"I knew I had all my guys in my corner; they weren't with me, but they were in my heart. Just like the Lord Jesus Christ was with me, so I had no doubt."

Anyone that has followed Matt Hughes and his amazing mixed martial arts career knows when the aforementioned words were uttered—right after he defeated B.J. Penn via TKO on September 23, 2006 at UFC 63. During the fight he was put through the ringer. Penn shirked his takedown attempts in the initial stages. He nearly caught Hughes in both a triangle choke and armbar during the second round. Things were looking terrible for the then Miletich fighter.

But there’s a reason why Hughes fell in at number five on the Inside MMA Top 10 All Time Fighter List. He doesn’t give up—ever. So when Hughes turned things around in the third round by first devastating his fatigued opponent with his striking and then taking him down and getting him in the crucifix position, you couldn’t be surprised.

Soon after, the referee had no choice but to pull Hughes off.

Some believe that Hughes’s crowning achievement was in defeating Royce Gracie. But it was that second fight against B.J. Penn that cemented his legacy in this writer’s opinion.

Of course, this is a biography on Matt Hughes. So, let’s not stick to just talking about one fight.

Matt Hughes : The early years

Matt Hughes was born on October 13, 1973 in Hillsboro, Illinois, a town with a population of only about 4,500. Interestingly, so was somebody else in the Hughes family; namely, his twin brother Mark. Hughes also has an older sister.

Hughes and his brother spent a lot of time around the farm as youngsters and were often called on by their father to help out other farmers. Their father was a big believer in never taking “advantage of someone else’s misfortune.” Since the two brothers worked on the farm so often, they didn’t play much sports until high school. During junior high, they did, however, participate in an interschool wrestling tournament, during which Mark defeated Matt.

But things would change when the two Hughes boys got to high school. Along with this, they were both wrestling and football stars, participating at the running back and linebacker positions on the gridiron. Matt rushed for over 800 yard during his senior season, and both he and his twin managed to make the All Conference Team. However, Matt truly excelled on the wrestling mat where he qualified for the Illinois State Championships all four years in high school and won the state championship ( and went undefeated ) during his junior and senior seasons in the 145 pound class. His brother also did well, finishing as the state runner up in wrestling as a senior.

All told, Matt Hughes went 131-2 over his final three years in high school as a wrestler.

Matt Hughes and his college wrestling career

After high school, Hughes attended Belleville Area College before moving onto Lincoln College when Belleville’s wrestling program was cut. As a junior, Matt decided to attend Eastern Illinois University and stayed there for his senior season. In sum, Matt was named an All American every season that he wrestled in college. Further, he placed 8th and then 5th at the NCAA Division I Championships while at Eastern Illinois during his junior and senior seasons.

Not bad, huh? After college, Matt became an assistant wrestling coach at Eastern Illinois and an electrician’s apprentice.

But not for long.

Matt Hughes and his transition to MMA

In 1996, a friend of Hughes’s by the name of Chris Dwyer approached him about fighting in a smaller show. Hughes won—surprise, surprise!—and netted a hard one hundred dollars for doing so. Now that one won’t show up at Sherdog, but it does at his website. In terms of the official stats, Hughes debuted on January 1, 1998 at JKD- Challenge 2 where he defeated Erick Snyder by slam.

Slamming his opponents down into the canvas, by the way, is something that Matt Hughes would become known for in a big way in the future.

Around this time period, Hughes also found his way to MMA manager extraordinaire Monte Cox, and the rest is history.

Matt Hughes and his MMA early years

Photo courtesy of Sherdog.com

Matt Hughes won his first four official professional MMA fights, including a decision victory over Dave Menne. Then came his first professional loss to Dennis Hallman via guillotine choke. Still, it was not unusual for a man with a wrestling background to come into MMA and fall victim to a guillotine.

So he moved on. Actually, he did more than move on.

