Returning Hughes going old school

Jun 5, 2008 - 9:28 PM By Leigh Copson PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

LONDON (Ticker) -- Matt Hughes insists he will be back to his "old" self when he returns to the Ultimate Fighting Championship octagon this Saturday at London's o2 Arena.

Hughes tackles rising star Thiago Alves in his first fight since the comprehensive defeat at the hands of current welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre last December.

Alves recently claimed Hughes had failed to keep pace with the evolving world of MMA, resulting in two defeats in the 34-year-old's last three outings.

But Hughes, the two-time welterweight king, believes going back to his old ways is the way forward.

"I've tried to cut my ties with what I've been doing lately and get back to being the 'old Matt Hughes,'" he said. "It's funny, when you get older in this sport you start learning things, you start seeing how many ways you can actually lose and it slows you down a little bit.

"I am going to try to get back to the old way of just not going out there and the only way to lose is to not try hard enough. That'll be my style, that'll be my gameplan for this fight - to go out there and put in 120 percent effort for three rounds."

Hughes has arrived in the United Kingdom to prove he is still one of the best fighters the UFC has to offer, and that his mixed martial arts career is far from over.

"I'm here to show everybody that I have not left, I'm still one of the top fighters," he said. "Thiago is definitely good enough to where he is not somebody I wouldn't put on my resume. It was definitely a match I was able to get up for and train hard for."

Also on the stacked London card, Marcus Davis continues his climb up the same welterweight division and is predicting more fireworks when he takes on Mike "Quick" Swick.

Davis has enjoyed a fine run of form while fighting on British soil, having beaten Jason Tan and Paul Taylor before knocking out Jess Liaudin earlier this year - and the appropriately named "Irish Hand Grenade" will be adopting the same tactic as always.

"We are going to test each other's chins," Davis said. "Who knows, we might even hit the ground. We are going to give the UK the fight of the night."

"We are more than prepared to take the fight wherever it goes," Swick added. "Obviously looking at the previous 29 fights, I've had in amateur and professional MMA, I like to stand and I think it is a good match to stand in."

In the evening's other feature bout, UK standout Michael Bisping returns to the scene of his controversial decision win over Matt Hammil last year.