The UFC Hall of Famer ranks behind only Anderson Silva for the most title defenses in the organization's history, and his clashes with Royce Gracie, Carlos Newton, B.J. Penn, Georges St-Pierre and Frank Trigg are among the UFC's most memorable moments.
So as Hughes prepares to face Diego Sanchez (23-4 MMA, 12-4 UFC) in the co-feature of September's UFC 135 event, he has precious little to prove in the cage. Nevertheless, Hughes insists he's got plenty left to show. A stoppage of "The Dream" is tops on his list, and then it's on to only the most interesting of challenges.
"I'm at that stage right now where I'm taking interesting fights," Hughes said at a recent UFC Fight Club Q&A session. "I had the belt. [St-Pierre] has beaten me two out of three times. Nobody wants to see a fourth fight between him and I, so I'm just going to take it easy, fight interesting fights, and that's it."
It's a mature admission from the 37-year-old legend of the sport. He'll give up eight years of youth to Sanchez, who has delivered back-to-back "Fight of the Night" performances in his past two outings. And while Sanchez's accomplishments don't yet stack up to to the former champ's impressive résumé, Hughes had no hesitation in accepting the matchup.
"What I like about it is I think it's a fight the fans will want to tune into," Hughes said. "Diego, mentally he's tough. He's going to come to fight all three rounds. You don't have to worry about Diego going away after the first or second round.
"Striking, takedowns, submissions, he's pretty equal all the way around. Of course, if he gets on top, that's where he really shines. I just think it's a good matchup."
Hughes had been on a bit of a career resurgence after rattling off wins over Ricardo Almeida, Renzo Gracie and Matt Serra. A November 2010 loss to Penn, which took all of 21 seconds, brought him back down a few notches, but Hughes insists he hasn't lost his drive. In fact, Hughes recently sold his H.I.T. Squad gym to Jesse Finney and is now hitting the road in search of fresh looks while continuing to refine his technique.
"I was driving an hour from my house," Hughes explained. "I drove like a madman an hour from my house to the gym, work out, gym to the house another hour. I got sick of it. There were a lot of good guys down there, but I didn't get threatened a whole lot. When I go out to Jeremy Horn's gym, I train with Jeremy, DaMarques Johnson, a bunch of good grapplers, a bunch of good strikers. I get threatened a lot, whether it be submission or striking. I want to have that threatening position because you get better.
"If you're the best guy in the gym, you're just not getting better. I'm not saying I was the best guy. I'm just saying I wasn't getting threatened a lot. I will probably be down there to train, but I'll also be going back up to Pat Miletich's. I'm going out to Ft. Bragg to train with those guys. I'm going to Arizona to train with (Ryan) Bader and those guys. I plan on being on the road a lot."
Time will tell if the gamble pays off. After a brutal 1-3 stretch a few years back, some pundits openly questioned whether Hughes still had what it takes to succeed in an organization that he helped bring to notoriety. Now 3-1 in his past four, Hughes appears to have righted the ship.
But Hughes isn't setting any long-term goals right now. For now, it's all about Sanchez; the rest is still to be determined.
"I think it's going to be a good fight," Hughes said. "I would love to stop Diego. He's not easy to stop. That would be great. It's going to be tough, though. He's a gamer. You've got to be prepared physically and mentally."
by John Morgan
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