Former long-time UFC welterweight champion and Hall-of-Famer Matt Hughes weighed on in this past weekend's main event title bout between Johny Hendricks and Robbie Lawler.
In a fight that once again went to the judges' scorecards and rendered yet another split decision verdict, Robbie Lawler was the one who emerged victorious this time around.
In prizefight standards, a champion needs to be stopped, in order to be beaten. Most fights that go to decision, especially the close ones, more often than not favor the champion. But it was not the case for Robbie Lawler, who managed to squeak out a late rally en route to his newly minted title. Not much people disputed the decision.
As both top contenders battled it out, Hughes was closely watching from the stands. Claiming to be a friend to both fighters, he guaranteed that it would be fireworks from the opening bell. While his prediction was indeed accurate, Hughes however questioned Hendricks' strategy as the fight went on.
During his appearance on Monday's edition of MMAFighting.com's "The MMA Hour," Hughes claimed that the Las Vegas crowd on Saturday night may have swayed the fight's outcome against "Bigg Rigg's" favor.
"I think the crowd actually hurt Johny because they were booing so much on his take downs, and the judges hear that," Hughes explained. "So when the crowd is yelling, that's not good for the judges."
Johny Hendricks is a known finisher in the UFC, particularly a knockout artist. While only eight out of his sixteen victories have only ended by knockout, most fighters have gone wary of his bomb of a left hand.
But for Hughes, Hendricks played a more inferior game plan against Lawler, noting that he may have taken a page out of former long-time champion Georges St-Pierre's book of not being able to finish fights.
"I believe Johny got this from GSP, GSP is not a guy to go out and finish fights," Hughes adds. "He wants to win three of the five rounds. He wants to win a round, win another round and then win another."
St-Pierre may go down in history as one of the elite 170-pounders of all-time, but Hughes also believes that being unable to finish fights will not give any fighter the recognition he deserves, no matter how much of a great fighter he is.
"Maybe I'm speaking out of turn here, but they don't want a champion that just tries to win single rounds and not try to close the fight."
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