Almeida comes out and is instantly aggressive, moving around and looking generally much faster than Hughes. The two don't exchange many blows. Alemdia lands a good headkick a minute in but doesn't follow it up. After circling, Hughes lands a series of jabs and throws a leg kicks, Almeida catches it and lands a huge jab. Hughes tries to go into the clinch and Hughes backs off. Almeida reverses another clinch and the two exchange hooks. Hughes speeds up considerably and responss to the pace well.
Hughes goes to the clinch again and Almeida reverses it. Almeida rocks him against the cage but Hughes recovers . Hughes lands a good left hook at two minutes and Almeida falls to the ground. Hughes jumps on a sprawl position and goes for a choke, fifteen seconds later Almeida passes out and the referee stops the fight in the first round.
Hughes overall looked like the Hughes of old, it's still up in the air about whether or not he can compete with the top in the division, but he is most definitely revitalized. After the fight, Hughes shakes hands with the rival Renzo Gracie.
Bloody Elbow has their live blog of the event here and the recap of this fight here.