[5] 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.

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.

[19] 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.

[19] Hughes competed in the prestigious ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship, in which he held a record of 2–2, beating Ricardo Almeida[20] and Jeremy Horn,[21] and losing to Jeff Monson[22] and Tito Ortiz.

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.

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.

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.

[34] 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.

[36] 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.

[41] Between rounds doctors ruled that the resulting cut was too severe to continue, and Hughes was declared the winner due to stoppage.

[53] Hughes faced Penn's training partner Renato Verissimo at UFC 48: Payback, winning via unanimous decision (30-27; 30–27; 29–28).

[55] 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.

After nearly two minutes of struggling, Hughes broke free, picked Trigg up, carried him across the Octagon and slammed him to the ground.

[72] The event drew 620,000 buys, becoming the best-selling pay-per-view in UFC history, and was the first to break the $20 million mark in gross PPV sales.

[86] On March 3, 2007, Hughes returned to the Octagon for UFC 68: Uprising,[88] defeating Chris Lytle by unanimous decision, winning 30–27 on all three judges' scorecards.

[1] In 2005, Hughes participated as a coach opposite Rich Franklin in the second season of the Spike TV reality television series, The Ultimate Fighter.

In 2007, Hughes participated as a guest coach for long-time friend and training partner, Jens Pulver during The Ultimate Fighter 5 season.

Hughes agreed to head coach again for The Ultimate Fighter 6, alongside then-UFC Welterweight Champion, Matt Serra.

[93][94] In 2011, Hughes appeared as guest coach during The Ultimate Fighter 13 season for friend and former UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar.

[102] Hughes fought the extension, but with his left hand trapped between the mat and St-Pierre's legs, was forced to submit verbally at 4:54 of the second round.

Hughes started the second round with powerful leg kicks, but after that Gracie returned to his in-and-out punching style.

Shaking hands, signing autographs, being a world title holder and being inducted into the Hall of Fame, this is beyond what I ever would have pictured my life being.

[7]Fighting Renzo Gracie student and 3rd degree Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Ricardo Almeida, Hughes rendered him unconscious with a Dave Schultz front headlock[115] at 3:15 of round 1, on August 7, 2010, at UFC 117: Silva vs.

[116] Hughes landed a huge left hook that knocked Almeida down, sinking in the very deep choke which earned him the Submission of the Night honors.

[126]The UFC announced on January 24, 2013, that Matt Hughes retired from fighting and was named a Vice President of Athlete Development and Government Relations.

[citation needed] Matt Hughes has been criticized by animal advocates, including former UFC fighter and commentator Dan Hardy, for his trophy hunting hobby.

[137] In response to outrage over trophy hunting pictures posted on his Twitter account in 2012, Hughes called some of the commenters "PETA idiots" and told them to stop following his page.

[4] On June 16, 2017, Hughes was hospitalized with a serious head injury after a train struck the passenger side of his truck at a rail crossing near his home in Montgomery County, Illinois.

[144] On September 19, 2017, news surfaced that Hughes sued Norfolk Southern Railway and several of its employees for the 2017 train crash.

His brother Mark Hughes also filed a restraining order against him claiming that Matt choked his son and tried to destroy his tractor.