This Month’s MMA Birthdays: Matt Hughes Turns 50

He was King of the Welterweights for the better part of five years and proved to be one of the driving forces behind the sport’s move out of the “human cockfighting” dark ages and into mainstream acceptance. Two-time Ultimate Fighting Championship titleholder Matt Hughes will celebrate his 50th birthday on Oct. 13.

Hughes was a two-time NCAA All-American wrestler at Eastern Illinois University before transitioning to MMA. The Hillsboro, Illinois, native made his MMA debut on Jan. 1, 1998 and went on to enjoy unprecedented success at 170 pounds. Hughes anchored the powerhouse Miletich Fighting Systems camp that included Jens Pulver, Spencer Fisher, Tim Sylvia and Robbie Lawler. He closed out his career with a 45-9 record, having procured 35 of his wins by knockout, technical knockout or submission. Victories over B.J. Penn, Georges St. Pierre, Matt Serra, Royce Gracie, Ricardo Almeida, Sean Sherk, Hayato Sakurai and Carlos Newton (twice) highlight his resume.

The Pat Miletich protege was inducted into the Pioneer Wing of the UFC Hall of Fame on May 29, 2010. Hughes suffered a traumatic brain injury in a near-fatal train accident in 2017, and his public appearances have been understandably sparse ever since.

Others in MMA celebrating a birthday during the month of October:

OCT. 1

Helio Gracie, 1913-2009
Devin Cole, 47
Jerrod Sanders, 43
Christine Stanley, 43
Ryan LaFlare, 40
Norma Dumont, 33
Alexander Hernandez, 31
Fan Rong, 30
Jakob Nedoh, 27
Dennis Buzukja, 26

OCT. 2

David Heath, 47
Takayo Hashi, 46
Alexandre Pimentel, 45
Ed Herman, 43
Marlen Magee, 43
Kevin Zalac, 41
Alex Reyes, 37
Michael Parkin, 28
Levan Chokheli, 27
Anita Karim, 27

OCT. 3

Branko Cikatic, 1954-2020
Thiago Alves, 40
Beslan Isaev, 40
Leo Kuntz, 40
Kentaro Watanabe, 40
Dave Herman, 39
Seok Mo Kim, 37
Sirwan Kakai, 34
Waldo Cortes-Acosta, 32
Yutaro Muramoto, 29

OCT. 4

Milton Vieira, 45
Joshua Burkman, 43
Liam McGeary, 41
Alexis Davis, 39
Ralek Gracie, 38
Jocelyn Jones-Lybarger, 38
Andrew Bard, 36
Erik Koch, 35
Michinori Tanaka, 33
Bryce Mitchell, 29

OCT. 5

Hiromitsu Kanehara, 53
Lee Brousseau, 49
Rich Franklin, 49
Matt Hamill, 47
Kenji Arai, 44
Lucas Lopes, 44
Kyle Baker, 43
Robert Drysdale, 42
Valeriu Mircea, 30
Grant Neal, 28

OCT. 6

Cyrille Diabate, 50
Olly Bradstreet, 40
Tyson Nam, 40
Brett Martinez, 37
Masio Fullen, 38
Jennifer Maia, 35
Sean Soriano, 34
Nasrudin Nasrudinov, 32
Yair Rodriguez, 31
Michel Pereira, 30

OCT. 7

Akihiro Gono, 49
Billy Evangelista, 43
Kyacey Uscola, 42
Chris Mickle, 40
C.J. Hamilton, 37
Yuta Sasaki, 34
Jordan Wright, 32
Mike Davis, 31
Luis Rafael Laurentino, 31
Casey O'Neill, 26

OCT. 8

Siala-Mou Siliga, 53
Ryo Chonan, 47
Roger Hollett, 45
Francisco Rivera, 42
Ken Stone, 41
Will Brooks, 37
Kevin Medinilla, 32
Koyomi Matsushima, 31
Ji Won Kang, 28
Raul Rosas Jr., 19

OCT. 9

Gene LeBell, 1932-2022
Tadao Yasuda, 63
Josh Diekmann, 47
Joe Doerksen, 46
Juan Espino, 43
Luis Palomino, 43
Jorge Santiago, 43
Daniel Puder, 42
Blagoy Ivanov, 37
Askar Askarov, 31

OCT. 10

Brad Mitchell, 49
Brandon Vera, 46
Douglas Evans, 43
Terry Martin, 43
Doo Won Seo, 42
Mitch Gagnon, 39
Carla Esparza, 36
Marcin Bandel, 34
Jordan Mein, 34
Fabricio Andrade, 26

OCT. 11

Coty Wheeler, 45
Francis Carmont, 42
Charles Byrd, 40
Nick Denis, 40
Desmond Green, 34
Sean Felton, 33
Sheymon Moraes, 33
Dave Burrow, 32
Johnny Soto, 31
Arman Tsarukyan, 27

OCT. 12

Fred Ettish, 68
John McCarthy, 61
Wes Sims, 44
Jason High, 42
Bashir Ahmad, 41
Ronnie Mann, 37
Omari Akhmedov, 36
Kairat Akhmetov, 36
Kyoji Horiguchi, 33
Kanna Asakura, 26

OCT. 13

Matt Hughes, 50
Bryan Baker, 38
Talita Nogueira, 38
John Albert, 37
Saiful Merican, 35
Borys Mankowski, 34
Raymond Pina, 33
Jordan Williams, 33
Yoshiki Nakahara, 32
Pavel Gordeev, 30

OCT. 14

Mikhail Zayats, 42
Dustin Joynson, 38
Kathina Lowe, 38
Tony Sims, 38
Jim Alers, 37
Musa Khamanaev, 36
Josh Grispi, 35
Raquel Canuto, 33
Jiri Prochazka, 31
Tafon Nchukwi, 29

