Hughes lands in NJCAA Wrestling Hall

[PRShrek]

I know this is old news, but I haven’t seen it posted here yet so officially no one knows about it:

http://www.lincolncourier.com/newsno...Wrestling-Hall

ROCHESTER, Minn. —

Lincoln College graduate and former wrestler Matt Hughes will be inducted into the National Junior College Athletic Association Wrestling Hall of Fame in a ceremony today at Rochester Community College in Rochester, Minn.

The Hall of Fame induction is part of the NJCAA Tournament, which began Friday and continues through the finals at 7 p.m. today.

The NJCAA No. 3-ranked Lynx have nine national qualifiers at the tournament this season.

A graduate of Hillsboro High School, Hughes was a four-time state qualifier, winning state titles his junior and senior years (1992 and 1993).

Hughes’ college career started at Belleville Area Community College, where he placed fifth in the nation at 158 pounds in 1994. After Belleville dropped its wrestling program, Hughes transferred to Lincoln College, where he placed third in the nation, finishing with a 33-3 record for the Lynx in 1995.

After graduating from Lincoln, Hughes continued his wrestling career at Eastern Illinois, where he was a two-time NCAA Division I All-American by placing eighth in 1996 and finishing fifth in 1997 at 158 pounds. He ended up with an 80-15 record for the Panthers.

Hughes’ love for competition turned into a Mixed Martial Arts career. On Nov. 2 2001, he won the UFC world welterweight title, which Hughes successfully defended an MMA record nine times.

Hughes was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame in 2010.

These days, Hughes volunteers a lot of his time to his church and a Mexican orphanage named Rancho 3M near El Paso, Texas. Matt and his wife, Audra, currently live in Hillsboro with their children Joey, Hanna and Katelyn.

He joins a list of five former Lincoln College wrestlers and coaches already inducted in the NJCAA Hall of Fame.

[Bonnie]

That's really great for Matt. Thanks for sharing that. When you said it was "old news", I thought maybe it had happened a while back, but it's dated from last Friday, Feb. 24, 2012. That's not so old to me.

[Primadawn]

That's awesome! Congrats, Matt!

[PRShrek]

Originally Posted by Bonnie

When you said it was "old news", I thought maybe it had happened a while back, but it's dated from last Friday

That’s like six months in Twitter years!

[Bonnie]

Originally Posted by PRShrek

That’s like six months in Twitter years!

You're right! I wasn't even thinking of Twitter and FB, how "instant" news is now!

[Llamafighter]

Congrats Matt!

[VCURamFan]

From the horse's mouth:

https://twitter.com/#!/matthughes9x/...34683632058369

[Bonnie]

Originally Posted by VCURamFan

From the horse's mouth:

https://twitter.com/#!/matthughes9x/...34683632058369

Just got back on and clicked on this thread first thing to see what you posted, Ben, and your smiling face is staring back at me from that car! You put it as your sig...I love it! Flo does such great work, huh?!

Thanks for the twitter link of Matt!

[Silverback]

Good job Matt, would have liked to made that one, to keep my record intact.

[flo]

Congratulations to Matt!! It's great that he's recognized at all levels of athletic competition. Thanks for posting it, PRS.