Josh Koscheck finally has what the welterweight squad of the American Kickboxing Academy has wanted for a couple of years now, a date to fight former UFC welterweight champ and Hall of Famer Matt Hughes.

At various points over the past couple of year all of AKA’s trifecta of top tier welterweights; Koscheck, Jon Fitch and Mike Swick have all called out Hughes but the Hillsboro, Illions resident had no interest in fighting and of the up-and-comers. Instead Hughes seemed to be on a retirement tour of sorts, choosing to busy himself with defeating veterans Matt Serra, Renzo Gracie and Ricardo Almeida before losing to BJ Penn.

The Penn fight seemed to motivate Hughes to once again prove himself against a top ten opponent. It took an injury to Diego Sanchez, Hughes’ originally scheduled opponent and Koscheck nemesis for the blonde-afro’d fighter to finally get his crack at Hughes. Koscheck, looking to make a big splash in his first fight back since his loss to welterweight kingpin Georges St. Pierre in December, had reportedly asked the UFC for the biggest name available in either the welterweight or middleweight divisions. Names such as Wanderlei Silva, Rich Franklin and Chris Leben were tossed out. But when Sanchez went down with a broken hand, the allure of a big-name fight with Hughes was almost too perfect for Kos.

While Hughes has the definitive edge in experience, pundits have been wondering if Hughes is finally over the hill and whether his skills have eroded over time. His decision win over Matt Serra was unimpressive to some, and his victories over Gracie and Almeida proved only that he wasn’t fighting men who were on his level. His quick KO loss to Penn made some wonder aloud if he even could hang with the top names of the division he once stood atop. The Sanchez fight was to answer these questions. But now Hughes faces arguably an even tougher challenge. A fighter in Hughes’ own mold, top of the food chain wrestling skills rounded out by an underrated striking game. Hughes may very well be preparing for a fighter just like he was in his prime.

Hughes seems to realize this, and is digging into his past to help prepare him. He is working with Pat Miletich for the first time in six years and has even reached out to his former opponent Penn to shore up his skills. Hughes made the trip out to Hawaii in February to help Penn with his wrestling in preparation for “The Prodigy’s” fight with Jon Fitch. Penn is now returning the favour, tightening up Hughes’ striking.

This fight could be a crossroads for the career of Hughes. A win would vault the former champ back into title contention. A loss could signal the end of his days as a top tier competitor and could even generate talk about whether he should continue his career. Both fighters are coming off long layoffs, and Koscheck has the disadvantage of a three week camp. While Hughes maintains he still has the competitive fire burning within him, whether he has the skill necessary to defeat one of the top names in the division who seems to be a modern-day version of Hughes in his prime remains to be seen. He’ll need everything in his arsenal and maybe a healthy dose of good ol’ vitamin luck. But as we saw with Tito Ortiz earlier in the year, everyone loves a comeback.

Included on the call are Jon Jones, Rampage Jackson, Matt Hughes and Josh Koscheck. Jon Jones and Rampage Jackson are joining us from LA where they’re doing Jimmy Kimmel Live tonight.

-First question is for Hughes asking he has memories of early UFC’s back in Denver. Hughes thinks it’s cool but wasn’t part of the UFC at the time. None of the others were part of the UFC at the time nad the reporter notes Jones probably wasn’t born yet.

-Koscheck asked how long it took after the GSP fight to get back to full training and if the Hughes fight was the kind of fight he needed. Koscheck said he rested for 3 months and has been training for 4 months. Worked with a lot of the Strikeforce guys at AKA. Mentions Luke Rockhold, King Mo and Daniel Cormier. He thinks Hughes is a good comeback fight and the fans deserved it a long time ago.

-Kos asked if he was planning on fighting in San Jose. Said he wanted the San Jose fight after fighting in Canada twice but had the opportunity for Hughes after Sanchez’s injury and took it. Says he is in shape and ready and it’s a big fight for both of them.

-Kos asked about his gyms his Fresno. Kos says he has opened AKA Fresno and plugs his two gyms.

- Hughes asked about running Hit Squad. Hughes got tired of the hour commute. Had a partner that ran most of the business aspects, but admitted he isn’t much of a businessman.

-Hughes asked about his feelings with Koscheck replacing Sanchez. Hughes talked to Dana and originally thought the replacement was Fitch, but then DW called back later and said it was Kos.

-Kos asked about fighting at 185. Kos says he was looking at 185 because everyone at 170 was tied up. He thought about Leben or Wanderlei as possible opponents. When Diego went down, Kos immediately called Dana and asked for the fight. Dana mentioned Fitch first but Kos said Fitch has been hurt and Kos is healthy and argued for the fight. It went from there.

-Jones asked about coming off as being intimidated on the Spike TV interview during Fight Night. Jones says it’s possible people might think that because he took the backseat in interview. He’s not there to prove he’s better at talking and insulting. His goal is the fight, if it was up to him he’d do as little media as possible. His job is to out-fight and not out-talk him. He’s aware of what Rampage does and he’s not letting it bother him.

-Jones asked how he’s responded to trash-talking. Jones said the only thing that bothered him is “Spygate”. He can’t believe anyone would buy that “ludicrousness”. He’s aware of what he’s up against and it’s educating him and will help him in the future.

-Rampage asked if he thinks he’s in Jones ‘head. Rampage says he doesn’t care. He reacts towards his opponents the way they act towards him. He said Jones was disrespectful towards him, so he doesn’t give Jones any respect. He doesn’t care if he’s in Jones’ head or not.

-Kos asked if he was gun-shy at all coming back from injury. Kos says he got right back in there and worked with the AKA crew and he’s ready. He’s been ready for a while but wanted to take some personal time and he’s anticipating to come back stronger.

-Kos asked what’s the longest he’s been on the sidelines with an injury. In wrestling he had Fusion 5/6 vertebare in his neck and was out 6-7 months. He came back from that healthy. He’s always 2-3 weeks away from being ready to fight.

-Kos asked about any nervous energy and excitement coming back. Kos says he misses the crowd and is super-excited to perform and get a big victory.

-Matt and Josh asked about preparing for the altitude. Matt made sure he was in shape and trained in salt lake city. Josh doesn’t say that he did anything particularily different but has fought in altitude before and knows what to expect.

-Kos asked if taking the time off was good for him in this point in his career. Kos agrees and says he got to focus a lot of other areas besides fighting.

-Kos asked if he worked on newer techniques or sharpening his game. Kos says it was nice to slow down and become a student of the game again. Working with his old muay thai coach again for months.

-Matt asked what keeps him interested in the fight game at this stage in his career. Hughes says it’s competition and that’s what drives most people in the UFC. The drive of just one man competing against someone else. Loves going to the gyn, and travelling with his buddies.

-Matt asked about his long layoff. Hughes enjoys the time off because it gives him a chance to train more and not be focused on being in fight shape all the time.

-Jones asked if this is the biggest media attention he’s got. He thinks the pressure for the Shogun title fight was greater. The “In the Moment” camera crew was a big distraction before the Shogun fight. because they followed him around all day.  He brought coaches with him and he’s working out between media commitments.

-Rampage asked if he’s concerned about being ko’d. Rampage refuses to answer the question.

-Jones asked if Rampage’s chin makes him change his style of fighting. Jones says no, he’s not worried if he doesn’t knock Rampage out. He thinks his style will beat Rampage.

-Jones asked if he saw The A-Team. He did and thought Rampage did a great job. Says he respects Rampage and watched him while he was in college. He says it’s nothing personal and looking at it as skills vs. skills.

-Matt asked about training with BJ Penn. Hughes said he picked up a lot, BJ’s a very intelligent fighter and great grappler. He worked on his footwork a lot. Boxing footwork is very different than wrestling footwork and it was difficult for him to adjust.

-Matt asked if the outcome of this fight affects his next move. Matt says it’s the last fight on his contract. Win or lose afterwards, he’ll talk to UFC and see what they want to do. Hughes’ wife wanted him to quit after the BJ fight but he’ll see how he feels.

-Jones asked if he has the same level of admiration for rampage as he did for Shogun. Shogun was an inspiration because he was champion so young and showed Jones he could do it too. There wasn’t the war of words between Shogun and Jones. It’s still an honor to fight Rampage and beating him will be huge in many ways.

-Rampage asked about fighting younger, less experienced fighters. He thinks his experience is an advantage. Rampage wants to be the first to beat Jones. He feels confident that people are underestimating him. After he beats Jones, Jones will go on to be a better fighter because the pressure will be less.

-Rampage asked what Jones did to annoy him. Rampage said Jones was disrespectful and cocky at the initial press conference and that’s what made him mad. He says both Jones and Rashad started trash-talking first and that’s why he’s responded.

-Jones asked about that press conference. Jones says he doesn’t know what he did that was out of line. He says he wants someone to show him a quote where he was disrespectful. Rampage jumps in and says Jones was saying a lot of smart remarks. Can’t remember the exact quote.

-Rampage and Jones asked if they would caoach the first Ultimate Fighter on FX against Rashad. Rampage says no. He’s not even looking forward to fighting Rashad. Rashad let down the fans in their first fight. Rashad talked a lot of smack and didn’t back up. He doesn’t like coaching the Ultimate Fighter and wonders how the fighters get through it. Jones says he’s not focused on any other opponents other than Rampage.

-Jones asked if he’s ever had a verbal battle pre-fight before. Jones says the only other time was against Vera, with Vera saying Jones thinks he’s the second coming of Christ. Jones admits Vera got under his skin and it’s something he’s trying to work on.

-Jones asked if being angry makes him better. Jones thinks the anger makes him fight better because he prepares better. He knows every statement he makes he’ll have to back up. That’s why he doesn’t trash talk and just speaks the truth. Says he has no anger going into this fight. He will keep his composure.

-Rampage asked if Jones will be one of the greatest ever of if it’s too early to look at him that way. Rampage says Jones has skills but the only one he’s fought has been Shogun and Shogun was coming off an injury and was rusty. He’s not putting Jones on that level yet.

-Rampage asked why he thinks jones is fake. Rampage thinks a lot of people say it.  He says Jones has a good boy act in front of the cameras but he thinks his head’s getting big. He says it’s nothing personal but he likes for people to be real all the time. He says Jones is humble in front of the cameras but cocky in person.

-Kos asked about saying his eye injury being as painful losing a toe. Kos tells the story about cutting his toe off with a hatchet as a child and that his orbital bone injury was more painful then that. Kos credits pain pills and morphine for getting him through the pain from the orbital bone injury. Kos says it made him work on head movement more to not get punched in the face as much.

