There was a point in time where I defended Matt Hughes while others ripped him. That point ended a few months ago as I continually lose more and more respect for the guy.

While I consider him to be one of the sport's greatest fighters, I also consider him to be one of its biggest hypocrite. He continually passes judgment on others while ignoring his own actions. 

My latest beef has to do with Hughes' self-righteous antics regarding the injury misfortunes of other fighters.

Hughes first struck when Matt Serra suffered a herniated disk and had to pull out of their fight on Dec. 29 at UFC 79. In a blog post on his website, Matt-Hughes.com, Hughes in one sentence says he believes Serra is really hurt but in another still manages to take a cheap shot: 

As of now, Matt Serra is out of the fight because of a herniated disc in his lower back. I believe Serra is actually hurt, so I don’t think this is just a ploy not to fight. Before my Royce fight, I had three bulged discs that I was able to repair enough to fight. As everybody knows you never go into a fight 100%. So, I’m just going to continue to train until I find out what’s next. -Matt

Why does Hughes have to be so underhanded in his criticism? Why can't he display some honor and be straight forward in questioning the guy's pain threshold?

But why is Hughes even questioning Serra's pain threshold? Is he a doctor? How is he qualified to compare the severity of his injury to Serra's? 

Now, Hughes has taken upon himself to pass judgment on Matt Arroyo. The following snippet also comes courtesy of a recent blog entry at Matt-Hughes.com:

However, one thing we did find out from Dana later on was that the doctor found nothing wrong with Arroyo’s rib. When Dana told us, he was ticked. So I don’t know were Matt Arroyo came up with the cracked rib thing; but the doctors couldn’t find anything wrong with him.

My idea is that he didn’t want to fight Mac and that was his way out and you can tell from his interviews that he didn’t want to fight Mac. To be honest, I think Matt Serra could have done a better job trying to get Matt Arroyo to fight.

I love how Hughes insists on intertwining his hate with real-life occurrences. Instead of just saying he doesn't like Serra, he has to crowbar his feelings into a post pertaining to one of Serra's training partners, Arroyo.

And why is he once again passing judgment on someone when he isn't qualified to do so? How does he know the level of pain that Arroyo was experiencing?

The answer is that he doesn't know but since he's Matt Hughes and he goes to Church, reads the Bible, and has won championships, he's better than everyone else and anyone who doesn't live their life like Matt Hughes is clearly inferior.

Give me a break! 

He doesn't know where Arroyo came up with the cracked rib thing? How about at the hospital when he had his X-ray initially read? I heard a story last week that was consistent with what Hughes said in regard to Dana White not being happy with Arroyo. However, as the story was told to me, White became unhappy after he took it upon himself to have Arroyo's X-ray sent to a doctor of his choosing.

I'm kind of confused as to why this was never documented on the show and I'm left with the question as to why wasn't the assertion that Hughes claim White made in front of the fighters not shown?

Most of all, I don't know why Hughes is going to far as to question Arroyo's heart without offering more in the way of proof to support his claim. It's real irresponsible of Hughes to question the injury situations of other fighters without much substance to offer.

God forbid Hughes gets injured to a point where he misses a fight because it's going to be real hard to have any sympathy for the guy considering his comments about Serra and Arroyo. 

Don't even get me started on how Hughes has treated some of his friends who helped him get where he is today.

That's a story for another rant. 

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Sam Caplan

Lead Writer/Editor - ProElite.com

SamCaplan.ProElite.com