Matt Hughes

Hillsboro Illinois was the birth place of MMA terror Matthew Allen Hughes born on October 13, 1973. A dedicated athlete, Huges has only suffered one defeat since he began his fighting career in 1996 in the gymnasium of Madonna High School in the Chicagoland area. He earned $100.

Matt fought again a year later and then took some matches overseas to gain experience.

Hughes is powerful grappler who employs a fierce ground and pound style. Known for his trademark manuever of picking up his foes, walking with them across the ring, and then power slamming them to the canvas, Matt Hughes positions his opponent's head against the fence to allow no avenue of escape.

At UFC 34: Hughes won his first UFC Welterweight title  with a vicious power bomb like slam of Carlos Newton with a powerbomb-like slamwho nearly had Hughes unconscious with a triangle choke when he was slammed.

The new champ had successful defenses against Hayato Sakurai, Sean Sherk, Carlos Newton, Gil Castillo,  and Frank Trigg.

It was at UFC 46, when he ran into B.J. Penn that Matt Hughes was finally derailed with a rear naked choke. Penn vacated the title and left the UFC, allowing Hughes to  regain the gold at UFC 50 when he submitted Georges St. Pierre with an armbar in the first round.

Frank Trigg became a two time victim of the Hughes express, losing for a second time by submission at UFC 52.Another submission victory occured at UFC  56 when he gunned down Joe Riggs in 3:28 with a Kimura.

Though Matt Hughes gained tremendous exposure to the public through his role as a coach on the Spike TV reality television series, The Ultimate Fighter, he is probably best known for his victory over UFC hall of fame inductee Royce Gracie.  
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Recent history
Hughes fought in a non title fight at the hugely anticipated UFC 60 on May 27, 2006. Hughes surprised critics with his willingness to fight on the ground — where Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu expert Gracie was considered superior — and dominated the fight, evading his opponent's submission attempts and applied a fully-extended straight armbar to Gracie's left arm after 4 minutes. Gracie eventually escaped the hold, but in doing so exposed his back, allowing Hughes to gain a back mount. Hughes then hit Gracie with a series of uncontested strikes, forcing referee John McCarthy to stop the fight for a TKO after 4 minutes and 39 seconds.jj

Hughes is also scheduled for a rematch with Georges St. Pierre in a title defense at a later date, rumored to be September at UFC 63.

Ray Mardo is a former freestyle wrestler. The Austin Film Festival honored writer now spends his days as the webmaster of several websites about ultimate fighting championship and mixed martial arts, extreme championship wrestling, world championship wrestling, who is the coolest guy on the planet, and DJ training.

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