| Chris Lytle vs. Matt Hughes UFC 68 |
It hasn’t been announced yet, but Chris Lytle will provide the opposition for Matt Hughes at UFC 68 on March 3 in Columbus, Ohio. Interesting choice of opponent for Hughes, who according to Wrestling Observer had asked for Diego Sanchez instead, as the top welterweights jockey for position in a division now clearly owned by Georges St. Pierre.
GSP’s destruction of Hughes at UFC 65 still has jaws hanging. Everyone knew he was good, but this good? Hughes wanted no part of an instant rematch, and Sanchez says he’s not ready for a near-term title shot; although he’d like to fight Hughes.
Hughes-v-Sanchez is not a fight the UFC is willing to make right now. The fighters are two highly marketable stars and pitting them against each other effectively "wastes" the loser. The likely WW scenario (with predictions) for the balance of the year has Hughes taking apart Lytle at 68; GSP beating Matt Serra at UFC 69 in Houston in April; and Sanchez edging out Josh Koscheck also on 69.
That sets up GSP-Hughes 3 for the summer and gives Sanchez one more prelim fight before he faces the St. Pierre-Hughes winner by the end of the year.
UFC 68, by the way, is blowing up. The event is a sellout and could eclipse the North American high-water mark for an MMA event. Strike Force’s March ‘06 event is the standard, which had 18,265 in attendance.
I agree that Hughes will easily defeat Lytle, I also believe that GSP will beat Serra, but Koscheck vs Sanchez is a lot closer than people think. I think that Kos has progressed more as a fighter over the last 18 months than Sanchez has and will showcase this against Diego. Of course, Kos is still wide open for the knee and he shoots for a takedown, but hopefully he’s worked on avoiding this and taking his opponent down from the clinch instead of shooting low.
I Love Matt Hughes hes so freaking hott..and hes a really good fighter…i wish i could meet him in person
Matt Hughes is a very great fighter, but he should have tooken Lytle more seriously. I think Hughes could have made Lytle tapout. Can’t complain though, he won! Give Lytle respect for stepping in the cage with Hughes too.