-Kos asked if he always knew he was coming back. Kos says of course. He saw the right doctors. Saw Dr. Maria Tribulus in Boston that works with the Patriots. Now he’s back and just has to prove he’s back.

This concludes the conference call and we are reminded to watch Jones and Rampage tonight on Jimmy Kimmel.

Today’s UFC 135 Pre-Fight Press Conference takes place at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado. The event will feature UFC president Dana White, headliners Jon Jones and Quinton Jackson, and co-headliners Josh Koscheck and Matt Hughes.

The video stream begins at 11am PT/2 p.m. ET (noon MT local time).

Japan has some of the richest traditions in combat sports. Between kickboxing and mixed martial arts alone countless unforgettable moments have taken place in the land of the rising sun.

During this series I will be documenting the history of the sport. When I left off last I spoke of the infamous match from 1954 where submission magician Helio Gracie received a taste of his own medicine, losing to Japanese Judoka Masahiko Kimura.

You have to understand that mixed martial arts wasn’t even close to being a sport, or even a term coined at this stage. Even in the early 1990’s it wasn’t known as MMA, being referred to as shoot-fighting or ultimate fighting.

It wasn’t until 1995 that Rick Blume, the president & CEO of the defunct organization Battlecade Extreme Fighting gave it that term.

As you can imagine, the only combat sport that mattered during this time was professional boxing – In the early shades of the 1960’s heavy-handed striker Sonny Liston was seemingly invincible following his back-to-back defeats of 1952 Olympic boxing champion Floyd Patterson.

That was until he met up with an arrogant, charismatic man named Cassius Clay, who would later go on to capture the imaginations of the world under the moniker Muhammed Ali.

Now I don’t feel I have to explain to anyone how important Muhammed Ali was to boxing, he could talk anyone into a building even if he was only going to fight a broomstick. He had the physical skills to back up what he was saying too.

Ironically enough, the next historic moment in the timeline features Ali facing off with legendary professional wrestling figure Antonio Inoki in what is considered the most embarrassing point in the career of the greatest heavyweight boxer of all-time.

When their boxer vs. wrestler match went down in 1976 Antonio Inoki was the biggest star in Japanese professional wrestling and was out to prove that wrestling was the greatest combat sport. A year prior he had defeated Olympic Judo Gold Medalist Willem Ruska to begin his claim and had arranged to fight karate black-belt Willie Williams by years end.

As I mentioned in the previous issue, professional wrestling wasn’t exposed like it is today at this point, especially in Japan where it was (and to an extent still is) treated as a legitimate sporting event.

At this time, Ali was at the highest peak of his stardom as he was merely a year removed from the infamous third encounter with recently deceased boxing icon Joe Frazier dubbed “The Thrilla in Manila.”

This bout arose due to a confrontation between Ali and Ichiro Hatta, the president of the Japanese Amateur Wrestling Association where the Hall-of-Famer bragged that “Isn’t there any Oriental fighter who will challenge me? I’ll give him one million dollars if he wins” which garnered world-wide headlines.

Inoki was quick to accept the challenge, offering him $6 million to come to face him on his home soil in Tokyo, Japan.

The fight was broadcast in 34 countries around the world to an estimated audience of 1.4 billion people who were left extremely disappointed. When all was said and done, the real losers were the fans.

Two days before the fight went down they announced several rule changes shortly after – The rule changes were absurd, including that Inoki cannot throw, grapple or tackle Ali to the mat and the one that had the most impact, the Japanese sensation was only able to kick if he had one knee on the mat.

For most of the fifteen rounds of action, Inoki was on his back kicking Ali over and over again because he was unwilling to strike with the social activist who threw less than a dozen punches during the fight.

When all was said and done the bout was declared a draw with Inoki being three-points up on the cards but was docked those points for fouls. This was a desperate attempt to have nobody lose face but nobody in the arena bought it who threw rubbish from the crowd chanting “Money back! Money back!”

A decade later the Shooto promotion that is still around to this day opened its doors for business – Shooto is the brain-child of Satoru Sayama, better known by professional wrestling persona Tiger Mask.

Sayama looked to create a sport that revolved around a fighting system that was dubbed “shooting” which is taken from the wrestling jargon handbook with a shoot-fight meaning a serious or real fight.

The first-ever amateur Shooto event was held in 1986 followed only three-years later by the first-ever “professional shooting” event. Although Sayama has not been a part of the organization since 1987 his original image has moved forward and has been the catalyst to success for some of Japan’s biggest stars.

To become an elitist in the Shooto circuit you first have to start cutting your teeth on the smaller events that take place all over Japan, winning regional tournaments beginning as a Class-D fighter in small gyms fighting for crumbs and working your way up to being a Class-A Shooter anointing you as an elite professional fighter.

This is a process that has groomed more notable names in the sport than I could list in three days with 16 pots of coffee.

Shooto were ahead of the curve in many regards, for instance the implementation of weigh-classes entered Shooto in the early shades of 1990 and putting a larger focus on the lighter weight classes – The organization only crowned one heavyweight champion in Enson Inoue who never defended it and with his departure lead to the dissolving of heavyweights in Shooto.

Beginning in 1990 they started crowning champions but due to limited exposure none of the early kings of the Shooto organization until the closing periods of the nineties when Hayato Sakurai, Caol Uno and Rumina Sato came to play.

One of the other organizations you can’t look past in the early history of the sport is Pancrase –Taking its name from Pankration, the Olympic sport from ancient Greece and MMA’s starting point it was one of the first promotions to produce legitimate well-rounded fighters.

Pancrase wasn’t technically a mixed martial arts organization to begin with, they only allowed open-hand strikes and kicks on the feet and on the floor it was straight grappling with no ground-strikes permitted.

Many have been quick to point out that Pancrase had pre-determined battles in the early stages of the organizations history but those who were there have been quick to deny this:

Guy Mezger, the former King of Pancrase and UFC tournament champion denied being a part of any scripted fights:

“There may have been some before I got there, but I never witnessed a worked match or suspected one” he said.

 In an odd turn of events it was the UFC that put Pancrase on the map when Shamrock famously entered the UFC 1 tournament in November of 1993 coming up short to Brazilian jiu-jitsu stylist Royce Gracie and sparking their rivalry that would culminate in their grudge-match at UFC 5.

Although the bout was officially ruled a draw due to the fight going to the time limits and having no judges cage side it was clear to everyone who watched that Shamrock won the fight which would be Royce’s final UFC appearance until 2006.

To have success in Pancrase you had to be able to tough it out against some of the top names in the industry winning fight after fight to be anointed the King of Pancrase – This was an honor first given to Ken Shamrock who won the King of Pancrase in 1994 defeating four opponents in two-days.

In the mid-nineties Pancrase became a hotbed for mixed martial arts with every tape trader based in North America salivating at the thought of getting their grubby little mitts on Pancrase tapes, with this came elite martial artists from other disciplines joining the Pancrase ranks, most notably accomplished strikers Guy Mezger and Bas Rutten.

“I am not sure if our presences alone added too much other than making the talent pool increase,” Mezger said “Pancrase was very concerned with having the best fighters.  They invited many of the early UFC competitors as well as top level karate fighters, judo players and kickboxers. Bas and I just rose to the top” he stated.

In the first installment of this series which can be found here I talked about the beginnings of jiu-jitsu in Japan and Vale Tudo in Brazil – Since the 1952 Kimura vs. Gracie fight Vale Tudo had had its fair share of ups and downs.

The sport had issues being outlawed in several parts of Brazil down the line so when Vale Tudo had its second successful run under Carlson Gracie it never got the mainstream coverage because they took place in the Northeast of Brazil in small buildings and abandoned gyms.

In 1994 the Shooto organization linked with the legendary Gracie family to put on a Vale Tudo event on Japanese soil.

Although the Vale Tudo Japan series would eventually be a launching pad for Rumina Sato, Caol Uno, Hayato Sakurai and Takanori Gomi, early on it was just another showcase for Rickson Gracie who took back-to-back championships over less than superior talent, the second of which is documented in his documentary Choke.

In 1996 they dropped the tournament concept and put on Vale Tudo rules contests year-by-year using talent that had worked their way through the Shooto ranks as well as established names like Dan Severn, Royler Gracie and Enson Inoue joining in.

VTJ might be tapes that reside only on the shelves of MMA elitists, but it was the most high-profile tournament of its kind at this point.  While Shooto and Pancrase were grooming our future stars they didn’t draw the eyeballs that Rickson did in his return to Japan.

One of the forgotten cornerstones in the history of MMA is RINGS – Now when most fight fans hear about RINGS they think of the birth-place of former pound-for-pound star Fedor Emelianenko but he wasn’t the only one to get their start in RINGS.

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Dan Henderson, Ricardo Arona, Matt Hughes, “Babalu” Sobral, Alistair Overeem. These are just a few of the most prominent fighters in the sports history that cut their teeth in RINGS before making it to the big shows.

Fighting Network Rings was originally founded in 1991 by long-time New Japan Pro Wrestling drawing card Akira Maeda as a strong-style puroresu (Japanese pro wrestling) organization that presented realistic wrestling matches that blurred the lines between what was real and fake, much as UWF-International would do later.

They morphed into an MMA organization in 1995 following the success of Pancrase but it took them years to shake the image of being a puroresu organization.

Early on the promotion ran events between their offices in Japan and Holland with their biggest stars at the time being Kiyoshi Tamura and RINGS founder Akira Maeda; I will touch on RINGS more as this goes on in the early shades of the 21^st century when they were most relevant.

Are you still reading along? Congratulations! I’ll conclude this marathon installment here, next time I’ll take a look at the inception of Pride Fighting Championships and their formative years.

• RELATED POSTS - History of MMA in Japan Part II: Inoki vs. Ali & JMMAs formative years

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The cancellation of UFC 151 and Jon Jones’ refusal to fight is still the hot topic among MMA fans everywhere. Jones turned down a short notice fight with Chael Sonnen that would have saved the event, citing lack of preparation time. The stance has polarized fans and fighters alike, with some saying that asking Jones to fight a new opponent on such short notice was unreasonable. Others have said that Jones disrespected the fans and the sport by refusing to fight and forcing the UFC’s first cancellation.

The irony here is that Jones himself was given the fortune of a short-notice fight against a champion, as his fight with Shogun Rua only came about due to an injury to Rashad Evans.

While Jones declined to step up, there are headliners that have agreed to switch opponents on short notice. These fighters decided that despite less than optimal preparation time,they would rather fight and give the fans their money’s worth, as well as picking up a cheque themselves that evening.

