Hume grew up in
Kirkland, Washington. His father was a
Seattle police officer and his mother was a housewife and later a
nurse. His father had trained under
Bruce Lee and began Matt's
judo and
boxing training at age four. Hume began
folkstyle wrestling in elementary school and started coaching after graduating from
Lake Washington High School. Hume attended
Highline College for one year and finished his degree at
Central Washington University. He credited his Highline wrestling coach Ron Wallick as being a major influence. While attending CWU in 1988, Hume started a
pankration club, inviting all wrestlers, boxers, and other martial artists to train. He originally learned about pankration as a child while attending wrestling camps hosted by
Athletes in Action. This encouraged him to train and compete in
wrestling,
boxing,
kickboxing,
Thai boxing, and
karate. After graduating, Hume worked in finance while training with Haru Shimanishi and
Maurice Smith. Shimanishi had already established AMC (American Martial Arts Centre) Kickboxing, and partnered with Hume to co-found AMC Pankration. His relationship with Smith brought interest from Japanese reporters and
Pancrase, who recruited Hume and many other AMC fighters. ==Mixed martial arts career==