Episode 206 of the Tom Rowland Podcast is my conversation with Matt Hughes, one of the most dominant welterweights in UFC history and my favorite fighter of all time. A two-time UFC welterweight champion who defended his title nine times, Matt was a two-time Illinois state wrestling champion and two-time Division I All-American before he ever stepped into the octagon. We talk about his fighting career, the 2017 train collision that nearly killed him, the brutal recovery, and the faith, hunting, and fishing that anchor his life.
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Matt Hughes is a retired American mixed martial artist widely regarded as one of the greatest welterweights in UFC history. He won his first UFC welterweight title in 2001 against Carlos Newton, became a two-time champion, and defended the belt nine times. Before MMA he was a two-time Illinois state wrestling champion and a two-time Division I All-American. He is also a lifelong hunter and fisherman.
In June 2017, Matt Hughes was struck by a train at a crossing while driving. He was not wearing his seat belt, which he believes saved his life. The train took roughly three quarters of a mile to stop, and the conductor ran back believing he was dead. Matt suffered a severe traumatic brain injury and spent months in the hospital and rehabilitation.
It was life-threatening and grueling. Matt spent about a month in a rehabilitation facility that he describes as feeling like prison, confined to a bed enclosure he hated. He had to relearn basic functions, and there was a period where he did not recognize his own wife. His recovery from that condition to walking on his own again was remarkable.
Not at first. In one of the most striking moments of the conversation, Matt recounts a woman pushing his wheelchair and handing him her phone so he could type, because he could barely talk. He asked who she was, and she said she was his wife. He asked to see her driver's license to confirm it, and his takeaway was simply that he was happy he had married someone so beautiful.
Faith is central to how Matt frames his survival. He describes more than one moment in his life when he nearly died, including a college spillway accident where a friend pulled him from a dangerous hydraulic. Looking back on the train crash and his recovery, his recurring line is simple: God has been good to me.
Tom Rowland Podcast Episode 206 with Matt Hughes is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. The video version is embedded at the top of this page.
Matt Hughes is my favorite fighter of all time. I watched every fight. I was drawn to his style because he was a wrestler and I was a wrestler, and he made it known that he liked to hunt and fish, which is exactly my world. Right down to his walk-in song, Hank Williams Jr.'s A Country Boy Can Survive, this was my guy. When I saw an Instagram post of him in a hospital bed after being struck by a train, then watched him walk into a UFC event on his own months later to a standing ovation, I left a casual comment offering a fishing trip to celebrate his recovery. He replied almost immediately, and this conversation grew out of that.
Press play in the YouTube player at the top of this page to hear the whole conversation.
Before the octagon, Matt was a two-time Illinois state wrestling champion and a two-time Division I All-American. He won his first UFC welterweight title in 2001 against Carlos Newton and went on to defend it nine times during an era stacked with names like Rich Franklin, Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture, and Tito Ortiz. We talk about that run and what made his style so hard to beat. Listen to it in the episode.
Matt walks me through the crossing, the moment of impact, and the strange details, that he was on the phone, that the train took three quarters of a mile to stop, and that the conductor ran back assuming he was dead. He is honest that not wearing his seat belt likely saved his life, and just as honest about wondering where his head was that day. Hear him tell it in his own words.
The hardest and most human part of this conversation is Matt describing waking up unable to recognize the woman caring for him. He asked to see her driver's license to confirm she really was his wife. The way he tells it, with humor and gratitude rather than self-pity, says everything about who he is. Press play in the YouTube player above.
The train crash was not the first time Matt nearly died. He tells the story of a college spillway accident, caught in a dangerous hydraulic, and how a friend saved his life. Across all of it, his framing is the same: God has been good to me. Listen to that section of the episode.
Listen to the full conversation: Apple Podcasts · Spotify · or watch in the YouTube player at the top of this page.
I have admired Matt Hughes since I was watching every one of his fights, and getting to know the man behind the fighter only deepened that. The toughness that made him a champion is the same toughness that got him out of that hospital bed and back on his feet.
What stays with me is his gratitude. A man who has nearly died more than once talks about it with humor and faith rather than bitterness. That is the real fighting life. Listen to the whole conversation.
The Tom Rowland Podcast brings you long-form conversations with the most accomplished anglers, hunters, conservationists, and outdoor professionals in the game. Listen to every full-length Tom Rowland Podcast interview.
Matt Hughes is a retired American mixed martial artist regarded as one of the greatest welterweights in UFC history. A two-time UFC welterweight champion who defended his title nine times, he was previously a two-time Illinois state wrestling champion and a two-time Division I All-American. In June 2017 he survived a near-fatal train collision and a traumatic brain injury, undergoing a long and difficult recovery. A lifelong hunter and fisherman of deep faith, he lives in Illinois.
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