[jokerthief]

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Am I the only one that thinks Hughes might try to keep this standing for a while?

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You're not the only one. Hughes will do his best to keep the fight standing. He was pretty extensively interviewed on Sherdog, and so was Pat Miletich, and both said Hughes intends to keep the fight standing. Hughes went as far as to say that he'd stand up out of Gracie's guard when and if the fight goes to the ground.

However, Gracie has a very significant reach advantage on Hughes, both arms and legs, and I think Hughes is not going to keep the fight standing as much as he thinks. Gracie will get this fight to the ground.

Its probably not going to be nearly as exciting as anyone thinks. Hughes isn't going to want to take a lot of chances on the ground. Gracie has a tremendously defensive guard, and with his long legs he can keep Hughes from landing a lot of significant strikes on the ground.

We'll see. Ultimately, i really wish this was a better format - at bare minimum five rounds, and ideally ten minute rounds instead of just the standard five. In a five round, ten minute bout, you'd see someone win. Instead, odds are this is headed to a Hughes win by a rather boring decision.

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Hughes has a really long reach for a 5'9 guy though 73.5". Hughes will knock out Royce. First or second round. There, I am now on the record.