"Coach Hughes" TUF 6?

Question

This question is for all who train and have trained. Do you think Matt hughes' coaching style helped or hurt his team?

Answer 1

emotionally destroyed his fighters before he got in the ring. These guys are all having there first ufc fights it is nothing they have prepared for..hughes should of had them better mentally prepared

Answer 2

Say what you will about his personality, but Hughes is an incredibly hard worker, and dedicated to being on top.

I don't think I can blame the first 5 losses on Matt. His team seems totally dead once they get in the cage. Barrera lost that fight all on his own. I also can't give him all the credit for the first win, because Mac is easily the best guy on his team, probably on both teams. However, I do think he may have hurt Jared last night. J-Rock was frustrated in the gym, and Hughes was silent during the fight. Even though Tommy's one of the more experienced guys, I gotta think he's in trouble with War Machine simply because Hughes has basically given up.

On a side note, I laughed at the Serra impression at the end... But dude. You just got knocked the **** out. You're not in the best place to attack the other coach.

Answer 3

Hughes has made this more about his personal victory over Serra rather than about improving the fighters. he injured his own fighter last week and tough training caused another injury to his fighter this week. I think Hughes is a great fighter but really isn't that great of a coach and motivator. Hughes is an MMA legend so Im pretty sure that his team had a ton of repect for him coming into the TUF show. What he did or does to lose that repect I can't tell you. But I can guarentee that all of his fighter he picked didn't come into this without heart, its something that Matt does

Answer 4

I personally think the whole season has come down to the will of the fighters picked by each coach. Serra just picked fighters with a greater will to win that Hughes did. If this is part of being a coach, then I guess Serra is a better coach. However, I cannot say that is true. You can take the most gifted fighter in the world and if he is lazy or won't follow instructions, he will lose. That cannot be blamed on a coach.

Hughes has done little that can be blamed on him, as he put forth a great effort to push his fighters to be the best, but in the end they lost because they did NOT believe in themselves.

Answer 5

I think it is more of a communication thing than coaching style. A couple of things I have observed is that they literally can't hear his voice during the matches but they can hear Serra's. That coach outside the ring is an important piece that can sometimes pick up on things and convey them to you if you can hear him as you are fighting and help you make minor adjustments. Even the fighter that lost last night said he could hear Serra during the fight. Matt needs to bring a bullhorn to the ring or get the guy on his team with the loudest voice start yelling his instructions.

I also think that he is right in that you go into a match with a certain game plan and strategy and, in the absence of experience, you stick with it because it has the best chance for helping you to win over the course of the fight and you give that game plan time to work. Almost all of his fighters have lost in the first round, many deviated from the plan or did not follow it at all. He is telling them this also but they are not picking up on it so either he has to figure out a different way to say it and get it into their heads and keep reminding them of it during the fights or the results are what you have now. I think that this along with their general lack of experience is what you get with any fighter when they are out there in the ring. Inexperienced fighters make stupid mistakes, sometimes panic, don't have the experience to make adjustments themselves and are literally learning as they are fighting.

Answer 6

You wana know what cracks me up? Hughes is going nuts about his guys not "following the gameplan" but if you have been following MMAjunkie.com's TUF6 coverage (they interview every fighter that gets eliminated and post it the day after the show airs) every single fighter from team Hughes has said that there was no gameplan, Hughes just expected them to go in there and know what he wanted them to do, the only fighter Hughes can really complain about not listening is Barrera because they were screaming to let Dan up and he just stood there, but in all fairness Barrera should have got to go to a 3rd round, both fighters won a round and that decision was BS.

Hughes is just taking this to personally, it hurts his pride to be getting beat by a guy that has humiliated him on national TV.

Answer 7

You have to realize that we are only seeing an edited version of what really is going on, but from what I've seen and what I've heard from someone who was there, yes, Hughes is letting his ego hurt his fighters. I'm sure the actual training is solid, but the things he says is what's causing the problem. There is no denying he is a talented fighter with a lot of experience to share, but he doesn't seem to be in it for the fighters, he seems there to win it for himself.

Answer 8

I have personally met Matt Hughes through a mutual friend. He is a very likable man with a strong work ethic. I don't think what he trained was a negative or the way he trained as far as that goes. You cannot train desire, or heart, you either have it or you don't. I agree with what he said. Most of them do not listen and do what they wish to do, wether i is right or wrong. A grappler for example taking on a striker and fighting the strikers game. Why have a game plan and a corner if the minute you hit the ring they no longer exist to you.