Hughes went on to win 18 straight, including 14 by way of stoppage. During that particular time period, he continued utilize his legendary power to take people down—often with a thunderous slam—and ground and pound his way to victory. Further, his submission / Brazilian Jiu Jitsu skills improved in leaps and bounds. Along the way both Akihiro Gono (decision) and Joe Doerksen (submission- strikes) fell at his hands.

And then came his chance to redeem himself against Dennis Hallman, the only man to ever beat him to that point. Unfortunately, Hughes once again fell at UFC 29: Defense of the Belts to Hallman, this time via armbar. Soon after, the man from Hillsboro lost by KO to Jose Landi- Jons (knee to the head). This time period currently represents the only time in his fighting career that Hughes has lost two straight.

Let’s put it this way—the bad times didn’t last for long.

Matt Hughes vs. Carlos Newton for the UFC Welterweight Championship at UFC 34 : High Voltage

After losing to Landi- Jons, Matt Hughes rattled off seven straight wins, with six of them coming by way of stoppage. Next up on the docket? How about a shot at the UFC Welterweight Championship against Carlos Newton? Newton, by the way, had defeated Pat Miletich, Hughes’s mentor/ trainer at Miletich Fighting Systems, and was known as a submission wizard.

At first, Hughes did what Hughes does. Namely, he took his opponent down and commenced with the ground and pound. However, Newton caught Hughes in a triangle choke in the second round. Near passing out, Hughes did something that he was known for.

He picked Carlos Newton up and slammed him into the canvas.

The slam knocked Newtown out, and Matt Hughes was the new UFC Welterweight Champion.

Matt Hughes vs. Carlos Newton 2 at UFC 38 : Brawl at the Hall

After defeating another very good fighter by the name of Hayato Sakurai, Newton got a rematch against the man that he was only seconds away from beating at UFC 34. However, this time Hughes won even more clearly, proving to be too strong for his adversary as he grounded and pounded his way to a TKO victory in the fourth round.

Now Matt Hughes was the clear welterweight champion. Further, he had exacted some revenge on Newton for defeating his trainer.

From there, Hughes achieved another three straight victories over Gil Castillo (TKO), Sean Sherk (decision), and Frank Trigg ( with a now famous standing rear naked choke ). Then came another turning point in his career.

Matt Hughes vs. B.J. Penn at UFC 46 : Supernatural

A lightweight couldn’t come up in weight to defeat a man with the strength of a Matt Hughes. How dare B.J. Penn?

Well, somewhat forgot to tell Penn all of this.

Basically, in what amounted to an MMA shocker, B.J. Penn gave the world another glimpse of why people called him The Prodigy when he snaked around to Hughes’s back in the first round and sunk in a rear naked choke.

B.J. Penn was the new UFC Welterweight Champion. Unfortunately for everyone, he decided to go to Japan and fight for a while, leaving the championship vacant soon after.

Matt Hughes vs. Georges St. Pierre at UFC 50 – The War of ‘04’

After defeating Renato Verissimo via decision, Hughes met up with up and coming Canadian MMA fighter / phenom Georges St. Pierre for the vacant UFC Welterweight Championship. In sum, St. Pierre looked to be actually winning the fight when Hughes demonstrated just how far his jiu jitsu had come by pulling off an armbar with only one second left in the first round.

Thus, Matt Hughes was once again where he belonged. He was the UFC Welterweight Champion.

Matt Hughes vs. Royce Gracie at UFC 60 : Hughes vs. Gracie

After defeating Frank Trigg at UFC 52 via rear naked choke in one of the best fights of all time—Hughes was hit in the groin and nearly submitted by rear naked choke before picking Trigg up, walking him over to his corner, and slamming him on the way to a rear naked choke victory of his own—Hughes then submitted Joe Riggs.

Then came his match up against the legendary, Royce Gracie.

