UFC Vegas 55: Sam Hughes Praises Move To Fortis MMA, Wants Demopoulos Fight

Las Vegas, NV – Coming off the best performance of her career UFC strawweight Sam Hughes spoke to the media following her win at UFC Vegas 55 on Saturday night.

Hughes (7-4) defeated Elise Reed via TKO in the third round of their prelim bout at the UFC APEX.

“Feel really good. Honestly it’s just listening, having a game plan, and executing it. I think that’s what I did today. Coach told me that I was going to get the finish. I just had to follow the game plan,” Hughes told reporters in her post-fight scrum.

“(Game plan was) wrestling heavy. Take her down. Staying away from her right hand. Circling, moving in, and just being a freight train. Moving forward and making sure that I’m really, really heavy on the hips. Attacking on the ground and just overwhelming her.”

This was Hughes’ first finish victory in the UFC and likely the best performance of her career.

“I got the finish so yeah probably,” Hughes laughed.

This was Hughes’ second fight out of the Fortis MMA fight camp and she knows it was the best move of her career.

“Yeah, by far. I thank God every single day that I made that decision. These guys saved my career and I’m so thankful to be where I’m at and I’m just excited for what’s next. I’m just taking it day-by-day doing whatever Coach Sayif (Saud) tells me to do,” Hughes said.

“Fortis is my home and I’m excited to be there. I’ve got the best coaches in the world so that’s it.”

Hughes and Fortis MMA are based out of Dallas, Texas. With the UFC setting two cards in Texas in the coming months, one in Austin the other in Dallas, Hughes looks to possibly get on one of those cards.

“Like I said before, whatever Coach Sayif wants me to do, I’m down to do it. If that means fighting in Dallas I’m down to do that. That’s where my family is, that’s where I’ve got a big crowd. I’d be more than happy to fight every single weekend if I could,” Hughes said.

“I love to be in that cage. It’s like the only thing that really makes me happy. I’m down to fight in Texas.”

Hughes didn’t really call anybody out by name, but she would love to get a win back against one opponent in particular.

“I’m really excited about Jinh (Yu Frey), my training partner, fights (Vanessa) Demopoulos. I feel like she’s going to whoop her ass and then eventually down the line I’ll fight Demopoulos and whoop her ass. That fight in LFA, I was dominating the first three rounds, then I just got caught. I went against the game plan,” Hughes said.

“I won’t make that mistake again.”

Watch the full UFC Vegas 55 post-fight media scrum with Sam Hughes above. Hughes defeated Elise Reed via R3 – 3:52 TKO at UFC Vegas 55. More coverage from the event can be found below.