CroCop vs Overeem, if what I read is correct, has been confirmed for Sept 23 at Dream 6. CroCop is still one of my favorite fighters. The guy was just sick at one time. He is the last person to make Fedor go the distance. That says a lot about a fighter. He was one of the most damaging fighters out there, and at the same time he was one of the most humble and respectable fighters in the sport. I’m hoping the guy gets his mind right and has a successful comeback.
I’ve never really been a Hughes fan. In my opoinion the guy is one or the most arrogant guys in the sport. He was good in his time, but his time has passed. Just because you beat a past his prime Royce Gracie, that doesn’t make you some sort of icon. I’d like to see the Matt Hughes of now try to beat a Royce Gracie of the early to mid 90’s. Gracie would kill him. Gracie was beating guys a lot bigger than him mulitiple times in one night. Matt Hughes nowadays fights what, two or three times a year tops? But in regard to the Serra fight, I think Hughes will win. In my opinion Serra isn’t that great of a talent. Everyone knew that he got lucky against GSP. I like to compare it to when Hasim Rahman knocked out Lennox Lewis. Lewis knew he got caught with a lucky punch, and said he would win the rematch, with he easily did. Serra will lose this fight, guranteed. After that fight, I dont see Hughes beating any of the top guys in the division. Maybe Karo, but thats about it. Fitch, Sanchez, Koschek and Alves (I dont metion GSP because that is a given) would all roll through Hughes. In my opinion, Hughes is done.

Great points made by El Felix. I agree with just about everything said in his post.

Thanks man.

Cro Cop, to me, just seems like he lost his confidence, especially during that Cheick Kongo fight, watched it over the weekend on Wired and it was almost sad to see. Halfway through it just looked like dude gave up and realized he couldn’t knock him out so he was done. I agree though, I still think if anyone, Cro Cop could turn himself around, he’s one of those guys that get pumped from the knockout moreso than just a win, if he can get a big win (Overeem’s going to be a TOUGH opponent, if he’s in shape) I think he’ll be back to form. Can he beat Minotauro or Fedor? Nope…I don’t even think on his best day, but he can provide some more highlights before he leaves.

As far as Matt, I just think his style of fighting and his age is what’s really caught up with him. I watched his second fight with Trigg this weekend (Spike TV had a marathon on Sunday) and he was just so much quicker and so much more lethal a few years back than he is now. It’s almost as if he’s going in slow motion now. I think he’ll handily beat Serra and if he’s smart, hang it up. He’s not a fighter like Chuck or Randy or even Henderson that can rely on either their powerful strikes or their ability to mix up striking and grappling. Without someone on their back, Hughes is pretty much a fish out of water. And in a division like the welterweight with a lot of young strong guys, he can pretty much guarantee he won’t be getting close to the title again

With Cro Cop it definitely is a confidence thing…that’s what I was referring to in the piece when I mentioned ‘aura’.

I agree Charles…Hughes does look alot different now…I think it’s a combination of him getting older…and the younger guys becoming more complete fighters.

Thiago’s win over Hughes was even more impressive than GSP’s in my opinion. That guys a BEAST.

I’m glad Hughes’ career took the nosedive it did. He defines the word “asshole” in every sense of the term. Hopefully Serra knocks him out in his next fight.

Now with that out of the way, being a little more objective, Hughes was done after his fight loss to GSP. The win against Lights-Out was an average performace at best.

The best part about the Serra fight is that win or lose, its gonna be Hughes’ last. Yay.

Cro Cop’s situation isn’t as bad though. He still has more to give than Hughes does.

Alves in my opinion, no facts to suppore my claimed seemed to be juiced! He was huge and i know your head doesnt get bigger through working out. But he looked like he was on some kind of PED. It takes years to develop your body that way, not months! Plus he couldn’t even make weight, I think that should be looked upon but a lot of people tend to ignore that fact.

To be fair, his reasoning for not making weight was he had a foot injury…which prevented him from doing cardio…and he notified the UFC of the injury well before the weigh ins.

Hey Kelvin did he see a doctor? Seems to me if you know you cant make weight to call UFC and say you got an injury! He was four pounds over, not one…. plus his feet looked pretty good during the fight, and this is the same guy thats been caught using spironolactone. Thats a product that helps cut weight and hide steriods… Now his head changed like Barry Bonds, pretty fishy to me!

Honestly, I can’t recall if he saw a doctor or not…

KELVIN. well said ,well written. i agree with all the points you made. hughes’s time has passed him by, if he cant take a fighter down and put him on his back, he has no chance of winning. the fighters he dominated during his reign were not of the same caliber of the top 10 ww’s in the ufc today, not to mention shields and condit. i honestly dont think he can beat serra. im a little surprised serra is just waiting around for this fight, i think he could move back down to 155 and be a contender. im sure it has something to do with money. cro-cop is the one of the two that can make a comeback. he just won pride’s owgpx in 06 (no fedor helped) and was washed up by 07? i think he just needs to get a highlight ko over overeem and maybee that will get his confidence back. he was supposed to be working with werdum on his ground game, but old habits are hard to break. the best point you made was about both fighters aura or lack of it. nobody fears these guys at all anymore.

Jason, taking Aldactone proves nothing. Many athletes take diuretics to drain water. Hell, I’ve taken it before photoshoots with great success. Makes you look shredded and and you typically drop at least 2 pounds of water weight.

Yes, he looks HUGE and his progress has been very rapid. But until its proven, I’d like to believe he is relatively clean.

@FlyingKnees

Its also used to HIDE steriods! Thats the key part of that statement. You honestly believe his weight gain was all through hard work? I doubt it, no way man. He ain’t taking photo shoots, has no need to look shredded. My thoughts are he was using it to hide steriods. If many fighters use it, wouldn’t they have been caught? I think he used way more than needed to cover up something else. It has been proven that he uses spironolactone, I didnt get suspend for it, he did! I wish i could post two photos and you would see the development of his head! You please tell me one exercise that can make my head get bigger? I have helped train boxers and I know what hard work does to your body, but not your head. Too me thats a tale-tale sign of PED use. His development looks like Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Big Mac! Do you honestly believe Bonds,Sosa,Mac were clean?