In this Comparing Kings piece, MMA welterweight greats Kamaru Usman vs Matt Hughes. We want to do an apples-to-apples comparison of the two greats, champion vs champion, just the facts. These two both have incredible welterweight title legacies. In Comparing Kings, we try to compare generational greats across eras. We narrow down our comparisons using only statistics and facts.
Kamaru Usman was an NCAA Div II wrestler who has now made a lasting impact on the UFC’s welterweight title lineage. Dispatching reigning champion Tyron Woodley, Usman has now gone undefeated in title matches after 6 bouts. He has faced some major names along the way, such as Jorge Masvidal and Colby Covington, while proudly representing Nigeria.
Representing his country-boy roots, the All-American Matt Hughes was an NCAA Div I wrestler who is now a well-deserved UFC Hall of Fame Fighter. Hughes holds the record for most finishes in the UFC Welterweight division with 11 and has the second most amount of welterweight title defenses, only after Georges St-Pierre. Matt Hughes was best known for his legendary fights with Frank Trigg, BJ Penn, and Carlos Newton.
Comparing Kings: Kamaru Usman vs Matt Hughes
Facts and Stats
| Kamaru Usman | Matt Hughes | |
| 20-1-0 | Record | 45-9-0 |
| 6-0 | Championship Record | 9-3 |
| 9 | (T)KO | 21 |
| 1 | Sub | 14 |
| 281-71-3 | Defeated UFC Opponents Record (When Fought) | 203-53-14 |
| 8-9 | Defeated Opponents UFC Title Record (When Defeated) | 6-11-1 |
| 15 | UFC Win Streak | 6 |
| 3-0 | Vs. NCAA Div I Wrestlers | 2-1 |
| 4-0 | Vs. BJJ Champions | 2-2 |
| 52% | Sig. Strike Accuracy | 53% |
| 58% | Strike Defense | 53% |
| 49% | Takedown Accuracy | 50% |
| 50 | Takedowns Landed | 39 |
| 100% | Takedown Defense | 35% |
| 1:58:12 | Control Time | 1:50:17 |
| 47.30% | Control Time % | 55.40% |
| 1:18:28 | Top Position Time | 1:41:51 |
| 6’0″ | Height | 5’9″ |
| 76″ | Reach | 73″ |
| 170 | Weight | 170 |
| Switch | Stance | Switch |
NCAA Div I Wrestlers
Kamaru Usman has wins against two NCAA D1 level wrestlers in Covington and Woodley. Covington is quite decorated as a wrestler, winning a FILA World Championship in 2013. Usman has defeated Covington twice.
While being an NCAA Div I wrestler Matt Hughes went 2-1 against his cohorts in this category. These opponents are Frank Trigg (x2) and Josh Koscheck.
BJJ Champions
Against Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world champions, Kamaru Usman has an impressive list against four strong opponents: Demian Maia, dos Anjos, Gilbert Burns, Sérgio Moraes. Maia has won ADCC and Jiu-Jitsu world championships. Dos Anjos and Burns won one World Jiu-Jitsu Championship each, and Moraes has two.
Matt Hughes went 2-2 against BJJ world champions. This is mainly due to his trilogy with BJJ World Champion BJ Penn, and add one win over Renzo Gracie. Hughes’ opponents of Royce Gracie and Ricardo Almeida never earned a number one spot in BJJ world championship.
Opponents UFC Title Record
This statistic only includes at the time when they were defeated. To include all title fights would give Hughes a massive number because after St-Pierre, Penn, and Sean Sherk lost to Hughes then later they went on to hold many more titles.
Only a few of Kamaru Usman’s opponents have competed in UFC title fights, and collectively they have a record of 8-8. These are Jorge Masvidal (0-2), Burns (0-1), Covington (1-2), Woodley (5-1), dos Anjos (2-2), and Maia (0-2).
Matt Hughes’ opponents held a total UFC title record of 6-11-1. These being Trigg (0-2), Penn (1-1-1), Royce Gracie (3-1), St-Pierre (0-1), Sherk (0-1), Gil Castillo (0-1), Newton (1-2), Hayato Mach Sakurai (0-1), and Matt Serra (1-1). While Sakurai never held a UFC title, he was the number one ranked welterweight when Hughes defeated him.
Other Notable Statistics
Matt Hughes was best known for his smothering top control game. He specialized in powerful takedowns and ground and pound. Given this, it is notable to see both men’s control time and control percentage are very close.
Also notable is how much larger Kamaru Usman is. Fighters have gotten much better at cutting weight. At 5’9″ a welterweight Matt Hughes is shorter than a featherweight Max Holloway who is 5’11”.
For more statistics and the sources for the statistics, one can use UFC Stats (Hughes/Usman), and UFC Record Book – Welterweight. More MMA at MMA Sucka. Records from Tapology.
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