UFC Hall of Famer & former Welterweight champ Matt Hughes (45-8-0) is now being set to match up against TUF1 & former Lightweight contender winner Diego Sanchez (23-4-0) later this year in the Fall. Two UFC veterans are now being set to take each other on later this year in what will be a well anticipated Welterweight bout. Hughes is will be coming in off his first loss since 2008 with a Rnd1 KO at the hands of BJ Penn, while Sanchez will be coming in on a two fight win streak with a Unanimous Decisions over Martin Kampmann.
Hughes will be coming into this bout with retirement no far from his sights as he has stated that there are two fights left on his contract with the UFC that he plans on fulfilling and ending with a win. Hughes was on a three fight winning streak over BJJ black belts with a Unanimous Decision over fellow former champ Matt Serra, a Rnd3 TKO over Renzo Gracie, and an unexpected Rnd1 Submission over Ricardo Almeida. This streak was snapped when a rubber-match against former Lightweight & Welterweight champ BJ Penn. While on that win streak, Hughes received the honor of becoming the eighth inductee in the UFC Hall of Fame and also made fans feel that he was making one last push for the title. Since the KO loss in November, Hughes has remained out of sight except for helping to train Penn for his next bout against Jon Fitch. In the twilight of his career, Hughes is setting up to go out with a win as he states in a recent interview with Inside MMA on HD Net. Hughes even stated that if he did not end his career in the UFC with a win, he would possibly look elsewhere for one more fight to earn a final win, though that elsewhere could simply be Strikeforce if it came to that.
Sanchez will be coming into this bout on a two fight win streak with two Unanimous Decisions that come over tough competitors in Paulo Thiago and Martin Kampmann. Though the first round against Thiago was not for sure scored to Sanchez by two Judges, he dominated the rest of the bout with strong control. The first round alone against Kampmann saw Sanchez being outclassed in the stand up as his striking was nowhere as technical, but Sanchez quickly realized that he would have to return to his brawling "going for broke" style in order to get off his own powerful strikes which he did in the second and third rounds. While there were many fans that saw the fight going Kampmann's way, the judges and other fans saw it going the way of Sanchez with two out of three rounds. A TUF1 winner, Sanchez is a veteran himself fighting in the UFC for just over six years now and going 12-4 in the promotion. After a run at the Lightweight title that resulted in a Rnd5 TKO loss to then champ BJ Penn, Sanchez made his return to Welterweight that also saw him being dominated by rising British fighter John Hathaway. After his failed return bout, Sanchez decided to return to his original camp to train under Greg Jackson again. The return to Jackson's has helped reconfigure Sanchez and has put him back on track with two straight wins. At just 29yrs old, Sanchez doesn't seem anywhere near retirement in his own career and this fight with Hughes will mark the first time he will face a Hall of Famer.
Which event or when specifically this bout will take place has not been announced as of yet, and it is unknown if the bout will headline a Fight Night event or be contended on a bigger event. With two entertaining veterans of the sport, this should prove to be an entertaining bout.
No comments:
Post a Comment