It isn't easy to dominate a legend like Matt Hughes, but that's exactly what Thiago "The Pitbull" Alves did in stopping the former welterweight champion with a vicious assault in Round 2.

The lethal Brazilian Muay Thai specialist survived a spirited first round attack from the former champion to deliver a beautifully-timed flying knee, followed by a crunching right hand to elicit a pertinently-timed stoppage from referee Herb Dean at 1:02 of the second round.

"He's a good fighter, he got me, no doubt," said Hughes moments afterwards.

A flying knee from Alves spelled the beginning of the end for Hughes.
Hughes had begun brightly enough. Fighting in the left-handed stance, he hung with the explosive Brazilian on the feet in the bout's early exchanges, while actively looking for takedowns. After briefly pulling guard, Hughes regained his feet and scored a takedown at the two-minute mark. Hughes was able to control the bout's tempo for the next few minutes, but did little significant damage.

With the crowd growing restless, Alves regained his feet and took Hughes down, landing a few strikes to end the round on top, without doing enough damage to win the session.

In the second, Hughes looked for the takedown early only to eat an Alves knee for his trouble. The knee opened a cut on Hughes' cheekbone and the Brazilian enjoyed a brief spell in top position, before a subsequent scramble saw both men regain their feet. It would be just a few seconds before Alves was able to land the knee that effectively ended both Hughes' night, and likely his career as a top flight mixed martial artist. Over 15,000 were in attendance to witness Alves' coming of age.

"Mr. Dana White, I've been a good boy, please give me a title shot," Alves pleaded after the fight.

With a knockout win over perennial contender Karo Parisyan in his previous bout, followed by this destruction of Hughes, it shouldn't be too long before the likeable youngster gets his wish.

Hughes, engaging in his 50th professional bout, promised he had one last effort in him: a much-awaited grudge match with bitter rival Matt Serra. Like Alves, the old champion will likely see his desired bout come to fruition before too long.