There is a point in the careers of many elite athletes where their once dominant skills start to erode, the twinkle in their eye turns into a glossy stare as they go through the motions.

Somewhere along the way, the Jim Gray du jour sits across from them, softly and earnestly asking what caused the decline, often eliciting the same response: “It stopped being fun” or some variation on that sentiment.

Sitting on the sidelines, far away from the daily grind of being a professional athlete, many wonder how such a thing could be possible, ready and willing to trade our daily routine with those of our athletic idols at any moment. But every job gets stale after enough time, and being a professional athlete is no different.

At that point, there are only a handful of options: riding things out, continuing to collect a paycheck is the path many take, while some decide enough is enough and opt for retirement. A small percentage choose the path Matt Hughes has decided to follow, accepting that his glory days are gone and getting back to having fun inside the cage.

Hughes started his career on New Year’s Day in 1998. Over the next eight years, the Illinois native compiled a record of 41-4, winning the UFC welterweight championship on two separate occasions. Hughes not only became one of the faces of the organization during the time before TUF, but also one of the most dominant champions in the company’s history as well.

Though both roles endure to this day, Hughes began being passed in the welterweight rankings back at UFC 79, when current champion Georges St-Pierre evened their career series at one. After carrying the welterweight title into or out of the Octagon in thirteen of his last fourteen trips to the cage, Hughes would leave Sacramento without the belt that evening, and he has not touched the strap again since.

A third meeting with St-Pierre ended just like the last, while his meeting with Thiago Alves in the main event of UFC 85 was even worse. The rising Brazilian star stopped Hughes in the second round with a flying knee, sending Hughes crashing to the canvas over his left knee, tearing his MCL and PCL in the process. If it hadn’t been clear before, this defeat was a resounding message for the former champion: the sport and the elite fighters in the welterweight division had evolved, leaving Hughes in their wake.

For many athletes, this would have been the point where the Jim Gray figure appears and asks what the future holds, prompting the Hughes character to walk off into the sunset or keep collecting paychecks and losses in tandem.

Instead, Hughes told Joe Rogan he had “one more fight” in him, and then proceeded to rattle off a three fight winning streak, culminating in an upset victory over Ricardo Almeida at UFC 117.

After years of carrying the UFC flag and facing the best the world had to offer at 170-pounds, Hughes was free from the pressures of being a champion and taking fights that piqued his interest. Most of all, he was having fun again.

This weekend, Hughes steps into the cage for the second trilogy fight of his career, facing B.J. Penn for the first time in more than four years and more than six years after the Hawaiian ended Hughes first welterweight title run at UFC 46.

The three-month turnaround time between his UFC 117 win and this weekend’s event is the shortest layoff Hughes has had since taking just two months off between his second fights with Penn and St-Pierre. For the former welterweight champion to return to the cage this quickly – and while foregoing hunting season at that – you have to know that Hughes is really looking forward to finally resolving things with Penn.

There is something to be said about having fun at work and enjoying what you do for a living. No matter where you earn your pay, waking up with an interest in going to work each days makes taking those first steps in the morning a lot easier, and that applies to professional fighters and produce pickers alike. Hitting the gym and getting hit in the cage are back to being enjoyable for Hughes now that the pressure is off and he’s only taking fights that interest him.

Instead of hanging up his gloves or holding onto them too long simply for the sake of collecting a paycheck, Hughes has found a way to keep fighting without looking like he doesn’t belong.
His last three fights have added three more wins to Hughes’ already impressive total, but it’s no longer about wins and losses: it’s about having fun.

The Octagon is Hughes’ Disneyland, and there is no place the former welterweight champion would rather be.