Matt Hughs or Royce Gracie

[m_calingo]

Who, in your opinion, will win next month's bout, Matt Hughes, or Royce Gracie?

[georgie]

Who, in your opinion, will win next month's bout, Matt Hughes, or Royce Gracie?

ill go with royce on this....due more to experience than anything...i do think hughes is an exceptional athlete and it will be the match of the year.

[JkD187]

ill go with royce on this....due more to experience than anything...i do think hughes is an exceptional athlete and it will be the match of the year.

Lmao!!! you do realize that Gracie has a total of 16 fights while Hughes has 44 against real opponents...not a bunch of guys with no grappling or fighting experience.His only real Opponents were Ken Shamrock(tapped him out then had a boring ass fight to a draw that Ken should of won but there were no Judges)Hideo Tokoro who is a 145lb fighter who completely kicked Gracie's ass al over but because of his retarted rules it was a draw again...and well we all know what happened with Sakuraba. Hughes by a decision after a borinig ass fight due to Gracie's excessive stalling.

[7r14ngL3Ch0k3]

Seriously, how can Royce possibly win when he's so outmatched. Id like to belief the Gracie will win but Hughes will knock him out, and thats something Id like too see. But then again, what could be better than Royce armlocking him. If Royce wins, i will be a slave to GJJ!

[Gunjin]

My money's on Matt Hughes. Never been on the Gracie band wagon and never will be! It's just a matter of principle. And secondly, despite their fight records, I feel the age difference will be a factor too. It just seems the older guys are getting beat a lot lately.

[Uke]

I'd pick Royce. Hughes almost lost to Carlos Newton. Had Newton had the wits about him to push or pull Hughes' leg, Hughes wouldn't have been able to lift him up and slam him. He was on his way out in that triangle choke and was surprised that he won because he was a second away from tapping.

I don't believe Royce would have made that mistake that Newton did. Not that I think he'd(Royce) win by triangle choke, but he's better at submissions than Newton is, and he is better at keeping his man where he wants them than Newton is. I'd have to say I'd go with Royce.

The only thing I think is working against Royce is that he's older now.

[SamuraiGuy]

Oh Uke, Uke, Uke, Uke, thats not the only thing working against Royce.

I used to think Hughes would win, but Royce had a very good chance...

Now I think Hughes will fucking murder Royce. Heres why.

The rules work in Hughes' advantage, he's used to fighting with them, and "UFC 1 rules" would be an advantage for Royce as the "dirty" shots help him set up his submissions. Such as grabbing kimo's pony tail , alot of people think thats the only reason he won that fight. Hughes has always fought under these rules, knows these rules, and even though Royce has fought in pride, its still foreign rules and Matt holds the advantage here.

Matt has been far more active than Royce
Matt has more MMA experience than Royce.

Heres a big one, Matt controls where the fight will take place, If Hughes is winning the standup, he will keep it there, Royce wont be able to take Hughes down, if Hughes feels he wants to put royce against the cage, he will do so with EASE. The only time Matt is at a disadvantage is if he is on his back. With his wrestling skills, I doubt he will get swept, and there is no way Royce takes him down and puts him on his back.

Matt has better striking then Royce, Royce is jiu jitsu through and through and he has to stick to Jiu Jitsu. Even Rickson said "the day Jiu Jitsu fighters try to kickbox, is the day they lose". While Matt's striking is nothing to write home about, it is better than Royces. Especially being able to train with Miletich Fighters, Sylvia, although a troll, has decent striking, he also has Rich Franklin's coaching at his disposal if he wants it.

Hughes is younger, he has age on his side.
Hughes will come in weighing more than Royce.

The two things I will give Royce is the height advantage and the submission advantage.

Note I said submission, not ground, Hughes is better than Royce on the ground, just not in submissions, control, etc, Hughes dominates.

I can also throw in the fact, that Royce fought people who didnt even know what an Armbar was when he was racking up his wins.... (of which he has significantly less than Hughes).

If Kimo had even MY relatively limited grappling knowledge... nowhere close to Royce, I think he would of beat Royce. The size and strength difference would have been to much.

