- Two-time UFC Welterweight Champion
Matt Hughes plays online at Full Tilt Poker.
Most people who grow up in small towns can't wait to get out. Then there are people like Matt Hughes who never want to leave. Unfortunately, as a mixed martial arts champ, he's got to go where the octagon is and that’s rarely in rural Illinois.
Matt was born and raised in Hillsboro, a small farming town in southern Illinois. Growing up, Matt and his twin brother, Mark played together and did their share of chores on the family farm. But as they got older, those chores turned into work – hard, up-before-dawn farm work. And when they weren’t working or studying for school, their dad "volunteered" them at neighbors’ farms.
Life on the family farm left little time for sports, but when Matt entered high school he made up for lost time in a big way. He played varsity football and was a stand-out wrestler, going undefeated in his junior and senior years and winning back-to-back state championships. In college, Matt earned a scholarship at Eastern Illinois University and achieved All-American honors four years in a row.
Living in farm country is quaint, but quaint doesn't cut it when you're young and it's Saturday night. The people in Matt's hometown always had to find their own entertainment. So when Matt's friend suggested he enter a show fight at an area high school, Matt jumped at the opportunity. When he won, he couldn't wait for his next fight. Unfortunately, it was a year before the show came back to town. When it did, Matt was ready – he won the fight handily. After his second hometown win he started looking for fights farther afield, and with the help of a new manager, he found them. He traveled across the U.S., and crisscrossed the globe, competing in such far-flung locations as Hawaii, Japan, Kuwait, and Abu Dhabi.
After a lot of hard work, Matt found himself in the octagon fighting for the UFC Welterweight title in 2004. He defeated Carlos Newton and subsequently successfully defended his belt on numerous occasions. Matt lost his title in January 2004 but didn’t have to wait very long before getting his hands on the belt again, reclaiming the championship with a victory against Georges St-Pierre in October of that year. He lost the title for a second time following a defeat to St-Pierre in November 2006.
Matt was a coach in the second and sixth seasons of The Ultimate Fighter reality television series and made an appearance as a guest coach in the fifth season of the show.
When he's not training for his next fight or playing on Full Tilt Poker, Matt devotes himself to his wife and two children. Thankful for all that he’s achieved, it’s very important for Matt to give back to the community. He volunteers his time between helping his hometown, his church, and Rancho M3, a Mexican orphanage.