In sum, Hughes took Gracie down quickly after a failed elbow attempt by the much thinner fighter on the feet. From there, Hughes nearly broke Gracie’s arm before taking his back and pounding away until the referee had no choice but to step in.

Now Matt Hughes was a legend. But still, there was some unfinished business.

Matt Hughes vs. B.J. Penn 2 at UFC 63 : Hughes vs. Penn

When Georges St. Pierre had to step away from a scheduled rematch with Hughes because of injury, Hughes got the chance to take revenge on Penn. The ensuing fight is widely considered to be one of the best in MMA history.

In sum, B.J. Penn hurt Hughes with striking early on and avoided his usually easy to come by takedowns. In the second stanza, Penn nearly caught the Hillsboro native in a triangle choke and armbar.

But then came the third round. Whether Penn was injured, simply fatigued, or both, Matt Hughes took advantage. First, he softened up Penn on his feet; then he took his adversary down; and then he achieved the crucifix position before raining down tons of unanswered blows. The referee had no choice but to step in soon after.

Matt Hughes had avenged his loss to B.J. Penn via TKO.

All things must come to an end : Matt Hughes vs. Georges St. Pierre at UFC 65 : Bad Intentions

Georges St. Pierre had already told Hughes that he had been unimpressed with his victory over B.J. Penn. Well, there was no doubt that after their match up at UFC 65, Matt Hughes was impressed with Georges St. Pierre.

During the first stanza, St. Pierre connected with a Superman punch that dropped Hughes. The ensuing ground and pound would’ve probably ended things had the bell not saved the UFC Welterweight Champion.

But in the second, St. Pierre proved it was all no fluke by connecting with a head kick that dropped Hughes and then pounding his way on the canvas to a victory.

After a decision victory over Chris Lytle, Hughes once again got a chance to redeem himself against Georges St. Pierre at UFC 79 : Nemesis after a TUF coaches match up between him and Matt Serra fell through because of a Serra injury.

The final outcome was no different than the last time they fought. Georges St. Pierre came out of the fight with a second round submission victory. Afterwards, Hughes hinted at retirement and indicated that St. Pierre simply was the better fighter.

Matt Hughes and TUF

Matt Hughes sure has done his part for the UFC. Along with this, he coached against friend Rich Franklin on TUF 2. In addition, he also coached against Matt Serra on TUF 7. Though Hughes’s fighters managed only a 2-6 record on the TUF 7 show, two of his fighters—Tommy Speer and Mac Danzig—went onto the championship. And, by the way, the bad blood between Matt Serra and he was obvious.

Matt Hughes and Miletich Fighting Systems

Matt Hughes trained with and under Pat Miletich in Bettendorf, Iowa for a very long time. In fact, he was Miletich’s most successful pupil, and the two remain friends today. However, in late 2007 Hughes left Miletich Fighting Systems to start Team Hughes out of the H.I.T. Squad in Granite City, Illinois.

Pat Miletich, from the forthcoming quote of his, clearly understood Hughes’s need to leave: “They (Hughes and others) were offered money from a sports agent to start a facility down there using Matt’s name. He’s been commuting from Hillsborough, which is 3.5 hours away, and he’s got kids and a family, so it’s not been easy. I couldn’t do it, I know that much. He decided that it was time for him and his family and his career to start up a new place closer to him to allow him to train for fights and see his family. I don’t blame him.”

What’s next for Matt Hughes

Probably a second book. In addition, he’s going to keep training fighters. What’s more, it’s likely that the fight originally scheduled to occur between he and Matt Serra— assuming that Hughes doesn’t retire— will happen. After that, could Anderson Silva be up next?

He’s hinted at it. But at this point, it’s hard to know as he’s also hinted at retirement.

What we do know is that faith and family—Hughes is married to Audra and has a daughter—will weigh in on his decisions. Looking forward to hearing what they may be.

References

Wikipedia

ExtremeProSports.com

Matt Hughes Official Website

MMAMovement.com

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