OCT. 15

John Dixson, 68
Scott Lighty, 45
Darren Uyenoyama, 44
Art Arciniega, 42
Jacob Draves, 41
Vaughan Lee, 41
Jarjis Danho, 40
Karolina Kowalkiewicz, 38
Khama Worthy, 37
T.J. Laramie, 26

OCT. 16

Kazuyuki Fujita, 53
Mike Hayes, 43
Rafael Rebello, 43
Frankie Edgar, 42
Maximo Blanco, 40
Kleber Koike Erbst, 34
Movlid Khaybulaev, 33
Murad Ramazanov, 28
Mitch Raposo, 25
Nurullo Aliev, 24

OCT. 17

Joey Villasenor, 48
Rex Richards, 43
Holly Holm, 42
Ben Rothwell, 42
Buddy Roberts, 41
Luke Rockhold, 39
Edimilson Souza, 39
Omar Morales, 38
Charles Oliveira, 34
Raulian Paiva, 28

OCT. 18

Stoney Hale, 44
Greg Nagy, 40
Alonzo Menifield, 36
Jorina Baars, 35
Ji Yeon Kim, 34
Mark Abelardo, 32
Quang Le, 32
Anthony Hernandez, 30
Abubakar Khasiev, 26
Bogdan Kudelya, 23

OCT. 19

Yukiko Seki, 53
Gilbert Smith, 42
Gokhan Saki, 40
Terry Etim, 38
Juliana Velasquez, 37
Drew Dober, 35
Sabah Homasi, 35
Sean Powers, 34
Wendell Giacomo, 29
Akhmed Khamzaev, 23

OCT. 20

John Fraser, 46
Rafael Dias, 44
Josh Copeland, 41
Hayder Hassan, 41
Paul Redmond, 37
Daniele Miceli, 36
Ashley Yoder, 36
Liliya Shakirova, 32
Aleksi Toivonen, 32
Mario Filipe de Sousa , 27

OCT. 21

Gil Castillo, 58
Akihiro Fujisawa, 44
Clint Godfrey, 41
Shawn Jordan, 39
Jason Radcliffe, 38
Demoreo Dennis, 36
Talison Soares Costa, 35
Ed Ruth, 33
Lowen Tynanes, 33
Nathan Pierce, 31

OCT. 22

Enrique Briones, 43
Ajlin Ahmic, 39
Kosuke Suzuki, 39
Marcel Fortuna, 38
Rin Nakai, 37
Alex White, 35
Austin Arnett, 32
Amanda Bobby Brundage, 32
Iuri Lapicus, 28
Kleydson Rodrigues, 28

OCT. 23

Michelle Pearce, 49
Jason Butcher, 39
Shelton Graves, 36
Magomedrasul Khasbulaev, 37
Jeremy May, 37
Jake Collier, 35
Adam Piccolotti, 35
Andre Soukhamthath, 35
Francisco Figueiredo, 34
Shavkat Rakhmonov, 29

OCT. 24

Orlando Wiet, 58
Hiroko Yamanaka, 45
David Mitchell, 44
James McSweeney, 43
Mark Bocek, 42
Jesse Forbes, 39
Alexander Volkov, 35
Kelvin Gastelum, 32
Sean O'Malley, 29
James Gallagher, 27

OCT. 25

Eric Davila, 47
Travis Marx, 46
Jeremiah O'Neal, 46
Keith Wisniewski, 42
Augusto Montano, 39
Keith Berry, 36
James Gray Jr. 36
Danielle Taylor, 34
Zviad Lazishvili, 32
Carlos Hernandez, 30

OCT. 26

Mark Schultz, 63
Art Santore, 51
Phil Brooks, 45
Alejandro Villalobos, 45
Seth Baczynski, 42
Cindy Dandois, 39
Rafael dos Anjos, 39
Joey Gambino, 35
James Nakashima, 35
Askar Mozharov, 29

OCT. 27

Semmy Schilt, 50
Sherron Leggett, 45
Misaki Takimoto, 43
Tessa Simpson, 37
Julio Arce, 34
Chauncey Foxworth, 32
Jose Mariscal, 31
Amir Albazi, 30
Jairo Pacheco, 26
Nikita Mikhailov, 25

OCT. 28

Jigoro Kano, 1860-1938
Bobby Hoffman, 57
Alex Chambers, 45
Mike Ciesnolevicz, 44
Glover Teixeira, 44
L.C. Davis, 43
Will Noland, 43
Jaimelene Nievera, 39
Isao Kobayashi, 35
Heqin Lin, 30

OCT. 29

Will Kerr, 41
Jason Langellier, 40
Antonio Braga Neto, 36
Matthew Lozano, 35
Shinju Nozawa-Auclair, 30
Shuo Wang, 29
Ilya Freymanov, 28
Nicolo Solli, 26
Chelsea Hackett, 24
Sora Yamamoto, 23

OCT. 30

Ansar Chalangov, 44
Hong Man Choi, 43
Katsunori Kikuno, 42
Deray Davis, 41
Ed West, 40
Jeremiah Wells, 37
Kevin Belingon, 36
Bi Nguyen, 34
Jason Jackson, 33
Veronica Hardy, 28

OCT. 31

Jason Reinhardt, 54
Keith Jardine, 48
Joe Warren, 47
Daniel Kelly, 46
Waylon Lowe, 43
Yoshiro Maeda, 42
Dan Cramer, 38
Myles Jury, 35
Kai Asakura, 30
Janaisa Morandin, 29