Rivalries: Matt Hughes

Villains need heroes, and heroes need villains. Matt Hughes for much of his career straddled the line between both sides.

The Hillsboro, Illinois, native retired in 2013 after a magnificent run—much of it spent tormenting welterweights in the Ultimate Fighting Championship—saw him compile a 45-9 record with 35 finishes. Even though Hughes walked off into the proverbial sunset some nine years ago, his 18 victories inside the Octagon still tie him with Neil Magny and Frankie Edgar for 13th on the UFC’s all-time list. He was inducted into the pioneer wing of the UFC Hall of Fame while he was still an active competitor in 2010, having spent 1,577 days across two title reigns as undisputed UFC welterweight champion.

With Hughes now part of MMA’s increasingly rich past, a look at some of the rivalries that helped shape his time in the sport:

Dennis Hallman

“Superman” on Dec. 16, 2000 proved lightning could strike twice in MMA. A future welterweight champion and hall of famer, Hughes entered their UFC 29 rematch at Differ Ariake in Tokyo on an 18-fight winning streak. The Miletich Fighting Systems star sought to avenge his 17-second standing guillotine choke submission loss to Hallman two years earlier under the Extreme Challenge banner. Hughes executed a high-amplitude takedown inside the first 10 seconds but failed to bottle up the cagy Olympia, Washington, native on the canvas and soon found himself entangled in a triangle choke. Hallman withstood two subsequent slams, transitioned to an armbar and dispatched his counterpart with shocking ease and efficiency, leaving a wounded Hughes to clutch at his arm—and pride—20 seconds into the first round.

Carlos Newton

The finish was debated for years, and it made Hughes a champion for the first time. Newton had risen to prominence on the strength of his dangerous submission skills and had put away Hughes’ longtime mentor, Pat Miletich, with a bulldog choke to capture the welterweight crown at UFC 31. Hughes posed a serious threat but had not yet established himself as the top 170-pound fighter in the sport. His clash with Newton at UFC 34 on Nov. 2, 2001 started him down that path. After a competitive first round at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Newton seized control in the second. Hughes was bogged down in the Canadian’s guard and eventually found himself entangled in a triangle choke. The challenger fought to extract himself, but as the seconds ticked off the clock, it seemed more and more likely that Newton’s submission skills would allow him to retain his title. No one could have foreseen what ensued. In a desperate but ingenious maneuver, Hughes scooped up Newton, walked him over to the cage and rested him against the top of the fence. The two rivals then slammed down hard on the canvas, the concussive impact knocking out the champion. Hughes also appeared to be out, having lost consciousness in the clutches of the choke. However, when Newton’s triangle was undone by the slam, Hughes was set free and was the first to come to his senses. Since Newton was still unconscious, referee John McCarthy essentially had no choice but to award the Miletich protégé the victory. Newton to this day believes the Hillsboro, Illinois, native fell victim to the choke, while Hughes remains steadfast in his belief that he slammed the champion on purpose to prevent going to sleep. They settled their score in a July 2002 rematch at UFC 38, where Hughes stopped “The Ronin” with fourth-round punches.

Frank Trigg

Genuine bad blood existed between Hughes and “Twinkle Toes” when they locked horns for a second time at UFC 52 on April 16, 2005 in Las Vegas. Hughes had submitted the former World Fighting Alliance champion with a rear-naked choke two years earlier, so an undercurrent of revenge was present in their rematch at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas; and Trigg nearly tapped into it. After a groin strike to Hughes went unseen by referee Mario Yamasaki, Trigg bludgeoned him with hard punches. Hughes absorbed a volley of unanswered shots, and the possibility of a massive upset seemed more likely with each passing second. Trigg even threatened with a rear-naked choke, but the reigning welterweight champion stayed calm in the midst of significant adversity and soon recovered from the foul. Trigg failed to secure the choke, surrendered position and provided Hughes with an avenue through which to escape. He rose to his feet, scooped up a stunned Trigg and carried him across the Octagon before slamming him to the canvas. A crowd of 14,562 roared with deafening approval. It remains one of the most iconic moments in Ultimate Fighting Championship history. From there, Hughes blasted Trigg with punches and elbows, applied the rear-naked choke and forced the tapout 4:05 into the first round.

B.J. Penn

Hughes had a wrecking ball feel about him when he risked the welterweight crown against the mercurial Hawaiian in the UFC 46 co-main event on Jan. 31, 2004 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. One opponent after another had yielded to his mix of powerful wrestling, nasty ground-and-pound and technical grappling, as he had rattled off five consecutive title defenses. Penn was one of the most gifted fighters the sport had ever seen and had rebounded from a majority decision loss to Jens Pulver in 2002 with victories over Paul Creighton, Matt Serra and Takanori Gomi sandwiched around a five-round draw with Caol Uno. So-called experts believed Hughes was too strong for the popular but undersized Hawaiian. They could not have been more wrong. Penn took it to the champion on the feet, and when Hughes stumbled after whiffing on a left hand, “The Prodigy” tossed him to the mat. Penn passed the guard, progressed to the back and cinched a rear-naked choke. Hughes had no choice but to tap with 22 seconds left in the first round, where he emerged from the choke with a blank stare and reluctantly passed the torch. He had won 13 fights in a row and established himself as the most dominant champion in the UFC, but Penn made it look easy. The rivals split their two rematches that followed: Hughes buried the Andre Pederneiras protégé with third-round punches at UFC 63 in September 2006 before Penn completed their trilogy with a 21-second knockout at UFC 123 in November 2010.

Georges St. Pierre

“Rush” cleared the first significant mental hurdle of his career in the UFC 65 main event on Nov. 18, 2006 at ARCO Arena in Sacramento, California, where he confronted Hughes for the second time. The Miletich disciple had saddled St. Pierre with his first defeat two years earlier when he countered an attempted kimura and submitted him with an armbar at UFC 50. Subsequent wins over Penn, Trigg, Dave Strasser, Jason Miller and Sean Sherk put St. Pierre in position for a rematch with Hughes. The Tristar Gym cornerstone made the most of his opportunity, as he bashed the future hall of famer with a head kick before finishing him with punches and elbows on the ground 1:25 into the second round. While his first title reign would be brief thanks to Serra’s unexpected intervention, St. Pierre proved he had the goods to be champion. He tied a bow on his trilogy with Hughes at UFC 79, where he submitted him with a second-round armbar and closed the book on their rivalry with a 2-1 advantage in their head-to-head series.

Matt Serra

After more than a year’s worth of back-and-forth bravado, Hughes got the last laugh in his feud with the Renzo Gracie-trained Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt when he earned a unanimous decision in the UFC 98 co-headliner on May 23, 2009 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. All three judges scored it 29-28. Hughes survived several harrowing minutes early after being struck by an inadvertent head butt and subsequent punch to the side of the head in the first round. The composed Serra followed up but failed to finish a noticeably wobbled Hughes, giving new life to the two-time welterweight champion. One of the sport’s most accomplished competitors, Hughes took down Serra in each of the last two rounds and fed his rival a steady diet of mild but effective ground-and-pound. Serra turned the tables on Hughes at the end of Round 3 with a beautiful takedown, but with time winding down, he had little opportunity to capitalize. The two archenemies embraced briefly afterwards. Hughes even raised Serra’s hand in a show of respect.