Tito Ortiz: UFC 50 vs. Patrick Cote

UFC 50 was to be a continuation of the feud between Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock’s Lions Den. The card was to be headlined by a trilogy fight between Ortiz and Guy Mezger. But Mezger had to pull out of the fight during fight week after being hospitalized with stroke-like symptoms. THE UFC scrambled for a replacement opponent and decided to go with then-unknown Patrick Cote, who was to make his UFC debut on the undercard. Despite only having four days notice, Ortiz agreed to the fight. Cote made a good accounting of himself, even dropping Ortiz in the first round with a punch. But Ortiz recovered and was able to use his superior wrestling to outlast Cote en route to a unanimous decision victory.

Wanderlei Silva: Pride Shockwave 2004 vs. Mark Hunt

Pride Shockwave 2004 was to have featured a double main event, with Fedor Emelianenko rematching Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, and Wanderlei Silva facing off against Kazushi Sakuraba for a fourth time. Ferdor-Nog went off without a hitch, but just two days before the event, Sakuraba had to pull out with an injury. Pride matchmakers inserted the 280 pound “Super Samoan” Mark Hunt into the equation, and Silva agreed despite his new opponent having a completely different style and weighing 130 pounds more than the one he was preparing for. The fight saw Hunt eke out a controversial split decision victory that is disputed to this day, and perhaps just as importantly, debuted the “Atomic Butt Drop”.

Matt Hughes: UFC 56 vs. Joe Riggs

UFC 56 was to be the culmination of The Ultimate Fighter Season 2, with both coaches, Rich Franklin and Matt Hughes respectively, defending their titles at the event. But when original challenger Karo Parisyan suffered a hamstring injury leading up to the fight, the UFC asked Hughes to fight Joe Riggs, who ironically was training with Hughes at the Miletich Fighting Systems camp at the time. Riggs jumped at the chance and the champion Hughes agreed, but the decision proved to be a poor one for Riggs. He was shown the door by MFS, missed weight for the fight, thus causing the fight to be switched to a non-title affair and was submitted in the first round.

Hughes has also stepped up on other occasions on short-notice, fighting GSP in their trilogy fight after Matt Serra was injured preparing to face Hughes, and taking on Thiago Alves at UFC 85 in a card-saver when just about everyone else of name value on the show dropped out due to injury.

Rich Franklin: vs. Wanderlei Silva UFC 147

UFC 147 looked like it was going to be a PPV disaster when it became known that Silva’s original opponent Vitor Belfort had to withdraw from the fight with a hand injury. Franklin was preparing for a later fight with Cung Le, but agreed to rematch the dangerous Silva to keep the card alive. The two put on a great sequel to their UFC 99 bout, with Franklin taking a unanimous decision in the end.

Franklin also stepped up on short notice to fight Chuck Liddell at UFC 115 when Tito Ortiz’s neck problems forced him to withdraw from a planned trilogy fight with Liddell. Franklin’s willingness to fight kept the UFC with a viable main event for their Vancouver debut and his first-round TKO of Liddell signaled the end of the line for “The Iceman”.

Lennox Lewis: vs. Vitali Klitschko

Ok, so it’s not MMA. But you have to admire Lewis for taking this fight on ten days notice when original challenger Kirk Johnson was injured. Rather than cancel the event, Lewis took a much tougher fight and a fight that proved to be the final chapter in his illustrious career. Klitschko and Lewis battered each other for six rounds, with many thinking that Klitschko was ahead on the scorecards against the champion. But a nasty cut above Klitschko’s eye impeded his vision and his face eventually required 60 stitches. The cut caused the fight to be stopped, sending Lewis off into retirement on a winning note.

Whether you support Jon Jones’ decision or not, there is precedent for headliners taking fights on very short notice, and in the case of a guy like Lennox Lewis, people with much larger bank accounts and much more to lose.

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We are a few weeks into the new season of The Ultimate Fighter and it got me thinking – one of the focal points of every season always seems to be the coaches (except when Kimbo Slice was a contestant, of course). Since most of the fighters are either up-and-comers or veterans stuck in the local circuits with the exception of season 4, I can understand why that is the case especially when it comes to the casual fan. As for the coaches, many fans base their perception of the coaches’ ability on their profile as a fighter and not so much on their actual ability to coach. We know from history that the best player in the sport does not necessarily make the best coach. Wayne Gretzky, Diego Maradona, Isiah Thomas, and Ted Williams just to name a few. From a student’s perspective, it is an exciting feeling to know that you will be coached by a mentor or someone with a successful profile as you will try to mimic their success. With that said, let’s take a look some of the highest profile coaches when they were on TUF.

5 – Georges “Rush” St. Pierre

GSP first guest coached on the 4th season as #1 contender opposite to then welterweight champ, Matt Hughes but this was just the beginning. He would go on to take the belt from Hughes and defend it 4 times before making his head coaching debut on TUF season 12 as the welterweight champ. By this time, he has established himself as one of the most well rounded fighter, biggest PPV seller, dominant champion, face of MMA globally and a future hall of famer.

4 – Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira

Minotauro was one of the biggest names to come from Pride Fighting Championship to the UFC. After defeatingTop 5 Highest Profile TUF Coaches

Tim Silvia for the Interim Heavyweight belt, he was summoned to head coach in TUF season 8 against his next challenger, Frank Mir. Other than being a current UFC champ at that time, his resume also included two-time Pride Heavyweight champ as well as a successful history of submission grappling at Brazillian and Pan-American grappling tournaments. Moving forward to the inaugural TUF Brazil, Big Nog was invited to the show as a guest coach. Given his background, anyone would be excited to train with him but since it was in Brazil, his presence on the show was even bigger.

3 – Matt Hughes

In TUF season 2, which was the only season that had coaches from two different weight classes and had coaches that would not face each other at the conclusion of the show, Matt Hughes was a head coach that carried a status of current Welterweight champ. He would go on to carry that same profile into season 4 as guest coach. Aside from being two-time UFC champ, he was also known for his extensive history in NCAA amateur wrestling having been on the All-American team twice. In season 6, he was, once again, a head coach but this time as the #1 contender for Matt Serra’s Welterweight belt. Hughes would go on to make one more appearance as guest coach for his good friend, Brock Lesnar, in season 13. By this time, he was a UFC Hall of Famer and a record holder of the most wins in the UFC.

2 – Chuck “the Iceman” Liddell

When the UFC started with TUF, it was a complete new venture and they knew they had to pull all the punches so they needed a couple of high profile head coaches. One of those was Chuck Liddell who coached the season as the #1 contender to the Light Heavyweight title. Prior to the UFC, Liddell had a successful kickboxing career in the IKF, WKA and USMTA where he won championships for each of those associations. He returned to TUF season 4 as a guest coach and the Light Heavyweight champ at that time having defended his title 3 times in devastating fashion. In his last stint as head coach on TUF season 11, not only was he a revolutionary fighter who used his wrestling to keep the fight standing to knock his opponents senseless but a Hall of Famer as well. He is also credited with bringing MMA into the mainstream of American sports and pop culture.

1 – Randy “The Natural” Couture

As mentioned above, in the first TUF season, the UFC needed high profile head coaches and one of the biggest stars in the sport at that time was then Light Heavyweight champ, Randy Couture. By then, his resume was unmatched. He was the UFC 13 Heavyweight Tournament winner, two-time Heavyweight champ, and two-time Light Heavyweight champ. On top of that, he had a successful record in NCAA collegiate wrestling and Greco-Roman wrestling. During his brief retirement, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame and would make a guest coaching appearance on TUF season 4. Couture would return to competition and defeat Tim Silvia to re-capture the Heavyweight title for the third time. Soon after, he would make another guest coaching appearance on TUF season 5 on Team Penn. Like Liddell, he was also credited with bringing the spotlight to MMA.

Honorable Mentions: Rich “Ace” Franklin, Tito “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” Ortiz, Wanderlei “The Ax Murderer” Silva

Last week, Matt Hughes revealed that he may have fought his last MMA fight. While he didn’t have a big fancy press conference to officially announce his retirement, he admitted that he is currently “fully retired” in an interview with Iowa Daily Gate. That should come as no surprise as he was knocked out in his last two fights and he hasn’t been in competition for over a year now. He also mentions that he is financially stable and only trains part time. Whether or not he stays retired, he will go down as one of the greatest welterweights of all time. Here are my top five picks for the greatest Matt Hughes fights.

5. UFC 60 – Hughes vs Gracie
This was a fight set up between the dominant welterweight champ against the BJJ legend in a non-title catch-weight (175 lb) bout. Many wondered how Hughes’ superior wrestling would fair against Gracie’s legendary submission game. Well, as it turns out, the strength of Hughes was the difference maker as he was able to completely control Gracie’s position. In fact, he was very close to submitting the Brazillian legend with an arm lock. Eventually, Hughes would give up on the hold and proceed to ground-and-pound his way to a TKO victory. His dominant win over the Hall of Fame legend was marked as a “passing of the guard”.

4. UFC 50 – Hughes vs GSP
With a contract dispute between BJ Penn and the UFC, the welterweight title was vacated setting up a title fight between Hughes and Georges St. Pierre. This was a classic matchup between a dynamic striker against a superior wrestler. GSP would hurt Hughes with a spinning back kick but Hughes would resort to his grappling game with takedowns and slams. While on the ground, Hughes would go on to submit the Canadian via arm bar with one second left in the first round and win the vacated title along with the Submission of the Night bonus. The significance of this fight was Hughes cementing his status as an elite welterweight and delaying the evitable rise of the up-and-coming GSP.

3. UFC 63 – Hughes vs Penn
With GSP injured, Penn was slotted into the contender spot against the champ, Matt Hughes. This was the second time the two would face each other. Coming into the fight, Penn was only the only fighter to beat Hughes in his last 19 bouts. In the fight, Penn looked to have won the first two rounds but looked a shell of his normal self in the third round due to a rib injury and exhaustion. Hughes would take advantage of the opportunity by putting Penn in the mounted crucifix and feed him a load of uncontested punches to the head. Unable to escape, the ref would stop the bout and Hughes would complete the comeback win. Aside from retaining his belt and winning the Fight of the Night bonus, Hughes became the first fighter to stop Penn in a bout.

2. UFC 34 – Hughes vs Newton
In his first welterweight title fight, Hughes was set to fight then title holder, Carlos Newton. In dramatic come-from-behind fashion, Hughes won the belt with one of the greatest KO slams in MMA history. Newton had locked on a tight triangle on Hughes but he used his strength to lift Newton up in the air and put him against the top of the cage. With his last ouch of strength before getting choked out, he slammed Newton on his head and knocking him out cold in the process. This fight not only showcased his strength but also his resilience which has become one of his greatest traits.

