AKA vs. Matt Hughes

Recent comments by American Kickboxing Academy welterweights Mike Swick, Jon Fitch and Josh Koscheck about former UFC champion Matt Hughes and their desire to fight him have been misconstrued, say Swick and Fitch.

Both fighters said they would welcome a fight with the man who ruled their division and garnered praise by many pundits as the “most dominant champion in UFC history,” but also made it clear they respect Hughes and his accomplishments in the sport.

“After I backed out of the Kampmann fight I needed and opponent, he needed an opponent. He is one of the greatest credentialed fighters in UFC history and I was like, ‘Let’s do it.’ It would be an honor to fight him,” said Swick, who will fight Dan Hardy for a crack at Georges St. Pierre’s welterweight title at UFC 105 in November. “That’s when I made it known publicly that I wanted to fight him and I was told that wasn’t going to happen. Then Koscheck won his fight and he called him out, and I guess it seems like we are all calling him out but he’s available and we all want to get a good fight.”

His teammate echoed his sentiments.

“We’ve been asking for that fight for a long time, and it’s just never materialized. I can’t say on whose end or why, but it is something that we all just wanted so we just keep asking,” said Fitch. “He’s still in the running, he hasn’t lost that much. It’s a good fight, a good fight to have.”

Fitch will have his hands full with jiu-jitsu ace Ricardo Almeida at UFC 106 in November, which leaves Koscheck as the only member of the triumvirate without an opponent at this time.

Hughes vs. Koscheck in 2010? We’ll have to wait and see.