It wasn’t that long ago that Hughes dominated the octagon with his tenacious wrestling, shooting in on his opponents taking them down at will then systematically employing his renowned ground and pound to grind them into submission. Those times may be over…

Wrestling: 5.5 out of 10

Since losing to current Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre in their 2nd fight, it was obvious that Hughes had not evolved with the rest of the players when it came to striking, effectively leaving him with his bread and butter - wrestling. Matt knew it, Thiago knew it, Matt knew Thiago knew it - he was going to shoot in for the take down at every waking moment. Matt telegraphed every attempt, each being auto-sprawled by Thiago.  Hell, Thiago had 2 whole months to prepare for the Hughes gameplan that everyone and their dog knew.

Frustrated at being denied the takedown, Matt did something I personally have never seen him do, he pulled guard - twice. You knew this was going to be a long night when something like that happens.   Although Matt was able to secure one takedown, he was not able to do anything with it for a significant portion of the first round.  Unable to get past Thiago’s guard, Matt was even warned by referee Herb Dean that the fight would be stood up due to lack of action.

Contrast that with Thiago on top, his ground and pound was definitely stronger in the same position, he was able to posture up and deliver clean punches to Hughes’ face in half the time that Matt had.

Ju-jitsu: 6 out of 10

Nowhere near the level of jujitsu that a BJ Penn or a Nogueria displays, Thiago’s defense on his back was good enough to neutralize the legendary Hughes ground and pound.  Utilizing the butterfly guard well and controlling Hughes’ posture with overhooks.

Striking: 6.5 out of 10

Matt Hughes’ standup ability was never his strong point, and unfortunately it showed in this fight.  He barely used his jab, and when he did it was more of a pawing motion to setup the inevitable takedown attempt.  Matt did not want to feel out Thiago and from the opening bell everyone in the building knew he was going to shoot in and take the fight to the ground, where conventional wisdom would say he had the advantage.  Unfortunately for him, this strategy did not go as planned.

Thiago always got the better of whatever few exchanges took place, easily handling whatever Matt gave him.  His size and strength advantage was evident as he was able to manhandle Hughes in the clinch to time and connect with some vicious knees.

The fall of Matt Hughes in this fight ironically was the result of another failed takedown attempt, while in a scramble Matt tried to grab Thiago for a double-leg takedown that was easily avoided when Thiago spun out.  This left Matt in striking distance for a flying knee - as Thiago came charging in Matt’s wrestling instinct to go low worked against him as the knee connected flush sending him down to the canvas.  The ground and pound that quickly followed ended the fight for the Hall of Famer.

Overall: 5.5 out of 10

The fight was a disappointment in that Hughes got completely dominated.  He put up no fight whatsoever against the bigger, stronger Thiago Alves.  It may have been the combination of Hughes taking the fight on short notice, and Thiago missing the weigh-in by an unforgivable 4lbs - but one thing is for certain - the game has passed Matt Hughes by.  The era of dominating by specializing in one aspect of mixed martial arts is over, and pure wrestlers like Hughes will simply be out prepared by fighters doing their homework and training against takedowns and neutralizing ground and pound.  Luckily for Hughes - he has one more fight left in his contract, so he probably wont go from the 9-time undisputed Welterweight Champion to being on someone else’s highlight reel for much longer.