Lifestyles
courtesy UFC, Josh Hedges
From Farm Boy To World Champ
“I remember lying in bed that night looking at the ceiling and I just couldn’t go to sleep,” said Matt Hughes, reflecting on a milestone of his athletic career. “I just never thought I would be in this situation. When I first started this, I just wanted to compete somewhere and never thought I’d be able to pay my bills, be on TV, and never dreamed of being World Champion and support a family with a fighting career. That night in 2001 I defeated Carlos Newton and won the world title. I just couldn’t believe it was actually happening.”
courtesy UFC, Josh Hedges
Midway through Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 34, Newton had Hughes in a headlock—a hold allowed in the mixed martial arts UFC format—and appeared to be a sure winner. That is until Hughes raised him high into the air and body slammed Newton to the mat, winning in flamboyant style. Since then, Matt Hughes has won the Welterweight Championship eight times and has become a household name to fans of Ultimate Fighting—a rough and tough, few-holds-barred fighting format that quickly separates the men from the boys.
Rural Upbringing
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Matthew and his twin brother Mark were born on a farm in Hillsboro, Illinois, and grew up where hard work was an expectation of life. “Our nearest neighbor was nearly a mile away, and the nearest neighbor with kids our age to play with was four miles away,” says Matt. “Mark and I grew up with each other to play with, and as we got older we developed an intense competitive rivalry. Today we are still competitive with our kids, trucks, wives, guns, tractors and each other.”
Despite natural athletic talent, neither brother played competitive sports until they were freshmen in high school, where they played football and wrestled.
“Before that we just worked,” said Matt, “but that developed a hard work ethic that we are blessed with today.”
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In fact, Matt finds working on the farm “very relaxing” and a great puzzlement to his wife Audra. “When I wake up in the morning I like to run a while, take my son to school, and then work on the farm a couple of hours. She enjoys being in the house and watching TV while I only watch about an hour’s television a week. If I have time to be in the house, I have time to be in the shed doing something productive.”
The Need To Compete
Matt’s wrestling prowess came to the forefront in his junior and senior years in high school, where he went 43–0 and 45–0, respectively. Brother Mark also was successful at the college level until he chose to work the family farm after a two-year degree. Matt made All-American at Eastern Illinois University and coached until he graduated.
In 1996 a friend, Chris Dwyer, asked Matt to fight a small venue in the Chicago area, where he competed and won the $100 first prize. “I get slightly more than that now,” says Matt with a wry smile. “One win leads to a bigger fight, and a bigger one, and so on.”
courtesy UFC, Josh Hedges
Matt’s wrestling style proved successful in the newly emerging mixed martial arts format. “I have so much of an advantage being a wrestler because I get to pick where the fight is going to be,” he says. “If I’m fighting a good stand-up guy, I can take him down and beat him up on the ground. If I’m fighting a good ground guy, I can use my wrestling defensively and keep him on his feet and beat him there. As a wrestler, you get to pick where the fight is going to be.”
Hughes’ reputation as a grappler motivates opponents to avoid that strength if possible, and Matt is quick to admit that he’s working hard on his stand-up skills. “The submissions have come easy,” he says, “but the stand-up has not come as easily, and all of my training focuses on that.”
Training To Be On Top
courtesy UFC, Josh Hedges
The mixed martial arts format requires a wide variety of skill and strength levels. Although regular UFC fights include three five-minute rounds, and championship fights can last an additional two, this type of engagement requires total physical effort.
A typical day of training finds Matt up at 6:00 a.m. for a 30–45 minute run, after which he eats breakfast and relaxes. Around 9:00 a.m. he goes to the gym and lifts weights for up to an hour, followed by some light technique like hitting pads, grappling and sprints on a treadmill. He gets a protein shake to drink and finishes before noon. He has lunch at 12:30, then takes the afternoon off, returning at 5:30 to hit pads with his boxing coach for half an hour.
courtesy UFC, Josh Hedges
Daily workouts are routine, yet Monday night he does grappling with takedowns. Tuesday night is grappling and all ground work. Wednesday is heavy sparring and Thursday is heavy grappling.
