Matthew Allen Hughes (born October 13, 1973) is an American retired mixed martial artist with a background in wrestling. Widely considered among the greatest fighters in the history of MMA, he is a former two-time UFC Welterweight Champion, UFC Hall of Fame inductee, and NJCAA Hall of Fame inductee. During his ventures in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Hughes put together two six-fight winning streaks defeating all of the available opposition in the welterweight division. In May 2010, Hughes became the eighth inductee into the UFC Hall of Fame.
During his reign, Hughes was considered the #1 pound-for-pound mixed martial artist in the world. He was also regarded by many analysts and several media outlets as one of the greatest welterweight fighters of all time, as well as one of the greatest pound-for-pound fighters in the sport's history. Fight Matrix ranks Hughes as the second-greatest welterweight and the #7 pound-for-pound greatest fighter of all time.
A long-time member of Miletich Fighting Systems, Hughes left the Miletich camp in late 2007 to start Team Hughes. In 2008, Hughes published his autobiography, Made in America, which made the New York Times bestseller list. In 2011, Hughes became host of Outdoor Channel's Trophy Hunters TV. Hughes has no nickname, although because of his successes against Gracie Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) practitioners such as Royce Gracie, Renzo Gracie, Ricardo Almeida, and Matt Serra, people often refer to him as "the Gracie Killer" (the same as Sakuraba's nickname). His mastery of submissions, and having submission wins over various black belt holders, are the reasons why Joe Rogan thinks he deserved to get a black belt for BJJ. Hughes never liked the idea, however, and considers himself primarily an amateur and submission wrestler.Fight Night Goiania Free Fight: Thiago Alves vs. Matt Hughes
Early life Matthew Allen Hughes was born on October 13, 1973, in Hillsboro, Illinois. Hughes has two siblings, a sister and his twin brother, Mark. During high school they both participated in football and wrestling. Hughes went to Southwestern Illinois College in Belleville, Illinois, before transferring to Lincoln College, in Lincoln, Illinois and then on to Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois.
Wrestling Hughes was a two-time 145 lb IHSA Class A state wrestling champion. He won in 1991 and 1992 while attending Hillsboro High School. During his junior and senior years, Matt went undefeated and won back-to-back state championships in the 145 lb class. Over the final three years of high school, he totaled 131 wins against only 2 losses, both during his sophomore year (sophomore 43–2; junior 43–0; senior 45–0).
His college career started at Southwestern Illinois College. Hughes placed fifth in the nation at 158 lb. After Southwestern dropped their wrestling program, Hughes transferred to Lincoln College, where he placed third in the nation, notching a 33–3 record for the Lynx.
After graduation Hughes continued wrestling at Eastern Illinois University, where he was a two-time NCAA Division I All-American placing eighth in 1996 and fifth in 1997 at 158 lb. He finished with an 80–15 record for Eastern Illinois.
Hughes competed in the prestigious ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship, in which he held a record of 2–2, beating Ricardo Almeida and Jeremy Horn, and losing to Jeff Monson and Tito Ortiz.
Early career Hughes made his mixed martial arts debut on January 1, 1998, at Joe Goytia's JKD Challenge. He slammed his opponent to the ground in just fifteen seconds, winning via KO. The slam became his signature move. He won his next fight via submission due to strikes. Hughes fought three times at Extreme Challenge 21, on October 17, 1998, defeating Victor Hunsaker via TKO and future UFC Middleweight Champion Dave Menne via unanimous decision. In the third fight of that night he lost to then-undefeated Dennis Hallman by technical submission (guillotine choke) at 0:17 of the first round. The result was announced as a KO. In the process, Hallman handed Hughes his first professional defeat.
Ultimate Fighting Championship Hughes made his promotional debut at UFC 22: There Can Be Only One Champion, on September 24, 1999, defeating Bulgarian Valeri Ignatov via unanimous decision after three rounds.
He returned to the promotion at UFC 26: Ultimate Field of Dreams, where he defeated Marcelo Aguiar via TKO, throwing some elbows which cut Aguiar and forced the doctor to end the match. The stoppage came at 4:34 of the first round.
Hughes faced Dennis Hallman in a rematch at UFC 29: Defense of the Belts. At this point in their careers, Hallman was the only man to have defeated Hughes in MMA competition. Hughes lost the fight via armbar in only twenty seconds. When the bout started, Hughes lifted and brutally slammed Hallman to the mat, but was caught in the submission after landing in side-control.
Welterweight championship
Hughes won his first UFC World Welterweight title at UFC 34: High Voltage on November 2, 2001. In a come-from-behind fight, Hughes was caught in a triangle choke by then-champion Carlos Newton, but he lifted Newton in the air and slammed him to the mat, causing Newton to hit his head and lose consciousness just as Hughes was himself on the verge of blacking out from the choke. After the match Newton stated that he felt the reason Hughes fell to the mat was because he was rendered unconscious from the triangle choke. This was confirmed by Hughes himself upon reviewing the tape of the match Hughes can be heard telling his corner after the fight "I was out". The result was officially announced as a KO at 1:27 of the second round. The slam is considered to be one of the greatest in MMA history.
