MMAConvert.com

UFC Hall of Famer Matt Hughes will go down as one of the all-time greats to ever grace the cage.

However, that doesn’t mean Hughes has had a perfect career.

Despite going 45-9 and capturing a pair of UFC welterweight titles, there are a few matches that the former NCAA Division I wrestler would likely prefer to have back.

So, let’s take a look at five losses that helped shape the career of Matt Hughes:

1. Josh Koscheck, UFC 135 (2011)

This is likely the one that Hughes will look back at most when reflecting on why he decided to retire.

It had been several months since Hughes last fought – another knockout loss we will cover later in this article – and the former champ was looking to possibly go out on top by defeating Josh Koscheck.

Instead, it was Koscheck who controlled the action. Using his size and speed to his advantage, “Kos” dominated the stand-up. Hughes was never able to take Koscheck down and execute some vintage ground-and-pound, and eating a fight-ending combo finished his night and career.

Koscheck earned the win via knockout with one second left in the first round.

2. Georges St-Pierre, UFC 79 (2007)

Hughes had plenty of trouble with current UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre during his career, posting a 1-2 record against the Canadian.

Of the two defeats, though, the one at UFC 79 stands out.

With just six seconds remaining in the second round, Hughes was forced to submit to an armbar.

St-Pierre put on a complete display, showing all other welterweights out there that he was the new king at 170 pounds. GSP fended off each takedown attempt, puzzling the former wrestler.

St-Pierre proceeded to place Hughes on his back in the second before locking in the fight-ending submission.

3. Thiago Alves, UFC 85 (2008)

This one was likely a fight that the UFC asked Hughes to take – and he accepted, as he always did.

Alves was an up-and-coming prospect in the division and would eventually challenge for the title. The fight took place in England, one of just a handful of bouts Hughes would ever have outside the U.S.

Maybe he was still suffering from the side effects of the loss to GSP, or maybe it was jet-lag, but Hughes never looked like his old self against Alves. The younger fighter constantly defended against Hughes’ takedown attempts.

In the second, Alves went on the attack, catching Hughes with a huge knee early, opening up a cut. Alves continued to pound away before the fight was stopped just 62 seconds into the round.

4. Dennis Hallman, UFC 29 (2000)

Much like that first career defeat, most fighters will always remember their first loss inside the Octagon.

For Hughes, both of those center around one man: Dennis Hallman.

Hallman handed Hughes his first career loss in 1998 in his fifth professional fight, while also defeating him in his UFC debut in 2000. Both Hallman wins came via submission.

While Hughes went on to bigger and better things as evident by his resume, Hallman’s biggest claim to fame is his two wins over Hughes.

5. BJ Penn, UFC 46 (2004)

Following five successful title defenses of the UFC welterweight belt, Hughes was matched up with rising star BJ Penn in 2004.

Having just submitted Frank Trigg and bested Sean Sherk the previous year, Hughes looked to add Penn’s name to his legacy.

However, in three trips to the cage with “The Prodigy,” he would only win once, as Penn scored a first round submission over him in 2004, and followed up with a knockout victory in 2010.

Dennis Hallman, who was released from the UFC earlier this year after his made it known that his wife was dealing with a drug addiction, has suffered yet another family incident.

This time, Hallman’s family home has burnt down. The incident took place around Thankgiving, leaving Hallman and his family without a place to call home.

On top of all the $h*t that I’ve been going thru lately, my house burned down last night. No one hurt but, What else can possibly go wrong?

— Dennis Hallman (@DennisHallman) November 22, 2012

A site has been created to help provide donations for Hallman and his family. Many have already provided money donations to help.

Everyone that has asked to help me after my house burned down, Benji set up a link. fundrazr.com/campaigns/dOOb9 Thanks for everything! GOD BLESS

— Dennis Hallman (@DennisHallman) November 24, 2012

A few observations from UFC 140: “Jones vs. Machida”:

-You know what the coolest thing about John Cholish is? His day job is on Wall Street, so the money he got for kicking Mitch Clarke’s ass probably paid for one suit, one pair of shoes and a shoe shine.

-Man, Jake Hecht elbowed the “hecht” out of Rich Attonito. Yuk-yuk-yuk.