“Wednesday morning I read my body,” says Hughes. “If it tells me to take the morning off, then I do. Otherwise, I go to the gym and lift weights. If someone tells you they train eight hours a day, they are lying,” he says. “Your body will not allow you to train that long or it will shut down.”
courtesy UFC, Josh Hedges
Hughes travels to a special training facility in Iowa during the week, arriving Monday afternoon and leaving Friday afternoon, with light lifting and workouts on the weekend. The week of a fight, he flies to the venue and trains hard all week—right up to weigh-in on Friday night. With the fight looming ahead on Saturday, the week is often one of his hardest training sessions.
Faith And Family Values
Given the violent nature of Ultimate Fighting, one might expect Hughes to be one nasty son-of-a-gun, yet those expectations would be 180 degrees from reality. Matt and Mark are devout Christians and follow a religious lifestyle devoid of profanity or alcohol. At the time of this interview, the twins had just returned from a Promise Keepers event—an all male religious retreat of fellowship, music, singing and motivational speakers.
“Being a Christian is all about having a relationship with God, and like any relationship, it’s a roller coaster ride with ups and downs,” says Matt. “Just as a relationship with your brother, sister or wife can get stale, your relationship with Jesus can become that way, and a retreat will get you jump-started and back on track. A lot of people say that Jesus is their friend they don’t talk about: like an embarrassing friend. I don’t want it to be that way. When you love someone, you do crazy things, and I want to be the guy who is in love with my Lord and not treat him like some embarrassing friend.”
In keeping with his religious beliefs, few men are greater examples of brotherly love than that which exists between Matt and Mark. In high school they were both wrestlers for the same team, yet they couldn’t practice against each other due to their intense competitive spirits.
“If we wrestled, it would end up in a fight,” said Matt. The brothers are identical twins, yet one is a world champion fighter and TV personality while the identical other works on the family farm. How difficult it must be for Mark to cheer on his look-alike brother and tend the farm while Matt is in Las Vegas for six weeks filming a reality TV show.
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“My notoriety has caused some hard times between Mark and I, but I like to say I cast a giant shadow,” says Matt seriously. “People can be brutal. Some will come [around] and say, ‘Hey Matt Hughes, I love watching you fight,’ and then Mark says, ‘I’m his brother,’ and that person sighs, ‘Oh, it’s just Mark Hughes.’
“That is rough on someone’s ego, and it wears on Mark, yet he knows that I love him like I will never love anyone else and none of that means anything. When it comes to fighting and it’s the last week and I’m cutting weight, I’m the boss. But, when it comes to this farm, he’s the boss here and I try to give him as much respect as he gives me.”
Embracing The Shooting Sports
Despite growing up in world-class deer country, the Hughes brothers didn’t pick up deer hunting until recently.
“We grew up hunting small game like squirrels and rabbits, but never hunted the deer on the farm,” said Matt. “Now, just waking up and going out and seeing the timber and the animals wake up is a treat. I don’t have to shoot a deer and I’m happy.”
Although deer hunting is new, guns are not. “I like guns, and they are the one thing I collect,” says Matt. “I’m not a believer in selling a gun. If it’s a good one, it will get sold when I die.”
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Finally, like most celebrities, Matt is often given products as a form of promotion.
“The world is kind of backwards that way,” he says. “I make decent money and don’t need people to give me things, yet the TV guys give me things and I somewhat endorse their product. I should pay for it and the poor people should get things for free. I guess that’s just the way it is.”
In keeping with his religious values, a portion of all Matt Hughes’ merchandising goes to an orphanage in Mexico.
My day with Matt and Mark Hughes was great fun, informative and deeply satisfying. Comically, one incident stands out.
A black Ford Mustang nearly pulled into the path of Matt’s truck as we drove through Hillsboro. The guy was clearly in the wrong, but it was one of those situations when the errant driver often waves an obscenity or threatens to pick a fight. “What a serious mistake that would have been,” I laughed to myself.
If you are an aggressive driver near Hillsboro, Illinois, you better have only two words on the tip of your tongue…Tap Out!