Being considered one of the top welterweights of all time does not seem enough for Matt Hughes. The former welterweight champion who is set to fight arch nemesis Matt Serra at UFC 98 in May is now considering a move to the middleweight division.
Speaking during last Thursday’s UFC Fight Club question and answer session in the days leading up to UFC 96, Hughes brought up the fact that this is a move that almost happened back in 2005. Hughes stated that if Evan Tanner had defeated close friend Rich Franklin at UFC 53 for the middleweight championship it would have been Tanner rather than Franklin who would have coached opposite him on the second season of The Ultimate Fighter. Since Franklin won and the two were close friends they agreed not to fight after the show had finished taping.
Hughes was quoted as saying that when he was welterweight champion he had always considered a jump up to 185 and reiterated his desire to fight Tanner in a “champion vs. champion” bout that would have taken place shortly after TUF 2 was completed. The UFC had a deal in place for Hughes to go head-to-head with Tanner but Franklin had other ideas.
While many consider Hughes to be on his last legs of a career that has spanned 11 years and has seen him defeat such fighters as Georges St. Pierre, B.J. Penn, Carlos Newton, Royce Gracie, Frank Trigg and Sean Sherk, Hughes feels otherwise.
The man who has had welterweight title runs from November of 2001 to January 2004 and October 2004 to November 2006 has some unfinished business first at 170 before he thinks about moving up. A long awaited bout between him and Serra will finally take place in May after being postponed back in December of 2007 due to a back injury sustained by Serra. The two were opposing coaches on season six of The Ultimate Fighter and there is no love lost between them.
Although Hughes is 1-3 in his last four fights he believes he still has something left in his gas tank and
would like to take on middleweight champion Anderson Silva
once his fight with Serra is in the record books. Hughes said he still toys with the idea of moving up to 185 and that Silva would be the man he would like to face. Hughes who is 42-7 overall and 15-5 in the UFC is on the last fight of his contract but stated that he has no intentions of fighting anywhere else and that the UFC is well aware of that.
http://fiveouncesofpain.com/2009/03/09/matt-hughes-considering-move-to-middleweight/