Heavyweights
Jeff Hughes (10-2) vs. Todd Duffee (9-3)Advertisement
Duffee has had a strange career to say the least. For a brief moment, Duffee looked like the next big thing in the UFC’s heavyweight division, as the chiseled Indiana native made his debut with a seven-second knockout of Tim Hague. However, things went sour just as quickly, as Duffee suffered a shocking knockout loss to the much less physically impressive Mike Russow in his next appearance. From there, Duffee was surprisingly shown the door, as he was one of the earlier public examples of the UFC flexing its muscle when fighters were outspoken on issues like fighter pay. Duffee frankly did not do much to make the UFC regret its decision, as he was quickly knocked out by Alistair Overeem. After he took a two-year break and knocked out Neil Grove in India, the promotion apparently liked what it saw and decided to bring Duffee back. From there, things have just been strange. Duffee returned in late 2012 with a quick knockout of Phil De Fries, but spent two more years dealing with nerve damage issues before coming back to get another quick finish, this time over Anthony Hamilton. That was enough to get the UFC completely back in the Duffee business, as his next bout was a headlining affair against Frank Mir, but after getting wiped out in memorable fashion, he completely vanished for the last four years until showing up here. Duffee is still just 33 years old, so there might be something there, but it is impossible to know what to expect.
There is not a ton to say about Duffee’s opponent. A training partner of heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic, Hughes has a perfectly fine and well-rounded game that he was able to show off in his Dana White’s Contender Series win over Josh Appelt in 2018. However, his last bout was not particularly inspiring, as he failed to accomplish much in his UFC debut against the much taller Maurice Greene, who managed to neutralize Hughes enough to earn a split decision. Hughes probably does not have championship-level upside, but he is serving his purpose here as a solid enough fighter to gauge if Duffee has anything left in the tank.
It is understandable given the long layoffs, but Duffee has not evolved much over the course of his career, as his strategy still seems to be to punch through everything in front of him. It has not even been with particularly impressive technique, as his loss to Mir came when Duffee was in the middle of winging a loopy fastball of a hook. The good news for Duffee is that the heavyweight division has not evolved much, either. As such, Duffee’s pace and horsepower, even for the limited amount of time that he has anything in the tank, is probably enough to knock out most opponents. That feels like the case in this matchup, but given that it has been 50 months since Duffee’s last fight, it would be folly to think that anything about this bout is predictable. Still, the pick is Duffee via first-round knockout.
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