I haven't seen the fight yet, so I am not sure what to think. However, Hughes is sometimes a slow starter, polishing off opposition like Sakurai or Newton in the later rounds with a slow and methodical GnP grind. No one has ever beaten Hughes late into the fight (all his losses come from flash endings -submission or KO- in the first round).
Even in the Sakurai fight, it looked like Hughes was fighting conservatively, but in round four, he turned it on just a little bit more. That, combined with the steady damage he was dealing to Sakurai sealed the deal.
If Hughes / Charuto went into rounds 4 & 5, what do you think would have happened?
fos
Well it was signed as a 3 round fight. Hughes said after the fight he fought conservative. Played it safe, something along thoise lines.
If it was a 5 round fight it probably would have been much of the same, maybe the ref would have done some standups, because the crowd kept on booing the lack of action.
same deal, more grappling and minimal striking.
ttt for more opinions.
fos