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Hughes' team: champions of the practice mat...
But once it hits the ring they turn out to not have anything. It makes you wonder whether Hughes picks guys based only on how hard they work in practice. I remember this happened with Mike Whitehead in season 2 also. He was Hughes's boy from back at Miletich and he was the champion of the treadmill, but once he got in the octagon and Rashad Evans brought the fight to him, he turned out to be a paper tiger.
The same thing seems to be happening with Hughes' whole team this time around. I don't know if it's because Hughes picks the wrong guys, focusing only on effort and not actual skills, or if it's because he doesn't build them up mentally at all for the fight. Maybe it's both.
It doesn't seem like Hughes comes up with much of a game plan for his guys. All he provides is some generic game plan that is just too vague. Compare that to Serra who it seems has gone over everything that could happen in the fight. His guy starts getting in trouble and he yells out some advice or reminds them about how they practiced this and it gets them focused or helps them get out of the situation.
It seems like Hughes takes it for granted that all of his guys are going to have the same amount of experience as he does and will just know what to do, when the truth is they are all very inexperienced and need guidance. I wouldn't be surprised if this extends to the practice sessions in addition to the fights, like he spends all the time working cardio and not actually teaching the guys how to react to the stuff that might go down in the fight.
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