Edit; I forgot the thing with Newton, that Hughes that ALMOST (remember he didnt) lost to Newton, is far far far far FAR different in BJJ/submission knowledge than the Hughes we know and love (lol) today.

[JkD187]

I'd pick Royce. Hughes almost lost to Carlos Newton. Had Newton had the wits about him to push or pull Hughes' leg, Hughes wouldn't have been able to lift him up and slam him. He was on his way out in that triangle choke and was surprised that he won because he was a second away from tapping.

I don't believe Royce would have made that mistake that Newton did. Not that I think he'd(Royce) win by triangle choke, but he's better at submissions than Newton is, and he is better at keeping his man where he wants them than Newton is. I'd have to say I'd go with Royce.

The only thing I think is working against Royce is that he's older now.

I thought you were dead....besides that was a long time ago and he still managed to tko him twice in a row.

[7r14ngL3Ch0k3]

The fact of the matter is, Royce can win only by submission whereas Hughes can win by several other ways, especially doctor stoppage from cuts on the Gracie's eye. I dont think Royce is gonna pull a submission off, I dont think he's gonna come close.
Here's the Hughes VS Gracie fight card...http://www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=Even...htCard&eid=163, and Diego Sanchez is fighting and he'll win for sure, but the Mike Swick vs. Joe Riggs fight is going to be close.

Here's a Intro to MH vs RGhttp://www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=Mult...etail&gid=2493

[Uke]

If figure that Royce has never been inactive, just not seen in the ring. And if he's trying to fight Hughes he's got to be trying to bring his "A game". I acknowledge the points you've made. They're solid. But the only way to tell is to watch them fight.

I don't think anyone can speak to what Royce can and cannot do. If you say that Hughes isn't the same fighter because time has gone by, there's no saying that Royce hasn't improved his game as well. Afterall he comes from a family of fighters, and all he'd have to do to become more formidable is train with his older brother Rickson.

But still I like your points, SamuraiGuy.

[Kungfoolery]

Hughes will knock Royce out in 37 seconds and people will say Royce would have won if there was no time limit.

[7r14ngL3Ch0k3]

There's only one way to find out...

[cakegirl]

I love Royce so much, and the thought of this fight makes me feel very, very sick.

[OmaPlata]

Royce can submit him as BJ Penn did with ease, due to Hughes lack of ground submissions and over confidence. We do know that Royce can submit him and we do know that there is no way Hughes will have any chance to submit Royce, none.
What most likely will happen is Royce get Hughes inhis guard and the fight in prematurley stopped and Huges is given a TKO gnp stoppage, or Royce stalls and cant get a submission so Hughes squeeks out a decision.
One thing for certain also is Hughes isnt going toshow Royce anything he hasnt seen before 100 times over.
Hughes is nothing impressive to me at all, not one bit.

[J-Luck]

I'd pick Royce. Hughes almost lost to Carlos Newton. Had Newton had the wits about him to push or pull Hughes' leg, Hughes wouldn't have been able to lift him up and slam him. He was on his way out in that triangle choke and was surprised that he won because he was a second away from tapping.

I don't believe Royce would have made that mistake that Newton did. Not that I think he'd(Royce) win by triangle choke, but he's better at submissions than Newton is, and he is better at keeping his man where he wants them than Newton is. I'd have to say I'd go with Royce.

The only thing I think is working against Royce is that he's older now.

He wasn't a second away from tapping, he used a slam(which is a judo technique to defend against the guard) to loosten the choke, he was surprised in only that he had done more than loosten it. He was also not as well versed in submission grappling back then and the fight is not as good of an example of how he fights anymore. I think, though Royce is a (6????) degree black belt... Hughes may be a better grappler... I mean, he is a NCAA championship placer, which is a world renowned grappling event(though it's not always seen as that by martial artists). I think it will be a decent fight, but fairly boring as Royce will stall alot. I have heard he has been working almost exclusively on striking to try to pull a surprise, but a guy like Hughes who is amazingly athletic and is still crosstraining and learning will certainly have the upperhand.