Matt Hughes vs. Ricardo Almeida targeted for UFC 117
by Jacob Camargo on April 23, 2010

A very interesting welterweight bout between former longtime welterweight champion Matt Hughes (44-7) and Ricardo Almeida (12-3) is in the works for UFC 117, which is tentatively set to take place on August 7 at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California.

The fight's possibility was revealed on the official Twitter account of ESPN's Franklin McNeil.

"It's not official, but Matt Hughes-Ricardo Almeida appears headed to UFC 117 in Oakland, Calif," wrote McNeil. "You guys didn't hear this from me".

Almeida, who is one of the top Renzo Gracie black belts, has made it know that he wants his next opponent to be Hughes following Hughes' third round TKO win over his master Renzo Gracie two weeks ago.

The win over Gracie at UFC 112 on April 10 was Hughes second straight, with a previous win coming nearly a year ago over Matt Serra at UFC 98 in May 2009. Prior to the wins, he suffered back-to-back losses against Georges St. Pierre and Thiago Alves.

Hughes has put together a very impressive 17-5 record over his long 10-year tenure with the UFC. He has scored other notable Octagon wins over the likes of Chris Lytle, Royce Gracie, Carlos Newton, Hayato Sakurai, BJ Penn, Frank Trigg (x2), Sean Sherk, Joe Riggs and Georges St. Pierre.

Almeida is 10-1 in his last 11 bouts, which includes a current three-fight winning streak. He most recently made a successful welterweight debut in his last bout, defeating Matt Brown at UFC 111 last month.

Almeida sports a 5-3 UFC record, scoring other Octagon wins over Eugene Jackson, Rob Yundt, Matt Horwich and Kendall Grove. Beside competing with the UFC, he has fought for other notable promotions such as Pride and Pancrase, where he was the fourth Pancrase middleweight champion.

Though not officially announced, UFC 117 is expected to be headlined by a UFC middleweight title bout between current champion Anderson Silva and challenger Chael Sonnen.

 |  (35) Comments D_V: Almeida is going to destroy hughes. HappyHamer: I have never wanted Almeida to win a fight more! The Hitman: Almeida all the way. Elvis Freshley: It seems everywhere I go I'm the only Hughes fan around... Nevermind that the only WW's to beat him in recent memory are the number 1 and the number 3 guys, Almeida will get absolutely dominated by Matt Hughes and if not dominated then he will just plain lose. Hughes is one of the top five fighters of all time and as of now the best WW of all time, I just don't see Almeida standing much of a chance against Matt. But you know what they say...haters gonna hate. arlovskiviako: I will actually take Hughes with the TKO finish or the UD. Hughes has great sub defense (don't try to pull up fights from 10 years ago) and vicious GnP. IwishIwasMMA: 1. Matt Hughes as of right now is probably the best WW of all time due to his dominance. 2. Matt Hughes as of right now is useless in the WW division because of the next generation of fighters. He has a good chance against Almeida, but if Al can get top game going at anytime, Matt is in hot water. 3. Matt Hughes did defeat Sherk and BJ... mind you BJ beat his ass pretty bad and nearly did it a second time to if it was not for his injury. BJ made him look like an amateur in both fights. Not to mention Sherk and BJ are LWs, that is pretty embarrassing stuff. 4. Matt Serra did land an illegal strike on Hughes.. at the same time though, Serra was the ONLY ONE who was doing anything else other than LNP. Hughes took him down in the last round, and Serra then got on top. He also scored a takedown.. the last round was close... So I wouldnt call it a robbery, but Hughes should definitely thank jesus some more. The illegal strike was also NOT INTENTIONAL. 5. Whether Fitch is ranked as a better WW of all time is one thing.. but one fact that we cannot dispute is that Fitch would run a train on Hughes in every aspect of MMA. 6. Hughes is an asshole though. Great Legacy. Big asshole. IwishIwasMMA: I hope Almeida wins, but if anyone has impressive LNP and really good avoidance of MOST subs.. its Hughes. Elvis Freshley: I'll take my chances, but this is the same song and dance with every Matt Hughes fight. "Matt Hughes is a dick, Matt Hughes sucks, Lay and Pray this, over the hill that." You know what's probably going to happen? Neither fighter will dominate, but Matt will clearly win utilizing wrestling and not getting submitted in the exact same way he did against Serra. Some of you will say Almeida was robbed or how this performance goes to show how over the hill Hughes is or maybe Almeida will come out with an excuse, maybe he had some unpredictable back injury or something. Either way, you guys will complain and bitch, but the only thing that will change is that Hughes will improve to 45-7 and D_V will have a cute new avatar and sig set. And then when the next Hughes fight is announced we will wash, rinse, and repeat. IwishIwasMMA: 45-7 means nothing. This is MMA, not boxing. Yes Hughes beat some good guys, hell some even great.. but he is NOT NEARLY AS GOOD AS HE WAS BEFORE. He IS past his prime.. Probably he himself would tell you that. GO HARD: i doubt matt even takes the fight... arlovskiviako: Almeida will lose. That is all.
HOW WILL THE THIAGO ALVES VS. MARTIN KAMPMANN FIGHT END AT UFC ON FX 2?
Alves def. Kampmann via TKO/KO
Alves def. Kampmann via submission
Alves def. Kampmann via decision
Kampmann def. Alves via TKO/KO
Kampmann def. Alves via submission
Kampmann def. Alves via decision
TAKE ANOTHER POLL!