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Matt Serra, then GSP and Thiago Alves?

After he defeats Matt Serra at UFC 98 later this month, of course. Those are apparently the plans of the former welterweight Champion, in an interview with MMAFanhouse.

I’m not so sure about that. It’s great to have goals, but I don’t think Hughes can still get it done at this point in his career. I tend to think he’s a lower Top 10 level guy now, along the calibre of guys like Mike Swick or Marcus Davis.

He looked old and slow against Thiago Alves at UFC 85, and wasn’t able to mount any meaningful offense the one time he was able to take Thiago down. Alves was soon back on his feet, sending Hughes to the land of dreams courtesy of a flying knee.

Against GSP at UFC 79, he looked like a boy fighting a man. GSP was able to pick his shots, take him down, pound him, and tap him out in easy fashion. It also happened to be a bout GSP took on a short 1-month notice. Another thing to note is that this was the third time Hughes had fought GSP, so a fourth fight isn’t very likely.

Hughes was right when he said on TUF 6 that he likely had 2-3 fights left in him. While he’s still competitive, I’d hate to see Hughes hang on too long like Chuck Liddell, and become a shell of his former self.

I’m toying with the idea of moving to 185 to fight Silva, But I have to square away things in my weight class before I do that. This sport is all about testing yourself and what you’re capable of.

Is a direct quote from Matt Hughes, in an interview with Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports. For his medulla oblongata’s sake, let’s hope Hughes is not serious, or believing he can do it.

He can’t even take care of the top dogs in his own weight class anymore, like Georges St. Pierre or Thiago Alves. BJ Penn was kicking his ass until separating a rib. I’d also guess that Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck and maybe even Mike Swick would give Hughes all, if not more than he could handle. Next, we have the middleweight guys like Nate Marquardt, Yushin Okami, Michael Bisping and Damien Maia. Do you really think Hughes could take out his bigger clone (Dan Henderson) at 185lbs? These were all guys, save Okami via DQ and Bisping/Maia that Silva handled with ease.

The time for Hughes to move up to 185 would have been 4 years ago, but that ship has long since sailed. Hughes is a great fighter still, but it’s a lost cause moving up in weight at this point in time.