Hughes and Rampage

After 135 we all knew that Jones would come through, the boy just oozes class. But Rampage is a clever guy almsot covering up his loss by mentioning a future fight. The japanese love him out there so knows its a cash cow he's very good business mind, keeping his name in the fame so to speak. Rather than just waiting to see what fight is made he is trying to still position himself at the top of the card.

Now for hughes, what is he going to do. The bloke has been a legend but times have changed, dont want to see him struggling on, he needs to walk away. Although generally he is in good condition he isnt in the top tier anymore but does he realise this. He should walk away wiht his head held high not on the end of a flying kick like randy.

Rampage doesn't really lose anything by losing to Jones as he was expected to and is competitive against the rest i.e. like GSP and Silva opponents.

Personally i don't like Hughes but putting that aside it would be better for him to retire as I don't like seeing anyone lose to guys i think they wouldn't off in the prime.

He's had 2 bad KO's in a row and not IMO beaten a top tier guy since Penn in 2006 so I think his time has come!

Jones vs. Rashard should be a good build up to this fight but I see Jones taking it, I would like to see Jones Vs Phil Davis after that as I think Davis is a quality light heavyweight. Who else is there for Jones after that? A rematch with Shogun maybe? I can’t see Machida having any luck against Jones, maybe Silva will want to move up now that his friend doesn’t have the belt and doesn’t look like he is going to get a shot anytime soon.

Hughes is probably at the right time in his career to retire now. I do like Hughes (screw you Valero! lol) and wanted to see him get a W against Kos but Kos is a legit contender at 170. I heard Hughes say that the UFC may offer him a "Chuck Liddell" type job in the UFC but I would like to see some of these older now retired fighters take up judging as I still think there is a legitimate claim that the judging in MMA can still be drastically improved.

gibbo104 wrote:Jones vs. Rashard should be a good build up to this fight but I see Jones taking it, I would like to see Jones Vs Phil Davis after that as I think Davis is a quality light heavyweight. Who else is there for Jones after that? A rematch with Shogun maybe? I can’t see Machida having any luck against Jones, maybe Silva will want to move up now that his friend doesn’t have the belt and doesn’t look like he is going to get a shot anytime soon.

Hughes is probably at the right time in his career to retire now. I do like Hughes (screw you Valero! lol) and wanted to see him get a W against Kos but Kos is a legit contender at 170. I heard Hughes say that the UFC may offer him a "Chuck Liddell" type job in the UFC but I would like to see some of these older now retired fighters take up judging as I still think there is a legitimate claim that the judging in MMA can still be drastically improved.

Judging is a brilliant idea for the past fighters, surely better equipped than a lot of the guys scoring plus adds a little interest into how they score and if the wrestler awards the wrestler etc!

Hughes should retire - he's not going to get any younger; Rampage should be humbled after that Jones fight - he was too one dimensional to stand any chance of winning and won't become light heavyweight champion again based on that performance.

theres already too much emphasis put on wrestling when judging without giving hughes a judging job!!!

fighters will always lean towards what there strengths were as they can undertsand whats going on more but in doing so become unpartial and would be rubbish judges because of it

imo I would imagine coaching would be the most natural career path for a retired fighter - someone with Hughe's experience and calibre I would expect would make a good coach (and i'm not just talking TUF). Seriously, I'm sure there are a lot of young fighters who would love to be coached by some of the veterans.

compelling and rich wrote:theres already too much emphasis put on wrestling when judging without giving hughes a judging job!!!

fighters will always lean towards what there strengths were as they can undertsand whats going on more but in doing so become unpartial and would be rubbish judges because of it

I don’t think that’s necessarily the case.

An ex fighter is going to understand a lot more of what’s going on inside the cage as you have already pointed out but to say that’s going to make them biased in the field they specialised in, you can’t say that’s going to be the case.
A fighter who was a wrestler like Hugues as the example we are using here will be able to tell the difference between a lay n prey job and someone on top position working hard on their ground n pound and or there submission attempts and therefore will be able to score the fight accordingly. Also you can’t instantly judge ex-fighters integrity towards impartiality, and thirdly the judging can be so bad at the moment it can’t possibly get worst!

If anything the argument that will stop fighters becoming judges was talkingpoint’s below, if a fighter becomes a coach after his fighting career is over then they can’t judge as they could have a vested interest in the outcome of a fight, be that towards a fighter from their own camp or a fighter from a rivals camp.

i wasnt talking about any fighter here but matt hughes!! one take down and the rounds yours!! havnt you seen him coaching on tuf. dont beleive matt hughes is the type of character who can be humble enough to start judging without preference. plus i would also add that if you want old retired fighters who have been punched/kicked in the head to many times then judging could well become worse. many fighters are not known for there intelligence

that's why its important to retire before you get too old and take too much damage! Fighters who refuse to retire and carry on fighting past their prime are at greater risk of taking more damage and causing problems further down the line. I think the UFC is pretty well regulated when it comes to how many times a fighter is allowed to fight and doctor's no-compete clauses etc but nevertheless despite their pride I think fighters should retire when they can no longer legitimately compete with the rising new talent.

compelling and rich wrote:i wasnt talking about any fighter here but matt hughes!! one take down and the rounds yours!! havnt you seen him coaching on tuf. dont beleive matt hughes is the type of character who can be humble enough to start judging without preference. plus i would also add that if you want old retired fighters who have been punched/kicked in the head to many times then judging could well become worse. many fighters are not known for there intelligence

Ok, well I was talking about any fighter and used Matt Hughes as the example as we were discussing what he can do should he choose to retire after his latest KO losses.

As for fighters are not known for their intelligence, I would argue that that is not the case with all fighters at all and you are just stereotyping now (Rich Franklin, Chael Sonnen, GSP and Rashad Evans are all very intelligent people to name just a few. Chris Leben and Rampage Jackson by their own admission are bloody idiots when it comes to book smarts). But their book smarts are not in question when it comes to judging fights, their knowledge of fighting is in question and I say they know more than current judges and therefore could improve the current iffy judging that is going on at the moment in MMA.