Unleashed, Saturday at 10pm

[RavishingRickRudo]

 

Episode 11 takes us on a Matt Hughes journey from winning the title against Newton to fighting some of the best welterweights in the UFC to maintain it. The full schedule:

 

Hughes vs. St. Pierre

Hughes vs. Sakurai

Hughes vs. Newton

[Failed Bridge]

Nice.

 

Not surprising they would follow the Rich Franklin one up with one of Matt Hughes.

[Lord of The Curry]

Good stuff.

[Guest AndrewisyourHero]

The Newton fight is the one where he more or less counters Newton's triangle choke with a powerbomb, right? Cause the THUD Newton makes is kinda frightening..

[Guest Brian]

Depends whether it's their first or second fight, though I assume they'll show the first because that's when he won the title.

[Lei Tong]

I suppose they're showing the Mach fight due to his recent resurgence, but god damn was that fight dull by Sakurai standards.

 

Then again, I suppose they've already played the Trigg bouts a good deal and the Sherk match doesn't exactly have Matt looking at his best.

[KingPK]

Yeah, they showed both Hughes/Trigg fights on Unleashed a few weeks back along with (I think) Rich Franklin's UFC debut. Hughes escaping the choke, picking up Trigg and slamming him the fuck down was great.

[Guest Brian]

I gues they could show both the Newton fights.

[Guest Army Eye]

I suppose they're showing the Mach fight due to his recent resurgence, but god damn was that fight dull by Sakurai standards.

 

Heh.. I remember hyping Mach like crazy to my friends leading up to this fight. I definitely lost some credibilty that night. Freaking Hughes didn't let him get ANYTHING in..

[Lei Tong]

Yeah, it was definitely hard to watch Mach struggle after the car accident, especialy live.

[Your Paragon of Virtue]

Now that he seems like he's back to old form again, do you think he can step back to welterweight and give Hughes a decent fight?

[Lei Tong]

Sakurai still isn't quite the same the fighter he was during his prime, and frankly would always be hard pressed to defeat some of the elite wrestlers that dominate 169lbs (not to mention the size disadvantages he would face). That being said, he could most likely make a good showing against most 169lbs fighters when he's "on," though Gomi's looking to offer him a very tough stylistic fight come NYE.

[starvenger]

OK, just saw the "powerbomb" fight with Newton, and I'd have to concur with the analysis that Hughes was just about out, or he never would've dropped him.

 

Still, it's the stuff of legends, and damn if that wasn't nasty.

[Guest nWoCHRISnWo]

Why wouldn't Hughes have just dropped him in the first place? What good is resting Newton up against the cage? And is it commonly accepted that he was about to get choked out and dropped Newton (not purposely)? Looks like he dropped him with a lot of force.

[starvenger]

Why wouldn't Hughes have just dropped him in the first place?  What good is resting Newton up against the cage?  And is it commonly accepted that he was about to get choked out and dropped Newton (not purposely)?  Looks like he dropped him with a lot of force.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I don't know if it's commonly accepted. But the commentators seemed to think so, and the replays seem to show it. And as you pointed out, he probably should've dropped Newton right away, unless he was afraid that the triangle would wrench his neck on the way down.

[Lei Tong]

It's pretty commonly accepted that Hughes passed out first, yet was able to win in a sort of "first man to his feet" fashion.