was different he was like the muscle of the team and when he showed up you knew he was in the building and I remember when he fought Carlos Newton picked him up slammed him out of the triangle woke up won the championship belt but at the time right so at the time in the UFC it felt like the better fight they didn’t have a lot of smaller divisions for lighter guys so we didn’t really know how good Matt Hughes was until he fought Max Sakurai they brought him in from Japan right and he was the man in Japan and he came over here and fought uh Matt for the title and Matt just obliterated him obliterated in you know Matthews a little bit huh I was waiy so May 27th 2006 UFC 60 sort of a passing of the torch I guess what do you remember about Matthews and that night um super tough gentleman of course yeah but I remember he caught me in the arm lock I look on the camera I was like okay he got it go ahead break it I ain’t tapping and he squeezed he was about to break my but he just decided okay the guy’s not going to tab so he let it go and went for for something move on yeah but he won and did exact what we predict that he would have do I wasn’t able to stop him you see so but he did it so I wasn’t present and and I think that was the sport evolving right we always talk about how there’s evolution in everything from two years to 5 years to 10 years we spoke about this off camera I said my fighting style 10 years from now would not be as successful because the athletes will be much better Matt Hughes was that next level of guy right whereas you had Specialists before Matt Hughes was a guy when you get Hoy graci in the arm lock it’s like obviously now this wrestler not only can wrestle he knows how to do Jiu-Jitsu dude he’s a legend he’s absolute Legend Ian that speaks to the tenacity of the competitor that he was don’t me think about like you knew he was was in the fight he’d be standing there pacing going back and forth I remember and like that was like a scary sight like if I was on the other side watching that I’d be thinking I don’t know why I even showed up today I like I be thinking what what am I doing here today but but you knew he was always coming to fight like he had such attitude about him it was he was able to use his wrestling to get to those dominant positions and use his ground compound to set up his submissions but even Dean like we talk about BJ Penn and his background in grappling for Matt to even get to a crucifix ho to pass have you ever been passed and got put in a crucifix ho it’s almost impossible he did it to BJ pen he was able to put the wrestling with the boxing with Jujitsu the submission be able to put all that together a lot of people can’t do it they just they’re good uh kickboxers but they cannot use they learned but they still cannot use Jujitsu some guys are very jiujitsu good fighters in jiujitsu but they cannot box for their lives they cannot like me I no he was able to put all that together that’s a good point because even in modern day mixed martial arts even when you look at the welterweight division right now you have a lot of very dominant wrestlers and Grapplers who can win rounds they’re not all finishers well and John it’s like they’re either wrestling or they’re striking or they’re striking or they’re grappling or they’re you know it’s just you can’t they don’t mix seamlessly between the Styles and I think Matt Hughes was one of those first guys that did that well and even in the Twilight of his career submitting hicard Almeida as we were talking about off the air a legitimate Jiu-Jitsu player dude it was the craziest thing cuz we’re in Oakland California it was before chill fumbled the B chill CH fumbled the B chill’s beating Anderson for 24 minutes to 3 seconds but you you you got confidence in the grappler or the wrestler versus the grappler based on what you saw Matt Hugh D to Ricardo Almeida and now this was a submission but this was no jiujitsu this was Dave Schultz bro Dave Schultz one of the greatest American wrestlers of all time he had this this this front headlock that was a choke he would take in the front headlock and he would put his hand up towards the ceiling and he would scoop your elbow and walk you back towards your head and then he would lock right here under your neck in wrestling they always stop it they start to tap Ricardo ala had no idea what he was doing that that was Matt applying things that he knew young in a sport that even as he ate aged he knew he could make adjustments and it put ala out cold and and when and when you watched it live like from the Jiu-Jitsu Community we couldn’t believe what we was watching because Almeida was a dog yes you know that in fact that was his nickname you know the dog yeah the big dog that was his nickname and he was a dog and for him to go to sleep to that we was like what what is going on as you guys didn’t know what he was doing neither did Ricardo I’ll meet him right so Dean Matthews may be the ultimate dog right but most people when they look back at this career they go to that Frank trig fight obviously it was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2015 I believe boxing MMA Combat Sports across the board still Dana White’s favorite fight absolutely I mean because that fight was a story it wasn’t just a fight it was a story like look at this Frank trick kisses him on the mouth he shoves him back and then early on in the fight he’s taking a beating and you thought it was over here Frank trick gets his back now like DC said Frank trick was probably the more accomplished in better wrestler so when he had his back you thought the fight was over but Matt Hughes doesn’t care turns it around gets he runs him across the cage gets a big slam and finishes I mean it was just an absolute Beauty to watch I just remember as a young 20-year- old man I was dating a girl who was in love with Matt Hughes and she broke up with me a few months later I couldn’t compete with Matt Hugh keep her ass away from mat tell man The One That Got Away sorry Steph