Thread: Hughes wanted GSP or Diego, NOT Lytle

According to the Houston Chronicle, everything wasn't all roses for Matt Hughes. Although publicly Hughes supported the UFC's decision to have him face Lytle and was quoted saying he wanted one or two fights before re-facing GSP -- it wasn't necessarily true.

In his postfight interview for UFC 68, a slightly embittered Hughes said "When you're the champion, and you get dethroned, I think you should be able to come back and get an immediate title shot, to be honest."

When he was denied GSP, Huges said he requested Diego but was denied by the UFC: "I actually asked for Diego in this fight. It's the only time I've really asked for somebody, and they said they had something else going on for Diego. I don't have anything against Diego, I just wanted to fight him."

I'm not sure, why he decided to come out with this now but I have to say that I agree with him. If you've successfully defended your title 9 times, you should have your say about when the re-match happens.

For the full article, click here:
Brawl Sports: Hughes takes swing outside octagon

Originally Posted by droplogic

I don't necessarily agree, I mean, where does it end really. Would GSP get an immediate chance to attempt a title shot again if Hughes beat him? And then if GSP won that, would Hughes get another crack at it? Maybe he feels like he made dumb mistakes, I didn't see that in their last encounter, he was clearly dominated. I think the result would be the same if he faught him 4 days later, a week later, a month later or a year later. Hughes needs to be forced to go back to camp and learn new tricks before his thirst for the title undoes all the work he's put behind him and ends up like a Ken Shamrock trying to fight GSP for the umpteenth time.

Good post btw, Heatwaves +10 points for supplying a constant flow of news bites.

Thanks for the compliment.

For one, I think it's a general, unwritten rule that re-matches are best 2 out of 3, unless there is some controversy a la Shamrock/Ortiz or unless one of the fights was years in the past. I would also add one more caveat, it the two are big money, high profile fighters that would earn the UFC instant bank, I could also see a series of fights perpetuating.

I think the question of immediate title shot rematches totally depends on his history as a champion, which is totally subjective. If you've defended your title long enough, you deserve an immediate rematch. If you haven't been a champion for long, you have to work your way back. There is no exact formula, but in my mind Hughes and Liddell are the only two who have successfully defended their titles long enough to deserve immediate re-matches. Sherk, GSP, Franklin, Silva, Silvia and Couture have not defended the title enough to earn that right yet.

Sour grapes, he knew about the contractual obligations and required title fight for the winners regarding TUF4.

Yeah, I knew Hughes said this about wanting to fight Diego or GSP already. It was in his website or something too, a while back.

I don't think a defeated champ should get an immediate rematch. It's stupid. He (and this goes for anyone) loses, but since he was the former champ, he gets special treatment, and gets to go for the title again? How is this fair to all the other contenders in the division, when they continually have to work hard and earn their title shots?

Look at guys like Karo Parisyan. He was supposed to get the title shot a long time ago, but was injured and never got the chance again. Yeah, I know he lost later fights, but he should still get a title shot.

Same thing with Diego. If Hughes did get the immediate rematch with GSP, why should he deserve the shot more than Diego, who's undefeated, while Hughes just lost?

Same thing with Fitch. He's a top contender in the WW division, I'd rather see him fight GSP than Hughes. Even Koscheck.

These guys and others have made their way to the top, so why should they miss their chance? And what if they lose in the time between Hughes did actually fight GSP? Their records wouldn't be so good anymore, and they may no longer be considered top contenders anymore.

A former champ should have to work his way back up the hard way, like anyone else. They may have once been the champ, but that's over.

Originally Posted by Gooner

The juicy tidbits from the UFC 68 post fight presser

I wasn't so much whining about posting a repost, but correcting a mistake there.

Not really a mistake, I noted that he said it in the UFC 68 post-fight interview. By my comment on "bringing it up now", I should have been clearer. I meant bringing it up now as opposed to when the fight was first signed in January.

My apologies for a repost, this was the first that I had heard of the news (the Houston Chronicle MMA writer wrote about it today). I did a search for similar threads, but since the titles were dissimilar I didn't catch any redundancies.

This situation is easy to debate from both sides. Imo, whoever is the #1 contender should get the fight. If they're not going to let Hughes and Diego fight, Hughes is still the #1 in my mind. There are a few people who have a decent shot at beating him, but i'd make him a solid favorite against everybody, except GSP. Plus, everyone else can use more time to solidify their skills. Hughes is probably as good as he's going to get. And he's getting up their in age. There are a lot of circumstances to consider. All the other WW contenders are very young, this may be Hughes' last chance. For a guy who defended successfully so many times, can't we cut him a little slack on this?

I don't think the champion should ever get an instant title shot after losing his belt. Maybe a battle for the number one contender spot, but even then I would rather see the ex-champion climb back to the top, starting with a match like Christ Lytle vs Matt Hughes. That was a pretty good fight, despite Matt Hughes' insistence on winning by a slow, drawn out decision. It was still entertaining at the beginning when Lytle went for the choke and when he was swinging at Hughes at the start of each round. Lytle had so much to gain in that fight, it made him train and fight a lot harder than he did against Matt Serra. When a champion is down, a nobody like Chris Lytle should be given the chance to pick him apart while he's wounded, to pounce while he's down, and a true champion should be able to battle back from that position like Matt Hughes did.

I don't know what fight some of you were watching. Just because Hughes didn't attack with reckless abandon doesn't mean he didn't try to finish. Lytle has good JJ. Hughes passed guard a number of times and tried to finish a number of times. Not his best performance obviously, but the way some of you are calling that fight is dead wrong.

Originally Posted by RockemSockem

I don't know what fight some of you were watching. Just because Hughes didn't attack with reckless abandon doesn't mean he didn't try to finish. Lytle has good JJ. Hughes passed guard a number of times and tried to finish a number of times. Not his best performance obviously, but the way some of you are calling that fight is dead wrong.

Yeah, I don't know why so many people don't like that fight. I know it wasn't a perfect fight from Hughes, and not how a former champ should been. But that didn't stop it from being a good fight. I thought it was exciting (apart from round3), and both guys showed alot of skill.

Originally Posted by King Kameamea

Hughes needs to keep his mouth shut. His skills as we knew them are gone and I don't believe he will ever hold the belt again.

Based on 1 silly fight w/ GSP and the Lytle fight? And where did his skills go exactly? I'll edit your post for you, see if I can't make it contribute to the discussion.

Originally Posted by King Kameamea

Hughes needs to curb his antics. I find he blatentely disrespects many fighters which is uncalled for. His skills have not evolved to the point where he can compete with the rest of the WW division in contention with the title. That being said I don't believe he will ever retain the belt. Oh and GO HOGAR !!111!!ELEVEN!1!

BAM

As for me I think it is a testament to Hughes as a fighter that he wanted a strong fighter which could jeopardize his rematch for the title. And, even though I love the guy I agree his rematch with GSP will be real tough.