Hughes in photo by Josh Hedges
After beating Renzo Gracie, Matt Hughes’s next opponent in the UFC is Ricardo Almeida this coming August 7. The black belt better known as Cachorrão is coached by Renzo. If to some the matchup means a shot at revenge for team Gracie, to Hughes it doesn’t make the slightest difference.
“Almeida asked for the fight after I beat Renzo. He wants to get even or something like that. Whatever his reason for wanting to fight doesn’t matter to me,” Hughes told MMAJunkie.com.
“I have no problem with them. They really are good at what they do. I like Ricardo and Renzo. I always told Renzo he’s one of the coolest guys out there. There’s absolutely no problem between me and the Gracies.”
In regards to his showdown with Cachorrão, carrying with him the experience of 51 fights (44 wins), Hughes expects a different sort of fight from the one with Renzo.
“Ricardo really pushes the pace and tries to make sure the fight goes to the ground. Renzo knew he wasn’t likely to get me to the ground and didn’t waste energy trying. Ricardo will. He will push the pace and try and take me down,” he says in finishing.
Check out the card:
UFC 117
California, USA
August 7, 2010
Anderson Silva vs Chael Sonnen
Ricardo Almeida vs Matt Hughes
Rafael dos Anjos vs Clay Guida
Thiago Alves vs Jon Fitch
Junior “Cigano” Dos Santos vs Roy Nelson
Tim Boetsch vs Thiago Silva
Dustin Hazelett vs Rick Story
Christian Morecraft vs Stefan Struve
Dennis Hallman vs Ben Saunders
Charlie Brenneman vs Johny Hendricks
Stanislav Nedkov vs Rodney Wallace