-John Makdessi may have mounted zero offense and was easily handled by Dennis Hallman, but at the end of the day he was at least thrilled that Hallman did it all while not wearing a thong.

-Costa Philippou is to punching to the face what pepper spray is to an Occupy Wall Streeter. Which is to say, Jared Hamman was doomed from the start.

-Yes! Krzysztof Soszynski lost! A few more of those and he’ll be booted from the UFC and we’ll never have to spell out his name again!

-The Korean Zombie put away Mark Hominick in seven seconds when champ Jose Aldo couldn’t do it in five rounds? Giddyup! However, I hope this doesn’t mean Chan Sung Jung is next in line for a title shot. The dude needs a few more wins.

-Brian Ebersole put forth an uninspired performance and got a gift decision. The man is still an enigma, though. Where does he fit in in the grand scheme of things? Is he a future title contender or will he assume the role of Chris Lytle and be there to (hopefully) provide us with entertaining fights?

-I would say Tito Ortiz is just a shadow of his former self, but at this point it seems like his shadow has more durability than his fragile body.

-Is “Big Nog” a legend? Yes. Does Frank Mir have his number? Clearly. Now about that horrific arm break… man, if that isn’t a lesson in why you should tap out when a submission is definitely on, I don’t know what is.

-For one round it seemed as if Lyoto Machida actually had a chance. One round. Then Jon Jones deemed the sparring session was over and really began fighting, at which point Machida was left a bloody and unconscious sack of human flesh and bones quivering on the canvas. Folks, that’s not just a champ right there, that’s one of the greatest mixed martial artists the sport has ever seen.

MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani caught up with Dana White, Jon Jones, Brian Ebersole, Mark Hominick, Chan Sung Jung, Dennis Hallman, John Cholish, Igor Pokrajac, Mark Bocek, Constantinos Philippou and Yves Jabouin to get their thoughts on UFC 140. Also, interviews with Jon Jones and Frank Mir via UFC.com.

Continue reading this post

UFC 140 takes place later tonight at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Canada. The event airs live on pay-per-view at 9pm ET/6pm PT. The pay-per-view broadcast will be preceded by prelim specials on ION TV at 7pm ET/4pm PT and Facebook at 6pm ET/3pm PT.

In the main event, Jon Jones puts his UFC light heavyweight title on the line against former champion Lyoto Machida.

In the co-main event, Frank Mir and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira meet in a heavyweight rematch.

Tito Ortiz takes on Antonio Rogerio Nogueira in a light heavyweight bout.

Claude Patrick meets Brian Ebersole in a welterweight match-up.

Mark Hominick takes on The Korean Zombie in a featherweight bout.

Results, recap and bonuses after the jump.

(more…)

“I won’t say what the bet was about, but I lost a bet to those guys and losing the bet meant that I got to wear some speedos… I thought it was funny. I thought it was embarrassing for me. Obviously, that’s why I had to do it. But I didn’t think anybody would be cross about it… I don’t think they’re going to fire you over something like that. I mean, he knows I went in there and fought injured because I didn’t want to screw up their card. You can’t fire somebody for doing something that’s not illegal or not wrong. You can say, don’t do it again. But it wouldn’t be right to be like, okay, you wore legal trunks but I didn’t like them so I’m going to fire you. Dana’s not like that. He might say, if you do it again I’ll fire you, but he’s not going to fire someone for wearing trunks that were legal.”

— Dennis Hallman on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani explaining why he wore speedos in his UFC 133 bout against Brian Ebersole

Dennis Hallman may have thought it was funny, but Dana White sure didn’t. While he was clearly upset about it in his post-fight interviews, Dana did say that if Hallman was released, it would be because he lost, not because of his fight attire. Still, if you’re one of the few fighters who aren’t expendable in the UFC, the last thing you want to do is lose while simultaneously pissing off Dana White. In other words, when Dana and Joe Silva review the list of candidates to cut, do you really want an giant asterisk with the words “horrified” and “disgusted” next to your name? No, probably not.

Oh, and yes, there was a wardrobe malfunction.

