Matt Hughes is really looking forward to fighting Renzo Gracie in the UFC
Published by Staff on January 28th, 2010 in Current Events

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On Wednesday, UFC held a big press conference in Abu Dhabi to announce match-ups for the promotion’s first big event there in April. Noticeably absent from the press conference was Matt Hughes. Where was he? He was in Florida instead, helping his fighter and friend Robbie Lawler prepare to face Melvin Manhoef this Saturday on the Strikeforce card in South Florida.

Matt Hughes, Mr. Company Man, not doing what UFC asked him to do?

“Well I did have to make a decision there,” Hughes told M M A F i g h t i n g . c o m in an interview yesterday. “The UFC knows that when they ask me to do something, I generally say yes. But when Dana White calls and says hey I need you to do something, I always do it and this is the first time I’ve said that I just can’t do it. I ran down here with Robbie (Lawler) to do this, the fight, I have something scheduled that I signed a contract for so there’s two reasons why I didn’t go to Abu Dhabi and the third being my wife just had a baby so I got to get back and my wife absolutely said that I’m not going to the Middle East right now, no if, and, or buts about it, so I put those three together and I just said Dana, I just can’t do it.

“I don’t think he was upset. He did remind that I was the only fighter who would not be there, but um, you know he definitely wasn’t mad. I think he understood that you know they should have gave me a little bit notice. They told me a week before they wanted me to jump on a plane that they wanted me to go over there, so they needed to work things out a little bit better than what actually happened.”

Hughes is helping out fellow H.I.T. Squad compadre Robbie Lawler. Lawler, who lost to Jake Shields last July in St. Louis at the Scottrade Center, is on the comeback trail against K-1/DREAM fighter Melvin Manhoef. Manhoef has incredible striking power and could easily knock out Lawler if it’s a stand-up war. If Lawler takes Melvin to the ground, the fight will end quickly. A simple-enough fight to game plan for, right? Hughes said not-so-fast.

“It’s all on how Robbie feels when he steps in the Octagon. On any given day, somebody can beat somebody else. But if Robbie feels like he’s on top of his game, he’s going to come out of there with his hand raised. I think that we’ve got some great game planning going into this. Obviously Melvin brings a great striking pedigree into the fight, but you know we’ve done our homework, we’ve looked at the tapes and we’ve come up with what we believe are his weaknesses like I’m sure he’s done with Robbie.

“We can come up with as much game planning as we want to but what’s going to happen in that Octagon Saturday is whatever Robbie wants to do. You know, I can yell and scream all I want from the sideline, you know, but Robbie does whatever he wants to do and if he wants to stand up with the guy then he’s going to stand up with him, there’s nothing that I can do about it. So, that what’s Robbie wants to do that’s what he’ll do. But I mean, Robbie’s watched enough tape to see what this guy does, what he’s strong at, what he’s weak at, so Robbie’s very good about putting himself in good positions on his feet so you know you don’t want to underestimate Robbie when it comes to stand-up because he’s very, very good at digesting somebody’s game and coming up with a game plan.”

Lawler last fought in July, which was over six months ago. According to a comment made by Hughes on his web site on December 21st, the H.I.T. Squad went out to California to meet with Strikeforce and couldn’t get a fight booking sooner.

“Last week I was in California with Robbie, Pena, and Foster, hoping they would find a replacement so Robbie could fight. It didn’t happen and I guess I’m just spoiled being with the UFC. From what I understand, Showtime really likes to stick their nose in Strikeforce’s business and because of that I don’t think that Strikeforce will be around for much longer; but enough with that.”

There was a lot of discussion online as to whether or not this meant political trouble between Strikeforce and the H.I.T. Squad camp. Hughes said there was no heat, but he also didn’t mince any words yesterday.

“I think I said what I had to say on my web site but I didn’t like the way it was handled. From the organizations that I fight for, the UFC, it wouldn’t have been like that. But everybody’s different and I don’t have any grudges or dislikes at all. And if somebody’s got a problem with me, I sure hope they come up to me and say something about it. But you know I don’t have a problem with Strikeforce, they’re always very friendly to me. I just didn’t like the way that was handled.”

As for Hughes’ immediate future in Mixed Martial Arts, his focus is entirely on fighting Renzo Gracie. It’s a unique match-up in the sense that it really won’t determine or shape the direction of the UFC Welterweight division, but it’s two tough veterans who give it their all and will make the fans undoubtedly happy.

“I think Renzo’s a great opponent. I think it works well for both of us. I beat his cousin, I beat his student one student Matt Serra, he just beat my former coach well he beat my former coach Pat Miletich a couple of years ago, so storyline-wise it really works out good for us. The bad thing about the fight for me is I like Renzo. He’s a great guy, you know, if you don’t like Renzo Gracie then there’s something wrong. He’s just a really nice guy so that’s one thing I dislike about it. It’s a lot easier preparing for somebody like Matt Serra who run his mouth and doesn’t know what he is talking about as opposed to Renzo who’s got nothing but nice things to say about somebody, so trying to get myself motivated which I’m not having a problem right now, just trying to get in the best shape of my life and you know I think it’s going to be a really interesting fight. You know Gracie brings in that great ground game, he’s you know pretty well-rounded I would say. I think I hold the takedown ability if the fight wants to go to the ground I think it will be because I put it there. You know he’s kind of got crazy stand-up a little bit because he doesn’t care if it goes to the ground, he can be kind of reckless. So, it’s interesting, it’s an interesting fight.”

Renzo will have home turf advantage in Abu Dhabi, given the fact that he has trained many people in the country. Plus, Abu Dhabi is, well, home to the ADCC (Abu Dhabi Combat Club) Submission Wrestling World Championships. There’s a lot of money put into bringing the biggest names in the fight game every year to Abu Dhabi. It’s prestigious. The Gracie name plays really big over there. When Hughes fights in Abu Dhabi, he will no doubt be the heel.

“Fighting overseas doesn’t bother me, I’ve done it several times. I probably have over 10 fights out of the country, so that really doesn’t bother me but you know I got to clarify with the UFC, I don’t know who they are bringing over there to judge, you know I’m going to make sure the cut men are there to tape my hands and everything so I want to make sure it’s like I’m fighting in the United States but I’m just in a different country. I think Renzo’s going to be the favorite over there, you know he spends a lot of time over there and that doesn’t bother me, I actually like that. You know, I’ve always been the guy to where if I can guy to somebody else’s hometown, beat ‘em up and leave, I mean I love ruining people’s day like that.”

After he fights Renzo Gracie in April, will we see Matt Hughes compete again in the UFC?

“I think I can, you know if I want to, it all depends on my drive, you know, I definitely want to take this fight. I really like the match-up, I do, so we’ll see what happens after this fight. It’s one fight at a time for me, no doubt about it. So, right now I still want to compete, I love it, so we’ll keep going.”