He successfully defended his championship belt at UFC 36: Worlds Collide, defeating former Shooto Middleweight Champion Hayato Sakurai via TKO due to strikes at 3:01 of the fourth round. In the first round of the fight, Hughes spent all the time either clinching Sakurai up against the fence, or ripping his feet out from under him. In round 2, Sakurai landed a right hand that sent Hughes to the mat; despite this, Matt won the round by spending three minutes hitting Sakurai with elbows from the top position. At the start of the third round, Hughes quickly slammed Sakurai to the ground, again staying three minutes on top. He looked too strong for Sakurai. Hughes finished the bout in the 4th round, by taking down Sakurai and transitioning to full mount. After one minute of ground-and-pound onslaught, the contest was over as Sakurai had no answer for the champion.
Hughes faced Carlos Newton in their rematch at the main event of UFC 38: Brawl at the Hall, in the promotion's debut in the United Kingdom. He won the fight by technical knockout when he trapped Newton in a modified crucifix position, which allowed him to rain unanswered blows on Newton's face until the referee stopped the contest at 3:27 of round 4.
In his next title defense, Hughes fought Gil Castillo at UFC 40: Vendetta, defeating the former Middleweight contender via TKO. Hughes started the match with a big slam and then began to attack from Castillo's guard with elbows and punches. Hughes easily avoided any submission attempts and looked far stronger than Castillo. As he passed to half guard, Castillo was bleeding above his left eye. The challenger's only offense was a weak triangle choke that went nowhere. The round ended with Hughes on top, ground-and-pounding his opponent. Between rounds doctors ruled that the resulting cut was too severe to continue, and Hughes was declared the winner due to stoppage.
At UFC 42: Sudden Impact, Hughes faced future UFC Lightweight Champion Sean Sherk, winning via unanimous decision. Hughes started the action by taking Sherk down immediately, passing to half guard. Sherk was able to stand for a few seconds before Hughes took him down again. In round two, they started to trade punches, but eventually Hughes took Sherk down. Like the first round, they stood up for a moment. At the beginning of the third round, Sherk took Hughes down, while Hughes attempted a kimura from the bottom. A late stand up led to a second takedown by Sherk. Round 4 saw Hughes using his strength to control the challenger on the ground. Sherk took Hughes down again in the fifth round, but the champion controlled the rest of the time sprawl-and-brawling as he finished on top. With the victory, he became the first man to defeat Sherk.
Hughes faced former WFA Welterweight Champion Frank Trigg at the main event of UFC 45: Revolution. This event marked the UFC's 10th anniversary. After a tactical grappling match-up early on, Trigg fell victim to a standing rear naked choke at 3:45 of the first round. The choke earned Hughes the Tapout of the Night Submission Award.
Loss to Penn and regaining the title Hughes kept the title until UFC 46: Supernatural, when he was submitted by Hawaiian Brazilian jiu-jitsu specialist B.J. Penn via rear naked choke at 4:39 of the first round, in a fight he was heavily favored to win. The title was vacated following a contract dispute between Penn and the UFC, which promptly stripped him of the welterweight title, claiming Penn had breached his contract and that the signing constituted him refusing to defend his title. Penn filed suit against UFC and publicized his side of the conflict, claiming his contract had expired. Penn filed a motion to stop UFC from awarding a new welterweight title, but that motion was denied.
Hughes faced Penn's training partner Renato Verissimo at UFC 48: Payback, winning via unanimous decision (30-27; 30–27; 29–28). He was caught in a very tight triangle choke in the first round, but after winning the second and third rounds, was awarded with the victory.
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: The War of '04. The fight was competitive. Hughes took GSP down twice and landed a huge slam. Hughes was in trouble at the beginning of the bout as St-Pierre unloaded a spinning back kick into his ribs. The submission earned Hughes his second Tapout of the Night. Obviously disappointed at the time, St. Pierre admitted afterward that he had lost before he ever stepped into the Octagon. He had regarded Hughes as his idol, not as someone he could beat.
Hughes retained his title against Trigg in their historic rematch at UFC 52: Couture vs. Liddell 2. Accidentally hit in the groin early in the first round, Hughes looked to the referee for assistance; however, the referee had not seen the strike and Trigg capitalized on Hughes's distraction by staggering him with a barrage of punches. The fight quickly went to the ground, with Trigg ground-and-pounding Hughes, then attempting a rear naked choke. After nearly two minutes of struggling, Hughes broke free, picked Trigg up, carried him across the Octagon and slammed him to the ground. Hughes then ground-and-pounded Trigg before securing the victory with a rear naked choke of his own, in what is considered one of the UFC's greatest fights. and comebacks in MMA history This fight is UFC President Dana White's favorite match in combat sport history. He was awarded the Tapout of the Night for the third time in his career.
Hughes's next fight took place at UFC 56: Full Force, where he was scheduled to fight Judo practitioner Karo Parisyan. After Parisyan 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. It marked the first time for the UFC that a title fight had to be called off for this reason.
Hughes defeated Riggs in the first round by submission via kimura from the half-guard at 3:28. The armlock earned Hughes his last Tapout of the Night award.