1. UFC 52 – Hughes vs Trigg
Speaking of come-from-behind wins, this one may be one of the craziest of all time. After defeating GSP and regaining his title, his first title defense was against Frank Trigg. After Hughes got rocked by an undetected low blow, Trigg would advantageously follow up with vicious ground-and-pound and attempt a rear naked choke which was defended for almost two minutes. In what would be one of the greatest momentum shifting transitions ever, Hughes would escape the hold and pick Trigg up above his shoulder. Hughes could have slammed him down immediately but that wouldn’t be epic enough. Instead, he proceeded to carry him across the cage, slam him, throw in some ground-and-pound and then ended it with a rear naked choke of his own. To top it off, he would also win the Submission of the Night. The adversity from the low blow, the submission escape, the tide-changing slam, and using the same submission that he nearly fell victim to is why it is one of the most epic fights in history.

UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre has been highly criticized for playing it safe and not finishing fights many believe he can.

The champ has gone to the judges scorecards in nine of his 18 UFC bouts. His last four fights have gone to a decision and many critics are not only blaming St-Pierre himself, but pointing the finger at his coach, Greg Jackson.

Former Welterweight kingpin, Matt Hughes, was on The MMA Hour recently and he let his feelings be heard.

“My one criticism with Georges is I wish the guy would finish more people because I know he has the ability to. He’s the best guy I’ve ever fought. I just wish he would go out there and do that to everybody else the way he made me feel. I’m not being mean, I’m, just being very honest.”

Hughes is not the only person who feels that way, in fact, “Rush” himself does as well. In a recent interview with the New York Post he said that he wants to do better.

“I agree with the criticism. I want to do better. I want to give more entertainment to the fans. I’ve been training to jump more on opportunities that are open to me. I’m still gonna fight my fight, but I’m going to be more opportunistic.”

St-Pierre will look to start on November 17, as he faces the UFC Interim Welterweight Champion Carlos Condit at UFC 154.

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Matt Hughes finally put the speculation about his career to rest as he joined Dana White in announcing his retirement from active competition at the UFC on Fox pre-fight press conference. Hughes will now join Chuck Liddell as Zuffa-era stars who are transitioning to the front office, as White also announced that Hughes will serve as the UFC’s Vice President of Athlete Development and Governmental Relations.

Hughes gave a brief, terse announcement following White’s remarks. He later admitted that he “wasn’t happy” with retiring, but was looking forward to his new position as a mentor to fighters and administering the UFC’s new code of conduct.

One could tell just from looking at Hughes that he would be happier competing, but realizes that age catches up with us all and he just physically can’t do the things that made him the greatest UFC welterweight champion of all time and a UFC Hall of Fame inductee.

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From the days of being a Illinois farmboy who grew up to be a college All-American wrestler, Hughes seemed to thrive on competition. His first fight wasn’t much more that a favour to help out a friend, who paid him $100 for his winning efforts. After fighting (and winning) again at that same friend’s show, Hughes met up with renowned manager Monte Cox, who wanted to represent him. The rest, as they say, is history.

His first real taste of MMA came in the Extreme Challenge circuit, where he was introduced to the tournament format. After two impressive wins, including one over former UFC Middleweight champion Dave Menne, he was submitted in the finals by Dennis “Superman” Hallman. It wouldn’t be the last time that “Superman” would prove to be Hughes’ kryptonite.

In between racking up wins on the independent circuit, Hughes made two appearances in the UFC, debuting at UFC 22 where he defeated Valeri Ignatov, and UFC 26 where he stopped Marcelo Aguiar. It was then that the UFC brass offered him a rematch with Hallman and Hughes jumped at the opportunity. Hughes may have been too eager, as for the second time in his career he lost in less than 30 seconds, and it came against the same man. Hughes learned from the setbacks however, and worked harder on his submission game at the vaunted Miletich Fighting Systems in Iowa.

After regaining his footing with a seven fight winning streak that included three wins by submission, the UFC came calling once again. This time it was to take his coach and mentor Pat Miletich’s spot against the man who had dethroned him as Welterweight champion, the Canadian “Ronin”, Carlos Newton.

Hughes returned to the UFC focused and determined to take home the Welterweight title for his camp and his coach. The two battled back and forth for two rounds before the fight ended in one of the more controversial finishes in UFC history. Newton had Hughes caught in a triangle choke, which Hughes attempted to escape by carrying him over to and pressing him against the top of the cage. With his last breath, Hughes powered him down from the top of the fence with a slam so vicious it knocked Newton unconscious. It literally was Hughes’ last breath as he passed out from the triangle choke at that same moment. The referee ruled Hughes the winner and woke him up to declare a new Welterweight champion.

From there Hughes became an unstoppable force at Welterweight, rattling off five straight title defenses, including a more decisive victory over Carlos Newton, and a grudge match against Frank Trigg. MMA fans wondered if there was anyone who possessed the skills to dethrone the dominant champion and his vicious ground and pound offense.

The man to finally break Hughes’ streak was an unlikely opponent, former lightweight title contender BJ Penn. Hughes admitted later to taking Penn somewhat lightly due to his size, and was shocked along with the rest of the MMA world when Penn blasted Hughes with a right hand and followed up with a rear naked choke in the first round to defeat Hughes for the Welterweight title.

After Penn left the UFC due to a contract dispute, Zuffa again lined up Hughes to fight for the vacant title against Canadian welterweight sensation Georges St. Pierre. The young St. Pierre was clearly intimidated by fighting the veteran Hughes, and Hughes won the fight via first-round armbar, taking the Welterweight title back to MFS with him once again. But Hughes commended GSP for his effort, and said that the world hadn’t seen the last of him. He would be proven right, to his own detriment.

The first defense on Hughes’ docket was a rematch against Frank Trigg. The two shared an intense dislike for each other and the trash-talk before the fight was ratcheted up a notch. The two met at UFC 52 where Trigg took an early advantage due to a low-blow that went unseen by the referee and a rear-naked choke attempt. Hughes was able to regain control and in a moment that has been seen countless times on UFC highlights, carried Trigg all the way across the cage before slamming him. Hughes won with a rear naked choke of his own in the fight that was given “Fight of the Night” by the UFC and stole the thunder from the main event rematch between Randy Couture and Chuck Liddell. UFC 52 set an all-time pay-per-view record for the UFC at the time, coming off the heels of the debut season of “The Ultimate Fighter” on Spike TV.

With TUF becoming a smash, Hughes was asked to coach on the second season of the show opposite Middleweight champion Rich Franklin. It was there that many new and casual fans were exposed to Hughes for the first time, and either delighted in or were aggravated by his hyper-competitive nature. His attempts to get under the skin of Jorge Gurgel or loss of temper on Mike Whitehead either made fans laugh or liken Hughes to a sadistic drill instructor. Either way, people were watching. Hughes was even given the opportunity to star in a Xyience protein shake commercial, where he famously compared the product to his own country breakfast.

UFC chose to capitalize on Hughes’ growing fame by putting him against UFC legend, Hall of Famer and pioneer Royce Gracie. Gracie had actually asked for Hughes specifically, believing his family’s jiu-jitsu could overcome anything the American wrestler could throw at him. In the end, Hughes proved that his time was the present and Gracie’s was the past as Hughes mercilessly took the fight to Gracie and won by first round TKO. The card, UFC 60, again set an all-time pay-per-view record for the UFC.

A rematch with GSP was to be in the cards, but due to an injury to the French-Canadian, the fight was postponed. In the vacancy left by St. Pierre, in stepped BJ Penn who had returned to the UFC earlier in the year. Hughes was ecstatic to avenge his earlier loss, and did so in typical Hughes fashion. After absorbing an early onslaught by Penn, Hughes was able to take top position and lay a beating on the Hawaiian until the referee could take no more and waved off the contest. As the fight was stopped, Hughes pointed over to his corner and said “I told you”.

With GSP fully healed, the rematch was set for UFC 65. This time, intimidation was not a factor by St. Pierre and the man nicknamed ”Rush” attacked Hughes on every level, finishing the fight with a brutal head kick. Hughes’ second reign as UFC Welterweight champion had come to an end, but Hughes vowed to once again regain the title.

After Matt Serra shocked the MMA world by dethroning GSP, Zuffa decided to match the loud-mouthed Long Island native opposite Hughes on season 6 of TUF as rival coaches, with the two to clash in a Welterweight title bout after the show. The two grew a mutual dislike over the course of filming, and each man vowed to shut the mouth of the other come fight time. But an injury to Serra scratched the bout, and Hughes instead was to compete for the interim Welterweight title in a rubber match against Georges St. Pierre.

Hughes entered the third match-up confident, insinuating GSP was weak mentally and mocking his loss to Serra. But when push came to shove, GSP took the match with an armbar, the same move Hughes had used to defeat him three years prior.
After a follow-up TKO loss to Thiago Alves, the bloom appeared to be off of the Hughes rose, and some wondered if his best days were behind him. Hughes seemed to acknowledge this as well, as he vowed to take only fights that were “interesting” to him.

Hughes took time off after the Alves fight to treat knee and other nagging injuries and stepped back in the cage almost a year later to settle the grudge with Matt Serra. The two battled hard for three rounds but Hughes scored the decision victory. Post-fight, the two embraced in the cage and raised each other’s arm, squashing the beef for good.

Following two victories over Renzo Gracie and Ricardo Almeida that were impressive but ultimately lacked meaning, some speculated whether Hughes was on a “retirement tour” and whether the competitive fire inside had burnt out. Hughes attempted to answer those questions with a third fight against BJ Penn, who had been running amok in the lightweight division for the previous few years. The fight brought more questions than answers to the Hughes camp as BJ blitzed him and scored a KO in less than 30 seconds. When retirement questions loomed, Hughes vowed to re-evaluate and come back.

His final trip to the octagon saw him matched up with Josh Koscheck, a man who’s fighting style was compared to a prime Hughes. Koscheck was a late replacement for Diego Sanchez, who may have been a better match-up for Hughes stylistically. But being the competitor Hughes is, he accepted the change without complaint. Hughes kept Koscheck at bay with the jab early, but Koscheck landed a vicious right hand towards the end of the round that sent Hughes to the mat. Koscheck swarmed Hughes and just like that, the career of a legend was over.

Hughes refused to admit to anyone, even himself, that he was finished. Instead, his closing remark after the Koscheck fight was that he was going to ask UFC “to put him on the shelf” for the time being. The capacity crowd knew what he really meant, as did UFC President Dana White who indicated he was “90% sure” Hughes was done at the post-fight press conference. Certainly his wife knew, who had wanted him to retire for some time now. But for the man himself, surrounded by the men who brought him to the top of the MMA world, the words were too much to bear. Looking to his side and seeing longtime friends Robbie Lawler and Marc Fiore along with legendary trainer Pat Miletich, who re-joined Hughes after a six year absence in his corner, the memories of better days must have come flooding back.

