LAS VEGAS – John Howard said he wanted to test the stand-up striking skills of a feared kickboxer like Siyar Bahadurzada , but he also wanted to show a little love to one of his own personal heroes in former UFC welterweight champ Matt Hughes. As luck would have it, he got to do both in his prelimary-card bout at UFC 168. After trading with Bahadurzada (21-6-1 MMA, 1-2 UFC) off the feet, Howard (22-8 MMA, 6-3 UFC) also scooped him up for a big slam, and in the end it was enough to earn him a unanimous-decision victory. With his second consecutive victory in the octagon, he may have demonstrated that, after two years away, the UFC is where he belongs. “I believed for years I belonged here,” Howard told reporters after his win.