Matt Hughes

(Renzo owns Maurice Smith in 50 seconds at the Rings King of Kings tourney in December 1999. Fight starts at the 1:35 mark.)

We should have seen this one coming as soon as Lorenzo Fertitta "popped his tweet hymen" by asking fans if they'd like to see Renzo Gracie in the UFC. Fertitta must have gotten more yays than nays, because according to Heavy.com, Gracie is being penciled in for a scrap against Matt Hughes at UFC 109 (February 6th, Las Vegas).

Though Renzo has had a long career in vale tudo and MMA, this would be the first time he competes in the venue that his family made famous. However, he hasn't fought at all since his disqualification win against Frank Shamrock at EliteXC: Destiny in February 2007. By comparison, Matt Hughes's last appearance was his unanimous decision over Matt Serra in May.

At 42 years old, Renzo nicely falls into that beatable aging legends category of opponent that Hughes is currently pursuing, at the expense of more meaningful fights against those AKA jokesters. We wouldn't say Hughes vs. Gracie (Not That Gracie) is a bigger fight than Hughes vs. Swick, but it definitely gives Matt a better chance of retiring gracefully. And in the end, isn't that what we all want?

Unless Jon Fitch is just screwing with us by purposely spreading false information, it seems like he will not be fighting Ricardo Almeida at UFC 106 on November 21.  Fitch announced via Twitter that Almeida had injured his knee and been forced to pull out of the bout, so Fitch will get “a bigger, better fight instead.”  If you’re wondering how the UFC got a big star to agree to face Fitch on a month’s notice, don’t.  Fitch says the bout has been moved to a later date, which flings the door open wide to allow almost any UFC welterweight to walk in.  So before we speculate wildly we must ask ourselves: who would Fitch’s fans have wanted to see him fight for a long time? 

(Photo courtesy of round5mma.com.)

Colorful Long Island resident Matt "The Terror" Serra — who has competed at a blistering pace of one fight per year since 2005 — may have already booked his 2010 UFC appearance. According to MMA Fanhouse, Serra has verbally agreed to a bout in Las Vegas on February 6th. Though Serra wouldn't confirm who his opponent will be, Fanhouse says Frank Trigg is a strong possibility. Which makes sense, since they're both in their mid-30s and coming off losses and not really factors in the division anymore. The loser of that fight would probably be retired by Joe Rogan in the post-fight interview, while the winner would pretty much have to take a rematch with Matt Hughes, considering that Hughes doesn't have any better ideas.

(Whaddaya say, Royce. Wanna do it again?)

Matt Hughes may not know exactly what he wants to do with the new four-fight contract that he signed with the UFC, but he definitely knows what he doesn’t want to do.  Fights with young welterweight up-and-comers like Josh Koscheck and Mike Swick?  Not interested.  A third chance at getting his first victory over Denis Hallman?  No thanks.  How about simply completing the entire four-fight deal?  No guarantees there, either.  So what the hell does Hughes want to do with the remainder of his career?  I don’t know, you got any more washed-up legends laying around?

As far as who I fight next? You know, looking at these younger kids who are wanting to come in and be the next world champion or be the next contender, I don't know what I'm going to do. I don't know if I'll take on those guys.  There are plenty of older guys out there with big names who can fight, too. I like to take fights where I've got something to win. If I take a fight against Mike Swick or Josh Kosheck, I've really got nothing to gain from that fight besides a paycheck and beating somebody up. They've got more to win than I do. Those aren't the kinds of fights that interest me.

Royce Gracie was a big fight, you know? It was a huge name, a guy that had won the old tournaments in the beginning. Those are the fights I like, the ones I can really get revved up for and get motivated. Those are the kinds of fights that gets me into the gym ready to train and work.

(Paul Daley shows off a completely different kind of punch face.)

There was a time when fighting Matt Hughes meant signing up to get slammed through the mat before being mercilessly pounded on and dominated in a way that makes even tough guys want to go cry in the shower.  Now, instead of being a feared force in the UFC’s welterweight division, he’s the guy everyone wants to fight, preferably soon, before anyone else has a chance to put a beating on him and claim whatever is left of the Hughes luster.  It’s not enough of an indignity for a former champ to have every 170-pounder at AKA putting his name in the streets, now Paul Daley is doing it too:

“I want to fight Hughes, firstly because he's a legend and second he's former welterweight champion. He has a win over the current welterweight champion, and he has all the skills to exploit my weaknesses that the media and my ‘fans’ so often talk about. …I want Hughes, I don’t see why he wouldn’t want to fight me, unless he thinks he's gonna lose.”

First of all, Daley’s two reasons for wanting a fight with Hughes are really one reason: Matt Hughes has a big name.  But he does have a point when he says that Hughes has the tools to help us find out if Daley’s ground game is truly as weak as advertised.  At least, the old Hughes had those tools.