Matt Hughes
In the twilight years of his career, UFC hall-of-famer Matt Hughes still appeared to be holding his own, racking up wins over the likes of Matt Serra, Renzo Gracie and Ricardo Almeida, but then in 2010 his old rival BJ Penn knocked him out in just 21 seconds.
Retirement talk loomed large after that, but despite the now 38-year-old Hughes admitting his wife was urging him to quit, he couldn’t resist the chance to step into the Octagon again, and a year later he agreed to a short notice bout with Josh Koscheck after a fight with Diego Sanchez fell through.
Hughes held his own for much of the first round, but when Koscheck connected cleanly with an uppercut it staggered the former champion, and after eating follow-up right hands a simple shove was enough to send him to his knees.
Koscheck then followed him to the mat and started to land punishing blows and suddenly Hughes was lying motionless on the canvas, out cold as his opponent continued to land several more punches before the referee could intervene.
Hughes signalled his intention to step away from fighting after that, but 6 years later in 2017 he showed interest in making a comeback.
However, that was cruelly ruled out months later when he was left with life-threatening injuries after his truck collided with a train, though thankfully, while he’ll never fight again, he has made a marked recovery since then.
