Matt Hughes

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Matthew Allen Hughes was born on October 13, 1973, in Hillsboro, Illinois, and he is a professional mixed martial arts fighter and former 2-time UFC World Welterweight Champion. A long-time member of Miletich Fighting Systems, Hughes left the Miletich camp in late 2007 to start Team Hughes. Team Hughes fights out of H.I.T. Squad, a Granite City, Illinois gym, which he co-owns with teammate and current EliteXC Middleweight champion Robbie Lawler, Matt Pena, and Marc Fiore. He holds notable wins over BJ Penn, Georges St. Pierre, Frank Trigg (twice), Royce Gracie, Hayato Sakurai, Akihiro Gono, Joe Riggs, Chris Lytle, Carlos Newton and Sean Sherk.

1 Biography
2 Career
3 MMA Record
4 Books
5 Gallery
6 External links

Biography

Matt Hughes was born in Hillsboro, Illinois. Hughes has two siblings, a sister and his twin brother Mark. He and Mark spent a lot of time on the family farm in their childhood. During their high school days, they both played football and wrestled. Matt went to college at Southwestern Illinois College, a two-year college located in Belleville, Illinois before transferring to Lincoln College, in Lincoln, Illinois and then on to Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois. Matt and his wife Audra have one daughter together, and they each have a son from a previous relationship. He recently published his autobiography, Made in America: The Most Dominant Champion in UFC History.

Career

Wrestling

Hughes has competed in the ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship, in which he held a record of 2-2 including wins over Ricardo Almeida and Jeremy Horn, and losses to fellow UFC fighters Jeff Monson and Tito Ortiz. Hughes was also a two-time 145 lb. state wrestling champion for IHSA (Illinois High School Association) Class A in 1991 and 1992. Furthermore, Matt is a two-time Division I All-American wrestler, with an 8th and a 5th place finish in the 158 lb. division.

Ultimate Fighting Championship

After debuting on January 1, 1998 with a submission via way of slam over Erick Synder, Hughes racked up seven more victories and one loss before making his debut for the UFC. He defeated his opponent by decision in his debut.

Hughes won his first UFC World Welterweight title at UFC 34: High Voltage on November 2, 2001. He was caught in a triangle choke by Carlos Newton, but then lifted Newton in the air and 'powerbomb'-style slammed him to the mat, causing Newton to hit his head and lose consciousness just as Hughes was on the verge of blacking out himself.

He successfully defended his championship belt several times thereafter, defeating Hayato Sakurai, Carlos Newton, Gil Castillo, Sean Sherk, and Frank Trigg. He kept the title until UFC 46, when he was submitted by Hawaiian Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu specialist BJ Penn via rear naked choke. The title was vacated upon a contract dispute between Penn and the UFC. Hughes regained the vacant welterweight title by submitting Canadian contender Georges St. Pierre via armbar in the final second of the first round at UFC 50.

After regaining his title, Hughes successfully retained it in a rematch with Frank Trigg, submitting Trigg by rear naked choke. Hughes' next fight took place at UFC 56, where he was scheduled to fight Judo practitioner Karo Parisyan. After Parysian suffered a hamstring injury and could not fight, Joe Riggs took his place. The match was originally scheduled as a title bout, but since Riggs could not meet the 170-pound weight limit, it became a non-title fight. Hughes defeated Riggs in the first round by kimura. In UFC 60, on May 27, 2006, Hughes defeated Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu legend Royce Gracie in a non-title, catch-weight bout by TKO (strikes from back mount). Before the stoppage, Gracie was caught in an armlock from the side mount position; although Hughes appeared to have the submission in place, Gracie would not tap out and the fight continued. After the fight he told Grappling Magazine that he "let go of the armbar because he did not want to break Gracie's arm".

In September 2006, Hughes defended his title in a rematch against BJ Penn, stopping him in the third round. Although Penn dominated the first 2 rounds, he struggled in the third with Hughes taking advantage. Afterwards, Georges St. Pierre (who was supposed to face Hughes at this event but pulled out due to injury) stepped into the ring and congratulated Hughes on his win, but also stated "I was not impressed by your performance."

On November 18, 2006 at UFC 65: Bad Intentions, St. Pierre defeated Hughes by TKO via strikes at 1:25 of round two, ending Hughes' title reign. Nearing the end of the first round, St. Pierre landed a 'superman' punch, which floored Hughes. St. Pierre then followed up with strikes on his stunned opponent. When it appeared that the fight would be stopped, the bell rang signaling the end of the first round. It was in the second round that St. Pierre ended the fight with a head kick which stunned Hughes and knocked him to the mat, following up with a flurry of punches and elbows that forced McCarthy to call a stop to the contest at 1:25 of round 2.

On March 3 2007, Hughes returned to the Octagon for UFC 68: Uprising and defeated Chris Lytle by unanimous decision winning every round.

Following a championship win by Matt Serra over Georges St. Pierre at UFC 69, it was announced by UFC President Dana White that Hughes will again be fighting for the World Welterweight title in November of 2007 against Serra. This fight was later changed to December 29, 2007 in Las Vegas, at UFC 79: Nemesis. On November 24, however, Matt Serra sustained a herniated disc in his lower back and had to inform the UFC that he would not be able to compete for an indeterminate time. As a replacement for the Serra/Hughes title match, the UFC quickly signed a rubber match between Hughes and St. Pierre which would also be for the UFC Interim Welterweight Championship. Despite his best efforts, Hughes was unable to mount any serious offense on St. Pierre, who easily avoided all of Hughes' takedown attempts while also taking Hughes down at will and using Hughes' own ground-and-pound style against him. Near the end of the second round, St. Pierre attempted a kimura on Matt's right arm that he escaped, but in a reversal of their first fight, St. Pierre was able to twist it into a straight armbar with fifteen seconds remaining in the round. Hughes fought the extension, but with his left hand trapped between the mat and St. Pierre's legs, was forced to verbally submit at 4:54 of the second round. In the post-fight interview, Hughes praised St. Pierre as the better fighter and stated his intention to take some time off and spend with his family.

Hughes also expressed interest in going up a weight class to middleweight to fight champion Anderson Silva if former champion, Rich Franklin was unable to beat Silva in their rematch at UFC 77, a match that Silva did win. Hughes stated that if this fight occurs, it would happen in 2008 following his scheduled title shot against Serra, although the fight with Serra has now been postponed indefinitely. However, it is likely that Matt Hughes will fight Matt Serra regardless of the outcome of UFC 83. He also recently revealed his intention to retire from MMA within the next few years on the second episode of The Ultimate Fighter: Team Hughes vs. Team Serra. In late mid 2007, Hughes left the Miletich camp with Miletich stablemate Robbie Lawler, longtime boxing coach Matt Pena, and wrestling/conditioning teacher Marc Fiore to form The H.I.T.(Hughes Intensive Training) Squad in Granite City, Illinois.

The Ultimate Fighter

In 2005, Hughes participated as a coach opposite Rich Franklin in the second season of the Spike TV reality television series, The Ultimate Fighter. In 2007, Hughes participated as a guest coach for long time friend and training partner, Jens Pulver during The Ultimate Fighter 5 season.

Hughes agreed to be head coach again for the The Ultimate Fighter 6, alongside with former UFC World welterweight champion, Matt Serra. Despite the fact that after the preliminary round, Team Hughes' record was 2-6, both Mac Danzig and Tommy Speer of Team Hughes made it to the finals.