Hughes never considered not fighting or asking for a different opponent. He has always been the definition of “company man” for the UFC. Dana White noted when making the Hughes announcement that Hughes had “never said no” to him. Even the Alves fight and subsequent loss was done as a favour to the UFC, who desperately needed him to step in on short notice when the card was ravaged by injuries and needed his star power. Beyond that, he even allowed Alves to come in overweight.

He always put the good of the sport above his own needs, a stark contrast to the situation UFC found itself in with Jon Jones and the cancellation of UFC 151. It’s no coincidence that someone with Hughes’ attitude towards the sport is now being asked to mentor younger fighters, as he always lead by example as an active competitor. Having an experienced voice like Hughes in Jones’ ear may have been able to save UFC 151, and will certainly add a voice of reason the next time a similar situation occurs.

Matt Hughes leaves the sport holding the record for most wins inside the UFC with 15. He is second only to Tito Ortiz for the most fights under the UFC banner (25), and is tied with St. Pierre for most welterweight title defenses (7). He has crossed over into mainstream notoriety with his TUF appearances, his autobiography “Made In America”, and his hunting show on the Outdoor network. One hopes he adapts as well to his executive position as he did to the cage. His legacy is built upon his devotion to competition and he proved one thing to us all; as his entrance music says: “a country boy can survive”.

So the format has changed, but Musing is back. Instead of three rounds it will be one central thought that you could digest with a nice cup of coffee. Enjoy, comment, share and discuss.

You have probably heard Joe Rogan on UFC telecasts go off when a fighter gets his eyes poked by his opponent. Eye pokes have become a rather common occurrence and it’s always followed by Rogan going on and on about how the UFC should change up the style of gloves they use. UFC Hall of Famer Matt Hughes who is now UFC Vice President of Athletic Development and Government Relations, recently went on record and said the following, “I don’t see how you can blame it on the gloves,” said Hughes. “It comes down to the fighters making mistakes with their hands.”

You have to love Hughes farm boy, simplistic way of thinking. The issue is that there seems to be a lot of fighters making mistakes with their hands, so why wouldn’t the UFC want to protect their assets (fighters) from serious injury? All you have to do is look at what happened at UFC 159 and Alan Belcher’s career to know how devastating eye pokes can be to a PPV card and one’s career.

I suppose the answer isn’t that easy to come by. I always wondered what kind of glove one could use that would stop eye pokes from happening but also allow a fighter to grapple properly. Many have suggested the old PRIDE FC gloves. Although I don’t know if it is the answer, it is a start in the right direction. Have a look at the picture.

The fingers were rounded with all four fingers being connected with a loose thumb. There never seemed to be a problem for PRIDE fighters to grab onto their opponent’s limbs to slap on submissions.

Every sport evolves and even boxing had to change the style of their gloves. In the 1970′s and 80′s boxing used an Everlast glove that had a thumb piece that looked like a lobster claw. That thumb piece struck many boxers in the eyes and eventually the sport had to change over to the current style of glove they are using now.

The PRIDE gloves might not be the long term solution, but maybe it’s time to change over until something better comes along. Although Rogan feels that there is something that “science” could create that would be a better alternative to what the UFC is currently using, maybe the answer has always been right in front of our eyes.

What do you think? What are your solutions?

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You can listen to Trevor on MMASucka Radio heard weekly on MMASucka.com. Follow him on Twitter @tdueckMMA

Early in September former UFC lightweight champion Sean Sherk announced his official retirement from the sport of mixed martial arts. It didn’t take much thought for Sherk to make that decision.

It just came down to injuries, they just kept piling up, the old ones won’t go away and new ones are popping up and I just figured I wouldn’t get back in the cage if I wasn’t anywhere near 100%.

2001

Sherk (36-4-1) made his debut with the big show at UFC 30, where he picked up his 11th straight victory against Tiki Ghosn. Unfortunately for “The Muscle Shark” he fought his next six fights outside the Octagon due to the fact that the organization wasn’t holding as many events back then.

The UFC was a goal of mine from the time I got in to MMA because the whole reason I got in to the sport was because I watched the UFC. I was a fan. I watched UFC 2 and I knew who all those guys were. I knew their stats and where they were from and their styles. I was a huge fan of the sport. So for me to actually walk in to the Octagon and fight for the UFC was a dream come true and I just knew that was what I wanted. I wanted to spend the rest of my career there but unfortunately the UFC cut me after the first fight. It wasn’t because I lost or it was a boring fight it was because they were doing only 2/3 shows a year at that time and they didn’t have room for me and they had Matt Hughes who was a mirror image of me and he had already had 3/4 fights before my debut. So back to the smaller organizations for me.

2003

He made his return to the organization in 2002 and after a three-fight winning streak under the UFC banner, he earned a welterweight title shot against divisional leader Matt Hughes. At the time Hughes had defended the belt three times and wound up beating Sherk via unanimous decision to retain the title.

Hughes was ranked pound for pound number one in the world, he was the number one guy in my weight class, he was the champion and he was basically considered unbeatable at that time. I don’t think anyone came close to him in that era. I had a 4 month training camp for that fight and if he was going to beat me he was going to beat me because he was better than me – not because of conditioning or technique. Or anything like that. I trained my ass off and I was in the best shape of my life. We went to war – I wish that fight had of been on the feet a little longer as that was the fight I trained for. We trained for that and he used it to his advantage and took me down. After the second round my corner said “no more boxing”, so I started to wrestle and that is when the fight became more competitive. He was a great champion and it was a honor to step in the cage with him.

2004

After the loss to Hughes, Sherk was released from the UFC. After back-to-back wins, Sherk decided to make the trek across the pond to Japan to fight for the world famous PRIDE FC organization at PRIDE Bushido 2. This was a one-fight deal, but definitely stood out in Sherk’s mind.

I wish I had more chances to fight over there. PRIDE was the biggest promotion in the world at that point and back then the fighters were hot like they are now in the UFC. Sapp and Shamrock were huge stars doing TV endorsement deals and I had never seen that before so it was phenomenal.  So walking down the street people knew who we were and were given us presents and I was like “holy heck” because in America they were calling us brutal! They called it cockfighting and it was looked down on but you come over to Japan and you are a superstar. It was cool and fighting in front of 20,000 Japanese fans was great, they are so quiet. I could hear my cornermen. Unfortunately I didn’t go back. I had a great fight over there and beat one of their guys and after the fight they offered me another fight but the money was really bad and they wanted it exclusive. I had a kid at that point and a house with a lot of bills so it didn’t make sense. I turned it down and that was the end of that.

2005

After fighting in Japan he went on to fight for a number of regional promotions and after winning twelve fights in a row he earned his way back to the promotion. In his return bout he took on the current welterweight kingpin, Georges St-Pierre. “Rush” had won two in a row against Jason Miller and Frank Trigg, but was nowhere near the phenom he is today.

I knew at that time that he (GSP) was a big deal, the guy was undefeated and he was just manhandling everybody and he was beating everyone. I knew he was good so I knew it was a tough fight. He was number 2 in the world and I was number 3 or 4 so we were close in rankings but I had a lot more experience than him. I went in there and had a good training camp, wasn’t injured and he just was the better fighter you know. He was 2 or 3 moves ahead of me and his game plan was phenomenal and he did real well in the stand up. I always  felt when I started to get competitive on the feet he would shoot and take me down  and it really threw me off.

2006

Following the loss to St-Pierre he went on to defeat Nick Diaz and earned himself a shot at the vacant lightweight championship. In one of the bloodiest bouts in the history of the Octagon, Sherk won the lightweight title against Kenny Florian.

I had a lot of adversity going in to that fight, I tore my shoulder before that fight but there was no way I was pulling out of that fight with a shoulder injury. Not when I had a chance for a  world title. I fought that fight with a tore shoulder but they cancelled the fight as they found out I had a torn shoulder – someone snitched on me – I had to convince them I was okay. They let me fight, I got a real bad cut above my eyebrow and forehead and their was blood everywhere. Blood was everywhere it reminds me of oil  it is slippy so it really affected my ground game it was hard to hold on to Kenny and hard for me to see. He couldn’t see as blood was falling on to him and I could hear him complaining to the referee that he couldn’t see. The referee was asking him he wanted to quit and he said no so we had to fight it out. My comments on that are if you don’t want to swim in someone else’s blood don’t get inside the Octagon. But that was some bad stuff!

2008

After winning the vacant lightweight championship against Florian and defending it against Hermes Franca. One of the most heated rivalries of his career came in his next bout against B.J. Penn at UFC 84. The two fighters had an honest distain for each other and it showed in the moments leading up to the fight.

That was the first time I fought somebody where I really disliked them. I think that was part of his game-plan to get in to my head and he eat me up and make me angry. I think BJ is the kind of guy who fights better angry whereas me, I had never hated an opponent before. I don’t look at it personal, I just want to get in there and win and that is what drives me. That fight we didn’t like each other. I wanted to hurt him and all the smack talk got to me and about a month before the fight the game-plan went out the window and I decided I wanted to box him and I just want to hit him in the mouth and shut him up. So yeah, BJ outboxed me and outpointed me. I threw twice as many punches as he did  but his movement and his accuracy is what really got to me in that one. My punches were an inch off and were just missing by a little bit and all of his were right on the money on the jaw the eyes and if you saw what my face looked like after the fight you could tell. His accuracy was on the money. Was a great fight and after the fight we shook hands and ever since then we have been cool.

The 40-year old has fought in professional MMA since 1999; he has fought all over the world for numerous different fight promotions and he has held the highest title of them all – the UFC championship. He went out on a high, winning his final bout against Evan Dunham at UFC 119 in 2010. Were there any regrets in the ten-plus year career? Sherk says, “no regrets at all.”

No regrets at all. I set out to be a professional fighter and be one of the best in the world and I wanted to fight for a UFC title and win a UFC title and I accomplished all of those things. And to be a part of an industry like this where when I started it wasn’t cool. We had to go fight in Casinos as state law didnt work there. There was no money in it, I had a full-time job for my first 15 pro fights. I did it because I loved it and I fought all the way up to my last fight because I love the sport. From grassroots to the mainstream.

In the future, the Minnesota native would love to stay active in the sport, but as a coach of some sorts. He also has a couple other hobbies that he has been dabbling in as well.

