Royce Favoured Over Hughes!?!?!

I have a poll on my site asking visitors to vote on who they believe will win the upcoming battle between Matt Hughes and Royce Gracie.

The options are simple; you can vote Matt, Royce, Matt by beatdown or Royce by submission.

As it stands, I've added the figures together and it's nearly split down the middle, with Royce Gracie ahead by a few percentage points.

As of May 18th @ 9:30am, Royce is favoured by 50.76% of the voters, while Matt has received 49.24% of the votes!!!

I'm not afraid to say that I voted for Matt to win this fight, but it appears I may be in the wrong!!!

If you get a chance, visit www.showdown.ca and place your vote. I want to see what happens to this figure as we get closer to the fight.

All the best,

Showdown Joe

Just have to be the non coformant and go against the flow don't you!

Had a couple of guys at work last week talking in the lunchroom about Royce "coming out of retirement" to fight Hughes, and how he would kill him...

New fans only remember UFC 1-3 and have no clue about Pride, K1 and other organizations...

Should be a good scrap

Now that People have FINALLY stopped asking if Royce is still winning those things, he comes back to UFC, so people will never stop asking!

Civilians will be asking about him til ufc 120 as it stands.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8M6SKkeBBO4&search=ufc%20workout

Well, at least we know that Royce is ready for an American Gladiators style joust.

I don't even think that this will be a competitive fight. Hughes is an absolute monster, and I don't think Royce could be any of the current 170lb or 185lb UFC fighters.

I hope this doesn't go down the way I think it will (brutal beatdown).

Matt is too weak on the ground....Royce will have an easy time of him!

He could then go for Rich Franklin...and then Chuck...could you imagine if he did??!! And beat them!!

I think When Matt and Royce collide it will be like matter and anti-matter in the engine room of the USS Enterprise!

It won't be pretty!

...gawd I love Showdown.ca.

Great news and updates.

I say it'll be Royce by front kick ;-)

My receptionist today said " why the Hell is Royce Gracie fighting this Hughes guy?? Royce you used kill everyone and has beat 400 pound monsters...

here we go

"I just don't see Hughes at 175 being more dangerous than Yoshida at heavyweight."

Well at least we know Hughes can recover from a groin shot. :)

Very interesting. I have had many talks with my amigos, some hardcore fans and some casual newbies. Many people have only seen Royces older fights and Matts recent bouts and determine that Royce will get killed. Myself, I have to go with Gracie. I have (as most you have) seen every fight from both guys and I honestly think that BJJ will reign supreme. Gracie has faced some huge monsters and prevailed...not to mention Yoshida, Shamrock, Severn (in his prime),and has been fairly active and has definately maintained hist raining. Although Matt has had tremendous success, he has shown some holes in his game and they all fall into Royce plans. Matt has shown his dificulty with solid grapplers/BJJ guys (BJ Penn, Hallman twice, GSP before getting that slick sub on at the bell) and I personally feel that Gracie has more to offer on the mat that those athletes (no disrespect intended but Gracie was born ith a Gi on). I see a choke sunk in early round 2

But like always anything can happen in MMA and I will be rooting for a great performance from both.

Pete

The Star Trek reference was classic...:)

Personally, I do not see Royce doing much in this fight. I can see Matt going for the KO standing up, I can see Matt picking him up and KO'ing him into the mat, I can see Matt beating the living tar out of Royce against the cage. I just do not see Royce bringing anything into this fight that could possibly hurt Hughes.

Now, with all that being said, I had an amazing conversation with Arnold Lim last Saturday at the MMA EXPO. The 'meat' of the conversation was simple: WHAT IF ROYCE EMBARASSES HUGHES in some form or another. I mean, taps him out via arm bar, breaks the arm, or chokes him to sleep...something BJJ orientated where the hardcore BJJ'er will be bragging for years.

If Royce pulls this off, the question is if he 'will he recognized as one of the greatest fighters of all time?'.

I would have to say 'YES'.

Royce by nut kick Rd 1

You heard it here first!

PS. in my mind, Royce is already proven to be the greatest fighter of all time and Hughes will just be another footnote to his many accomplishments.

I do not believe Royce can be KO'd, not to question his intelligence but years of being the Gracie families man on the front lines have left him battered and unable to string together full sentences (within a reasonable time limit). This has left him much like an aligator, deadly but not requiring much in the brains department. Instinct can be just as deadly. He is also not young anymore, and has never been the poster boy of athleticism. I wonder if he can keep up with Hughes and his awesome conditioning.

This leads me to draw the conclusion that if Royce cannot be knocked out, never quits (unless a white towel gets thrown in by a lesser of the family), I feel Matt Hughes will win by decision and the final result will be blamed on the format of the fight (those damn rules). That being said, I want Royce to choke him out .

I don't know if you are serious, joking, or are sipping Sarcasm Kool Aid, but man, that is one of the best thoughts posted on this forum in awhile. Very wombatish...I luv it.

Royce can definetly take a beating...just watch the Severn fight (still one of my favs of all time). It was a younger Royce versus a monster of a man whose submission escapes were not at an all time high.

Royce has aged more than a decade since that fight and is fighting a guy who is in his prime, a monster of a welterweight hell bent on carving his legacy using Royce's blood as his ink.

The last time I saw Matt this determined was in the first Trigg fight...and that wasn't pretty. Everytime I break this fight down, I just don't think Royce can pull it off.

Whether you think Matt will dominate or Royce will prove everyone wrong, this fight will definetly be one for the ages.

Imagine if Carlos released the triangle a split second before Hughes fell and getting the KO ... Carlos X Royce would be far more interesting.

Duh! No kidding KKM. In case you missed it, the implication was that Carlos X Royce would be an awesome grappling match. ;-)