Hume grew up in Kirkland, Washington. His father was a Seattle police officer who trained in Judo, boxing, and with Bruce Lee during the time Lee trained the Seattle Police department. Matt Hume's mother was a stay at home Mom and later a Nurse. He graduated from Lake Washington High School, later receiving his college degree in business from Central Washington University. Matt trained and competed in collegiate style wrestling, boxing, and karate as a child. After graduating from CWU, Matt competed in WKA Kickboxing, winning the North American Super Welterweight Title. Hume went on to compete in the Japanese organization Pancrase. He has also competed at Battlecade Extreme Fighting, The Contenders, and AFC, as well as the very first ADCC submission wrestling tournament.
Matt Hume first competed in the Shootfighting-style MMA organization Pancrase, debuting at Pancrash 3! against Katsuomi Inagaki, a fight where he lost by points. He would win his second MMA fight against Pancrase veteran and future UFC-fighter Scott Bessac via Rear Naked Choke, but go to lose his next 3 fights, against Ken Shamrock, Manabu Yamada and Jason Delucia. He would then gain a swift victory over Scott Sollivan with an armbar in under a minute, but would later lose by points against Minoru Suzuki in his final Pancrase fight. He has a record of 2 wins and 5 losses in Pancrase. Outside of Pancrase, Matt Hume holds wins over former Shooto champion Erik Paulson and former UFC Welterweight ChampionPat Miletich. Matt Hume also defeated former Olympic gold medalist Kenny Monday by a Toe hold submission in only 45 seconds in the main event of the pay-per-view world submission wrestling championships "The Contenders". Matt Hume's submission grappling impressed Prince Sheik Tahnoun Bin Zayed Al Nayhan of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates so much, that the Prince requested that Matt come to Abu Dhabi to personally train him and his combat team. Shortly after Matt trained him and his team, the prince was inspired to start the now famous ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship. Matt participated in the inaugural event, winning all of his matches, but withdrawing after his semifinal victory on the doctor's recommendation after a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament injury. Hume’s last fight was a win against Shawn Peters by armbar, at Hook n Shoot Absolute Fighting Championships 1, December 13, 2002.
AMC Pankration
Hume founded the American Martial Arts Center in Kirkland, WA soon after graduating from college and is currently home to Demetrious Johnson, Bibiano Fernandes, Tim Boetsch, Caros Fodor and numerous other world class fighters.
Hume was initially appointed as the head official by Singapore-based promotion ONE Championship when it was founded in 2011. The following year he accepted a new role as Vice President of Operations.