 I would like to coach and become one of the TV analysts on Fox I think something like that would be fun. To help out up-and-coming fighters with seminars would be fun. Besides that I have two businesses I own, Training Mask is one of them and I am house-flipping. Training mask has been going for two years and I have been flipping houses now for 9 months. It is something I can do until I am 70.

In the end Sherk had a very illustrious career with a 36-4-1 record, winning UFC gold and being able to fight in the sport he loved.

The above quotes were from Sucka Radio the official podcast of MMASucka.com and MMAOpinion.co.uk

Today is the 20 year anniversary of the UFC, so it feels only appropriate to do one more list. A few weeks ago, I wrote an article based on the greatest upsets in UFC history. I’ve always enjoyed writing about topics that people tend to forget. There were some upsets that people had forgotten about. Most MMA fans remember knockouts and how brutal they were. What they tend to forget are submissions that aren’t shown on every pay-per-view video package.

Submissions always tend to be under appreciated, especially if you look at the video package before every pay-per-view. They show mostly knockouts and slams, which is unfortunate. With so many Jiu-Jitsu practitioners who watch every pay-per-view, you’d think they give some more appreciation. That’s just a minor complaint; let’s get onto the list. Once again, this is an UFC only list. Fabricio Werdum’s triangle choke on Fedor Emelianeko won’t be on the list, as great as it was. Even though UFC bought out Strikeforce, that fight was under the Strikeforce banner.

10. UFC Fight Night: Florian vs. Lauzon- Nate Diaz vs. Kurt Pellegrino

Nate Diaz was just coming up in the UFC, after winning season five of “The Ultimate Fighter”.  After clamoring for a tougher opponent, they gave him Kurt Pellegrino who was also a black belt in BJJ. Pellegrino was all over him in the first round and it seemed like it was only a matter of time before he was going to finish Diaz. After spending most of the fight on his back, Diaz started to look for different submissions to threaten Pellegrino and to get better positioning.

He managed to pull off a sweep on Pellegrino and then landed a few punches. Pellegrino held onto Diaz’s left leg and threw him down for another slam. Similar to Stefan Struve holding onto Pat Barry in the triangle choke position, Diaz held on for a guillotine despite being slammed. The difference from the Struve-Barry fight was that Diaz transitioned the guillotine into a triangle choke after he didn’t have enough leverage. There was no escaping the triangle choke. It tends to be forgotten about, but it was incredible how Diaz managed to submit someone as accomplished as Pellegrino after being slammed. Who could also forget Diaz flexing and taunting, before Pellegrino even tapped? Sounds just like a vintage Diaz brother moment.

9. UFC 46: B.J Penn vs. Matt Hughes

Some people may find this too low since it was such a major upset. The reason why it ‘s not that high was because BJ Penn managed to pull that submission rather easily. He was in top control and seemed to be landing good punches against Matt Hughes. After taking a few punches, Hughes went for a transition and ended up giving his back. For some reason, he raised his neck and stretched his arms out rather than protecting it for a potential rear-naked choke. He got caught instantly, after Penn landed a few punches to divert Hughes’ attention away from defending the potential rear naked choke. Penn made him tap within seconds.

The choke couldn’t have been more basic, when you look at how Benn set it up. It was such a monumental upset though, which is why it had to be on the list. Hughes was on such a dominant streak as the welterweight champion. Nobody saw him losing, let alone being submitted in the first round. This was one of the many fights that shows why BJ Penn is not only a Hall Of Famer, but one of the most respected fighters to ever step foot in the octagon.

8. UFC 117: Matt Hughes vs. Ricardo Almeida

The last win in the legendary career of Matt Hughes couldn’t have ended gone better. Hughes showed off his improved striking by landing a vicious left hook that dropped Ricardo Almeida. Nobody could ever imagine Hughes submitting the third degree BJJ black belt, who was one of Renzo Gracie’s top students. When Hughes grabbed onto Almeida’s neck, it seemed like he was going to attempt a guillotine. Then he never cranked his body back, which made me believe this he may have tried to set up a d’arce choke. It was hard to understand what was truly going on.

Then the camera zooms in and you see Almeida start to fade away. Once Hughes elevated his knees off the mat, it led to more pressure and Almeida went to sleep. It turned out to be called the “David Schultz front headlock”. Besides Frank Mir’s submission over Pete Williams known as the “Mir lock”, I’ve never seen a submission that I had to do actual research on to find out what it truly is. The fact that he pulled it off against Almeida was even more extraordinary to witness. I’m still not sure why this submission doesn’t get more praise. Almeida wasn’t a big star in the UFC, but his grappling and submission credentials are phenomenal.

7. UFC 95: Demian Maia vs. Chael Sonnen

Demian Maia has one of the best ground games in MMA today. The reason why he’s such a tough opponent for anyone is not only his BJJ, but also his grappling ability. He’s beaten Gabriel Gonzaga before in a grappling contest, which is absolutely ridiculous to think about considering Gonzaga is a heavyweight. Now looking back on it, maybe people shouldn’t have been completely shocked that Maia tossed Chael Sonnen over his head for a lateral drop takedown.

That being said, Sonnen rarely gets taken down being a high-level wrestler. Maia ends up having full mount, before setting up a triangle choke. Most fighters would take advantage of full mount and pound their opponents, until the ref stops the fight. He’s so confident in his ground game that he doesn’t hesitate to go on his back and attempt a triangle choke. The transition couldn’t have been smoother and Sonnen had no choice to tap. Only Jon Jones has manhandled Sonnen in such dominant fashion.  That’s what makes this submission even more remarkable. I’m not sure if will ever see a fighter transition from full mount to a triangle choke ever again.

6. UFC 140: Jon Jones vs. Lyoto Machida

A standing guillotine is one of the most difficult submissions to pull off. You rarely see it, due to fighters constantly worrying about getting caught by a quick counter strike. Jon Jones was in perfect position to go for it, after landing a huge elbow earlier in the second round. Everyone knows Jones has the most devastating elbows from top position in MMA. Machida never truly recovered, as he was bleeding profusely for the rest of the fight. Then Jones landed a straight left counter to knock Machida down for a moment, before pushing him against the cage to set up the standing guillotine.

Machida had never been submitted before, so it was a massive achievement for Jones to be the first fighter to do it. For it to come from a standing guillotine was even more shocking. He used his strength advantage to control Machida against the cage, before dropping him unconscious on the ground. This is one submission that will always gets played over and over again. The way Machida collapsed to the ground was one of the most dramatic finishes in UFC history. It was such a gratifying moment for Jones and it was the moment, where people were starting to believe the hype.

5. UFC 52: Matt Hughes vs. Frank Trigg

In one of the most controversial fights in history, Matt Hughes once again makes this list. I’m still flabbergasted how Mario Yamasaki didn’t see Frank Trigg clearly kicking Hughes in the groin. In such a big title fight, you can’t miss things like that. Thankfully for his sake, Hughes managed to recover and escape Trigg’s onslaught. Then he had to escape the rear-naked choke, which he somehow slipped out of it.

How he managed to recover and pick Trigg up for the most memorable slam in UFC history was unbelievable. You’ll never see such a miraculous change in a two minute span of a fight like that ever again. Hughes went from being rocked and nearly submitted to running across the cage to slam Trigg. After taking some vicious elbows from the bottom, Trigg had to give up his back to protect himself from taking any more damage. That led to Hughes finishing him off with the rear-naked choke, which was even more surreal. He finished the fight with the same choke that he nearly lost to a few minutes beforehand. For him to come back in the fight like that and to win in such a definitive fashion, that will always be an unforgettable submission.

4. UFC Fight Night: Nogueira vs. Davis- Chan Sung Jung vs. Leonard Garcia

Many people believed that Chan Sung Jung beat Leonard Garcia in their first bout in the WEC. This was the long awaited rematch for Sung Jung to prove that he was the better fighter. Sung Jung took control of Garcia’s back and wrapped both of his legs around Garcia’s left leg, so it would be difficult for him to escape the hold. Similar to what Penn did to Hughes, he hit Garcia a few times just to divert his attention. What he did differently from Penn was that he used elbows rather than punches, which made it easier for him to take control of Garcia’s right arm. This leads to Garcia breathing heavily and not defending properly.

Sung Jung has control of his right arm and puts his head behind the arm to set up the twister. He turns Garcia’s entire body to his side, where Garcia’s head is being crushed into his chest. Garcia tapped with just one-second left, which made the finish even more jaw dropping. It was the first time ever in UFC history that someone won a fight by using the twister. It’s such a unique submission, but nearly impossible to pull off due to how much work you have to put into positioning to even attempt it. The fact that Sung Jung is only a blue belt goes to show you that belts don’t always mean everything. He is clearly one of the top featherweights in the world in all aspects of fighting, especially on the ground.

3. UFC 48: Frank Mir vs. Tim Sylvia

It was only a matter of time before Frank Mir was going to be mentioned. If Brock Lesnar were more experienced, I would have put Mir’s knee bar in the top ten. As impressive as that was, Lesnar was still relatively inexperienced and set himself up in that fight. Mir still has plenty of devastating submissions on his resume and nobody will ever forget him breaking Tim Sylvia’s right forearm. Sylvia was 16-0 at the time, while Mir was a heavy underdog and people believed he wasn’t going to be able to withstand Sylvia’s power in the heavyweight title fight.

He put the skeptics to sleep by breaking Sylvia’s arm in four different places. It was reported that Sylvia’s radius bone was snapped about three inches below his elbow. To this day, it’s considered to be one of the most gruesome injuries in UFC history. You can also call this one of the greatest submissions in UFC history. This submission is a prime example of why fighters need to tap, if the submission doesn’t involve a choke. Every limb and bone in your body is important and if you aren’t smart enough to tap, then a limb will tear or bone will break and it’ll take at least six months to recover.

2. UFC 117: Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen

In terms of crowd reactions, the finish to this fight had one of the biggest reactions in UFC history. Chael Sonnen is far from being considered a powerful striker, but when you land 289 strikes you should finish the fight (not to mention while being under performance enhancing drugs). How Anderson Silva managed to take 289 strikes and still submit Sonnen is one of the prime examples why he’s the greatest fighter of all time. When you push him to fight, he will end the fight in an instant on most occasions.

It was obvious that Sonnen got reckless and shouldn’t have continued to throw the same repetitive punches. He fought a perfect fight for 23 minutes, but you can’t rest against Silva. Sonnen needed to continue to look for different ways to try to finish him off. Instead he stayed in Silva’s guard and paid the price for it. Silva pulled off a remarkable triangle arm bar, which is another rare submission. His comeback will forever be the greatest comeback in UFC history and this will always be among the greatest submissions in UFC history. If you don’t have this in your top three of all time, then you need to re-watch the fight immediately.