Image via Esther Lin for MMA Fighting

A few observations from UFC 133:

-There are two types of fighters in the 145-pound division right now: those who would get killed by Jose Aldo, and those who would merely be gravely wounded when defeated by him.  The Chad Mendes we saw last night would be the former.

-Matt Hamill is not the first wrestler to forgo what he’s good at and instead fight outside of his comfort zone, but c’mon, if you’re going to play the striking game at least throw some strikes.  The dude looked like a light-heavyweight punching bag.

-Rory MacDonald: the vanguard of the next generation of elite mixed martial artists.  After him, the next evolution of fighters will have cybernetic enhancements and mutant superpowers.

-For someone so close to the cusp of retirement, Jorge Rivera did well for himself.  And Costa Philippou is no slouch.

-All the people giving Dennis Hallman grief for his (admittedly regrettable) choice of shorts are forgetting the time early UFC competitor Joe Son wore a thong to a fight. 

-With his epic beard – and I truly mean epic – Johny Hendricks looked like a cross between a prime Andrei Arlovski and badger.  Too bad he fights like neither.

-Nick Pace did enough to win.  Unless, of course, the value of a close rear naked choke and an eye-smashing knee has decreased when scorecards are tallied and no one told me.

-If you think you can take a punch, Vitor Belfort will prove you wrong.  And if your fighting style is such that you usually take a few lumps to give a few, he will be there to shake your hand when the cageside doctors revive you.

-Okay, Rashad Evans secured himself a title shot… is it me, or are the same handful of light-heavyweights competing for the belt over and over again?

MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani caught up with Dana White following UFC 133 last night. Dana said the banana hammock shorts Dennis Hallman wore were “horrifying” and they are officially banned in the UFC. He wasn’t as pissed at Dennis Hallman though as he was at his employees that let him wear them. The conversation later turned to Fedor Emelianenko and Dana went off on another rant about the “insane deal” they offered Fedor and the “crazy Russians” before Fedor signed with Strikeforce and went on to lose three-in-a-row. His message to Vadim Finkelchtein: I told you so! Should have taken the deal.

UFC 133 took place either this evening at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The event aired live on pay-per-view at 9pm ET/6pm PT. The pay-per-view broadcast was preceded by prelim specials on Spike TV at 8pm ET/5pm PT and Facebook at 5:45pm ET/2:45pm PT.

In the main event, Tito Ortiz stepped in on short notice to take on Rashad Evans.

In the co-main event, Vitor Belfort looked to rebound from his loss to Anderson Silva against Yoshihiro Akiyama.

Brian Ebersole took on Dennis Hallman in a welterweight bout.

Constantinos Philippou met Jorge Rivera in a middleweight bout.

Mike Pyle took on Rory MacDonald in a welterweight match-up.

Results, recap and bonuses after the jump.

Continue reading this post

The UFC 133 weigh-ins took place earlier this afternoon at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

All fighters made weight with the exception of Ivan Menjivar who came in two pounds over his 136 lbs. target. He was given an hour to drop the extra weight.

Update: Ivan Menjivar and Nick Pace agreed to fight at a 138 lbs. catchweight.

The weigh-in results:

• Rashad Evans (204.4) vs. Tito Ortiz (205.8)
• Vitor Belfort (185.4) vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama (184.6)
• Brian Ebersole (170.6) vs. Dennis Hallman (170.8)
• Jorge Rivera (184.6) vs. Constantinos Philippou (185.2)
• Rory MacDonald (170.6) vs. Mike Pyle (170.8)
• Alexander Gustafsson (204.4) vs. Matt Hamill (206)
• Chad Mendes (145.8) vs. Rani Yahya (145.2)
• Ivan Menjivar (138) vs. Nick Pace (135.8)
• Johny Hendricks (170.8) vs. Mike Pierce (171)
• Mike Brown (146) vs. Nam Phan (145)
• Paul Bradley (185.2) vs. Rafael “Sapo” Natal (184.5)

Fighters in non-title fights are allowed to weigh in one pound over the weight class limit.

UFC 133 “Evans vs. Ortiz 2″ will take place tomorrow, August 6, at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and will air live on pay-per-view at 9pm ET/6pm PT.

More UFC 133 weigh-in pics at CombatLifestyle.com