1. UFC 140: Frank Mir vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

This shouldn’t spark any debate. Nobody could have ever imagined the great Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira being submitted, let alone being submitted to someone that was rocked. He could have very well won the fight, if he continued to punch Frank Mir. Instead he wanted to make a statement and it cost him ten months of his career. Similar to Mir’s win over Sylvia, this fight is another prime example of why fighters need to tap rather than not tapping because of pride. There is no shame in tapping. Nogueira tried to go for the guillotine, but Mir reversed it perfectly and ended up in top position.

He tried to get Mir’s back to escape from the bottom like he’s done several times in the past. Once again, Mir defended it perfectly and got into side control by keeping his right leg over Nogueira’s body to set up the kimura. As someone who publicly said he idolized Nogueira, you could see Mir knew almost all of Nogueira’s tactics on the ground The entire Jiu-Jitsu world at this point had their jaw dropped at this point. As we’ve all seen it countless times, Nogueira goes to roll over only for Mir to roll back over and stay on top. Nogueira eventually taps to the kimura, unfortunately it wasn’t until after his arm was broken.

I don’t think there will ever be a better submission than that. Unless someone submits Mir or Fabricio Werdum, there aren’t any other notable fighters out there who are more accomplished on the ground. I’ve watched the submission over thirty times and it still makes my jaw drop every time. The transitions on the ground were tremendous and how Mir recovered from taking a powerful straight right to the chin was unbelievable as well. Along with Werdum, these two heavyweights are the greatest submission artists in the heavyweight of all time of all time. What a treat it was to see them both fight at full strength.

You can follow me on twitter at @Allen_Strk and be sure to follow @MMA_Sucka for all news & updates

On Monday during an official UFC 178 media day at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas fireworks erupted, as UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier were involved in a heated exchange.

Following their debacle a number of tweets were exchanged between Jones and Cormier, which former UFC Welterweight Champion and UFC Hall of Famer Matt Hughes found to be an issue.

@dc_mma @JonnyBones Chances are you 2 will not read this but what you've done is bad for the sport. I would stop talking about it.

— Matt Hughes (@matthughes9x) August 4, 2014

Jones and Cormier are set to do battle in the main event at UFC 178 on September 27 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

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Yesterday, the UFC announced BJ Penn’s removal from his UFC 199 bout against Cole Miller due to a potential Anti-Doping Policy violation. Back in March, Penn disclosed his use of an IV in excess of 50 ml in a six-hour period. The IV ban went into effect in October.

Penn does not deny the IV use. Rather, he claims he was unaware the IV ban extended out-of-competition.

Regardless, Penn’s violation raises questions. Namely, how long has Penn been using IVs?

In July, Penn tweeted: “I love the new PED and IV ban in the UFC. I never took an IV in my life after a weigh-in. IVs are for wimps! #BeerAndHotDogs.” It’s clear now that Penn was particular in his language. Never taking an IV and never taking an IV after a weigh-in are two very different things.

It’s not just Penn’s words that are incriminating, however. Take a look at his fight career. Penn competed at lightweight for the first eight fights of his career. At UFC 46, he moved up to 170 pounds and defeated Matt Hughes for the UFC welterweight title. He proceeded to leave the UFC for K-1 and took fights at both middleweight and heavyweight.

It’s clear now when looking back: Penn had a problem with IVs. How else can we explain this sudden rise in weight? Unable to keep control on his addiction, he was forced to fight well above his ideal weight class. That he found success – he went 3-1 during this time – is a testament to his prodigious talent.

Penn had to face the reality of his situation when he returned to the UFC in 2006. Thinking he was using IVs in moderation, he took welterweight fights against Georges St-Pierre and Matt Hughes. He lost both. It was at that point that Penn found the courage to face his demons and rid himself of the IVs that had plagued his career.

He won three straight fights at 155, winning the vacant lightweight title against Joe Stevenson at UFC 80 and knocking out the former champ Sean Sherk at UFC 84. It seemed like Penn had his life back on track.

But as it often is, battling addiction is not a linear proposition. Penn bounced back and forth between welterweight and lightweight as his weight bounced up and down through his use of IVs. The siren song of the saline solution constantly calling out to him.

It’s clear now that Penn is a danger to himself. His use (or, rather, abuse) of IVs has gotten to the point where he’s manipulating doctors into giving him his fix for weeklong benders.

Thankfully, Penn revealed as such to USADA during an IV stupor. And it’s clear now just why exactly these rules were set in place last year. Thankfully, the UFC and USADA have made it their mission to put fighters’ well-being above all else.

The above is pretty obviously satire, so don’t sue Michael Fagan or MMA Sucka.

The post USADA steps in to save BJ Penn’s life appeared first on MMASucka.com .

The UFC has been counting down its top 200 fighters in the lead up to UFC 200. But how can you trust the promotion to give you an unbiased list? You can’t. What follows is a completely objective ranking of the top ten fighters in UFC history.

10. Dominick Cruz (5-0 UFC) – Cruz barely edges Ronda Rousey, Tito Ortiz, and Frank Shamrock to take the ten spot. All four have glaring arguments against their inclusion on the list. Cruz and Shamrock only have five UFC fights. Rousey only has seven, and she dominated a nascent, weak division. Ortiz had a weak line of challengers during his run as champ and lost most of his biggest fights. Cruz has the best quality of competition of the four, giving him the edge.

9. Cain Velasquez (11-2 UFC) – One can make the argument that Junior dos Santos is more deserving than Velasquez. But while dos Santos is rightfully credited for his list of UFC wins, he only has one more than Velasquez in two more fights. Velasquez will likely even up the score at UFC 200, and it’s difficult to argue against the 2-1 record head-to-head.

8. Chuck Liddell (16-7 UFC) – Prior to his second loss to Quinton “Rampage” Jackson – which marked the end of Liddell’s prime – Liddell was 15-2 inside the Octagon with five straight wins in light heavyweight title fights. While Liddell never did beat Jackson, he did beat the other top light heavyweights of his era: Randy Couture, Tito Ortiz, Vitor Belfort, and Wanderlei Silva.

7. Randy Couture (16-8 UFC) – Couture lost the career series to Liddell 2-1, and he never put together a dominant title run like the other fights on this list. Yet, his accomplishments still stack up: UFC 13 tournament winner, three-time heavyweight champion, two-time light heavyweight champion, nine wins in UFC title fights, most wins in UFC heavyweight title fights. Couture managed this career by being smart and opportunistic in the fights he took, which is also what allowed him to be so successful inside the Octagon.

6. Jose Aldo (7-1 UFC) – Like Cruz, Aldo doesn’t have the same volume of fights as others on the list. But he does have a seven-fight title reign, which is good for fifth-best in UFC history. That reign included wins over Chad Mendes and Frankie Edgar, the two best non-Aldo, non-McGregor featherweights of the era. Aldo meets Edgar again at UFC 200 with the interim featherweight title on the line…which just may wind up as the proper title depending on McGregor’s career path.

5. Matt Hughes (18-7 UFC) – Matt Hughes was UFC welterweight champion. Then Georges St-Pierre beat him. Hughes’ eighteen victories inside the Octagon were a UFC record. Then Georges St-Pierre broke it. Hughes was universally regarded as The Greatest Welterweight of All Time. Then Georges St-Pierre kept winning. Hughes’ legacy will likely always be shadowed by St-Pierre, but that Hughes rightfully belongs on this list only goes to show how good St-Pierre was.

4. Demetrious Johnson (12-1-1 UFC) – Johnson’s appearance on this list is surprising given the start of his UFC run: a questionable decision win over Miguel Torres, a one-sided loss to Dominick Cruz, and a majority draw against Ian McCall. Even his title win over Joseph Benavidez was by split decision. Since then? Eight straight defenses, none of which were in doubt. Oh, and he’s finished five of those fights in a division that isn’t known for it.

3. Georges St-Pierre (19-2 UFC) – You can’t hold 23-year-old St-Pierre’s loss to Matt Hughes against him in this debate (especially since he went on to avenge that loss twice). But you can hold his loss to Matt Serra against him (even though he would go on to avenge that one as well). St-Pierre would likely wind up ahead of Anderson Silva if we’re talking about MMA careers (the Chonan and Takase hurt!), but alas, only UFC careers are considered here. But what a career. St-Pierre holds the record for most wins in the UFC, most wins in UFC title fights, and, as noted, is regarded as The Greatest Welterweight of All Time.

2. Anderson Silva (16-3 UFC) – Maybe you find St-Pierre’s quality of opposition more convincing. Maybe the positive drug test hurt your opinion of Silva. Whatever. Here’s Silva’s resume: most title defenses, most consecutive title defenses, most finishes in title fights, most finishes in the UFC, and most consecutive wins in the UFC.

1. Jon Jones (16-1 UFC) – While Silva holds the record for most consecutive wins in UFC history, Jones would hold that were in not for a still-frustrating DQ loss to Matt Hamill back in 2009. If we alter history just a teensy bit, Jones is 17-0 inside the Octagon. Even dealing with our actual reality, Jones has the second-most consecutive wins in UFC history, and may wind up usurping Silva anyway. Jones also fell short of Silva’s consecutive title defense record, due to his legal trouble outside the UFC. But these are mere technicalities. Jones has already made the case for being the greatest fighter in UFC history, and he has a chance to add to his legacy at UFC 200.

The post The top ten UFC fighters of all-time appeared first on MMASucka.com .

After months of wondering who Canadian MMA legend Georges St-Pierre would fight upon his return, it has finally been made official.

Georges “Rush” St-Pierre will challenge Michael “The Count” Bisping for his UFC middleweight title later this year. UFC President Dana White announced the news early Wednesday afternoon on SportsCenter.

St-Pierre (25-2) enters the contest having not fought in almost four years. He has won 12-straight fights against names like Johny Hendricks, Nick Diaz, Carlos Condit, Jake Shields, Jon Fitch, Thiago Alves, Matt Hughes, Josh Koscheck, and BJ Penn. The two-time welterweight champion with nine title defenses to his name will enter the middleweight division for the first time when he takes on Michael Bisping.

Bisping (30-7) is, much like GSP, one of the most prolific and popular fighters in UFC history. “The Count” has won five-straight fights, and after a decade in the UFC, he had his best year in 2016. He beat Anderson Silva to begin the year, won his first ever UFC title on two-weeks’ notice against Luke Rockhold, and then promptly defended that title against Dan Henderson to close out the year. He hopes to make his second middleweight title defense when he faces GSP.

The card has not been announced, and the only real information given in terms of a timeframe was “late 2017”. The fight will reportedly take place in Las Vegas.

__________________

Follow Mike on Twitter (@MikeLovesTacosX), and keep up with the latest MMA news from MMASucka via Twitter (@MMASucka) and Facebook

The post Georges St-Pierre returns to challenge Michael Bisping for the middleweight title appeared first on MMASucka.com .

Former UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes has been seriously injured after his car was struck by a train in Raymond, Ill., at about 10:45 a.m. on Friday morning.

The accident was made public by UFC President Dana White, as he informed ESPN.com shortly after.

According to White, Hughes approached a “railroad grade crossing marked with crossbucks” in a pickup truck. The truck crossed the tracks “directly in front of a train and the train struck the passenger side of the truck.”

HSHS St. John’s Hospital in Springfield, Ill. took to Facebook to release a statement on Hughes’ state and also made it clear that, “Hughes’ family asks that you respect their privacy during this difficult time.”

“Apparently he has head trauma,” White also ESPN. “His family is traveling to him now.”

The post Matt Hughes injured in accident, airlifted to hospital appeared first on MMASucka.com .

The Boys at the Hammer feature weekly coverage of all things MMA. They have one of the premier radio shows in the world of MMA broadcasted weekly on Wednesday nights on 93.3 FM, CFMU and here at MMASucka.

We begin this week’s episode discussing the announcement of the long-awaited Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor boxing match, as well as Bellator’s upcoming return to Pay Per View, Bellator NYC: Sonnen vs Silva. We preview the long-awaited grudge match between Chael Sonnen and Wanderlei Silva, the return of Fedor Emelianenko, three title fights, and the debut of Lightweight prospect Aaron Pico.

In the second half of the show we discuss the unfortunate news of Tim Hague’s passing, Matt Hughes’ hospitalization, the upcoming UFC Fight Night: Chiesa vs. Lee card, and the results of last Saturday’s UFC Fight Night: Holm vs. Correia event from Singapore.

Hammer Radio: Mayweather vs McGregor, Sonnen vs Silva and More

The Hammer has had interviews with some of the biggest names in MMA over the years. They have interviewed Anderson Silva, Georges St. Pierre, Matt Hughes, B.J. Penn, Dan Henderson, Sean Sherk, Mark Coleman, Rory MacDonald, T.J. Dillashaw, Brendan Schaub, Mark Bocek, John Makdessi, Mark Hominick, Martin Kampmann, Johnny Hendricks, T.J. Grant, Miesha Tate, and others.

The Hammer continues to bring unparalleled, independent coverage of all things MMA to fans of the sport. They always bring you straight goods and the last word. They are recognized and credentialed by UFC, Bellator, Invicta, and many other smaller MMA promotions.

The show is one of the voters for the UFC’s Official Rankings.

Main Photo: LAS VEGAS, NV – MAY 23: Chael Sonnen interacts with fans and media during the UFC press conference at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on May 23, 2014 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

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On January 31, 2004 at UFC 46 two champions were dethroned, as Vitor Belfort beat Randy Couture for the UFC light heavyweight title and B.J. Penn tapped out Matt Hughes to capture the 170-pound gold. Fast forward eleven years and once again two divisional title holders were ousted of their titles.

First time two new champions crowned since UFC 46

At UFC 185 not only did two of the companies leading fighters lose their belts, but they were dominated throughout the course of their matches.

Unlike UFC 46, the main event at UFC 185 went the distance. However, it was an utter domination from bell to bell. Back in 2004, the bout was stopped due to a cut early in the first, not because there was one man having his way with the other.

The number one contender, Rafael dos Anjos was not a betting favorite against Anthony Pettis. But he proved that pushing the pace and getting in Pettis’ grill is easily “Showtime’s” Achilles heel. Right from the opening bell, dos Anjos was the aggressor and it didn’t take long for him to land a heavy punch that broke Pettis’ orbital bone. That was the beginning of the end for the man who was considered a pound for pound best. Dos Anjos proved that he is a force to be reckoned with in the 155-pound division and will have to keep proving that, as his next test will be against either Khabib Nurmagomedov or Donald Cerrone. The Brazilian has fought and lost to Nurmagomdeov and earned a decision victory against Cerrone.

In the evening’s co-main event, everyone and their dog seemed to be counting Poland’s own Joanna Jędrzejczyk out of her championship bout against Carla Esparza. The odds weren’t overblown, but if you were going by the consensus, you could have bet your houses and still went home with some money picking champion Esparza. It’s a good thing you didn’t however, because Jędrzejczyk was too much for the TUF strawweight winner. Having her way on the feet and stuffing 16 of 17 takedown attempts. Just 42-seconds into the second round Jędrzejczyk smothered Esparza with strikes and that was the end of her title reign.

Jędrzejczyk has a name that can be very tough to say, but if she keeps putting on performances like the one at UFC 185, then that name could become as household as UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey. She is undefeated at 9-0, is 3-0 inside the Octagon and has what Bleacher Report‘s Jeremy Botter says to be quite possibly the best boxing in the entire organization.

Both dos Anjos and Jędrzejczyk will have a target on their back, but that shouldn’t worry them. Especially if they can continue to put on performances like the ones this past Saturday night.

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The first inductees for the new look UFC Hall of Fame have been announced. Jeff Blatnick – a key personality during the UFC’s formative years – and the April 2005 rematch between Matt Hughes and Frank Trigg will be inducted as in this year’s Contributor and Fight categories, respectively.

Jeff Blatnick, Matt Hughes and Frank Trigg to be inducted into UFC Hall of Fame

The announcements were made moments ago on UFC Tonight, the UFC’s official magazine show on FOX Sports 1. The formal induction will take place at a gala event on Saturday, July 11 at the UFC Fan Expo, during the UFC’s annual International Fight Week.

Jeff Blatnick will be posthumously inducted as a UFC Hall of Fame Contributor, in recognition for his historically significant services to the UFC and the sport of mixed martial arts.

UFC President Dana White said: “Jeff Blatnick is a name that newer fans may not be familiar with, but this guy was a huge part on the UFC’s development in the 1990s. He pushed for greater regulation, unified rules and – because he was an Olympic gold medalist in wrestling – he had credibility with everyone in the sport. It is our honor to recognize his huge contributions to the UFC by inducting him into the UFC Hall of Fame.”

Blatnick’s story is an incredible one. In 1982 he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma – a form of cancer – and had to undergo life-saving surgery and chemotherapy. Astonishingly, he won the super-heavyweight Greco-Roman wrestling gold medal at the Los Angeles Olympics in Los Angeles less than two years later. He became a national hero and inspiration for cancer patients worldwide.

A decade later, Blatnick caught an early UFC event. He immediately recognized the sport behind the spectacle and joined the organization as lead color commentator from UFC 4 (December 1994) through to UFC 34 (November 2001). In those seven years at Octagonside, Blatnick educated a generation of fight fans on the finer points of grappling and sportsmanship. But, perhaps more importantly, as the Commissioner of the UFC (1998 to 2001) Blatnick is widely credited with coining the term “mixed martial arts” and championing its use to describe the emerging sport.

As Commissioner, Blatnick served as a key member of the group who drew up what would become the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts – the framework for all regulated MMA around the world to this day. In his later years, the New York born Blatnick served as an MMA judge for many different state commissions; in fact Blatnick’s final contribution to the UFC came as a ringside judge at the UFC 152 event, just weeks before he passed away in October 2012.

Lori Blatnick, Jeff’s widow, will accept her late husband’s UFC Hall of Fame induction on his behalf.

She said: “Jeff would have been so honored to be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame. It’s awesome, and it is right that he is recognized. He worked so hard to improve the sport and keep it alive in the 1990s. People in the industry, or have been around the UFC for years, they know what Jeff did behind the scenes but the viewers who watch the fights today probably haven’t heard of him. That’s probably because of Jeff’s character, he was very humble and didn’t like to talk about himself. But it is great he will now be recognized in such a huge way.”

Joining Blatnick in the class of 2015 will be Matt Hughes and Frank Trigg, who will be inducted together for their April 2005 rematch in the newly-minted Fight wing of the UFC Hall of Fame.

Hughes vs Trigg II took place on April 16, 2005, at UFC 52 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. It was a rematch from 2003, where UFC welterweight champion Hughes defeated reigning WFA champion Trigg inside four minutes.

Trigg won two bouts to earn a chance to avenge his loss to Hughes, and the build-up to the rematch saw Trigg goad the champion with a relentless campaign of insults.

UFC President Dana White said: “I’ve said it a million times over the last 10 years, Hughes vs Trigg II is one of my favorite fights ever. In four minutes five seconds, it showed everything that is great about the UFC.”

The full fight can be watched on UFC FIGHT PASS here: http://www.ufc.tv/video/matt-hughes-vs-frank-trigg-ufc-52

Hughes now becomes a two-time UFC Hall of Famer, having already been recognized by the Hall in 2010 for a legendary career which included two reigns as UFC welterweight champion.

Hughes said: “When I got my hand raised, I thought I’d just come through a tough fight. It was only afterwards, when my team were congratulating me on this great win, that I started to realize this wasn’t just another fight. Then Dana called me a few days later telling me it was the best fight he’d ever seen and, in the years since, I get asked about that one rematch with Trigg about as much as I do any big fight I’ve ever been in.”

Hughes added: “I occasionally get invited to speak to servicemen, and I try and speak to them about never giving up when they are in bad situations. The fight I use as an example is the second Trigg fight; I was in a very bad situation, I’d been hit low, I was hurt, rocked, Trigg had my back and he had me in a choke. But I didn’t panic and as long as you don’t panic, you don’t quit on yourself and you have a little time, you can get out of even the worst of situations.”

Trigg said: “This is a great honor. Every great fight has a winner and a loser, but I am very proud that, 10 years on, people still ask me about this fight. I may not have won the UFC title that night, but this goes some way to make up for that.”

The inductees in the Modern Era and Pioneer Era categories will be announced this weekend as part of scheduled UFC 187 programming.

The UFC Hall of Fame 2015 induction ceremony will take place on July 11 as part of the UFC Fan Expo in Las Vegas. Fans with tickets to the UFC Fan Expo will be able to attend the UFC Hall of Fame 2015 event for no additional cost. Tickets to the UFC Fan Expo are available at www.ufcfanexpo.com with two-day passes beginning at $60 online and $65 onsite. One-day passes begin at $35 online and $45 onsite.

To visit the UFC Hall of Fame fight library – which includes the induction speeches for the first 12 UFC Hall of Famers – go to www.ufc.tv/category/ufc-hall-of-fame-library.

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