(Note: A list of MMA's most fascinating people wouldn't be complete without the addition of UFC light heavyweight Matt Hamill. In the first of a four-part series leading up to a UFC 92 bout with Reese Andy, MMAjunkie.com's Jon Lane delves into the world of Hamill, the UFC's first-ever deaf fighter. While the surface has been scratched, Lane takes us deep into Hamill's world and explains how it all comes together – in MMA and in life. MMAjunkie.com is pleased to present the second installment of our new series, "Matt Hamill: Raw.")
Matt Hamill was born October 5, 1976 in Loveland, Ohio, 15 miles northeast of Cincinnati. His biological father, Alex, and mother, Janet, were separated, but Matt quickly developed a tight bond with his stepfather, Mike Rich, who to this day he affectingly calls, "Coach."
It was when Matt was eight months old that Janet and Mike first learned he was born deaf, but that neither crushed Mike and Janet’s spirit, nor prevented Matt from being a kid. He was a bundle of energy, uber-hyper and physical in nature, and the day came when fate introduced Matt to an outlet to unleash that energy. During Christmas break --- Rich's Loveland High School wrestling team was still practicing -- Janet asked Mike to give her a break and take four-year-old Matt to practice. Mike agreed and quickly learned one of his stepson's greatest strengths.
"As Matt was very astute in doing, sitting back and observing was his best learning tool," Rich said. "He had developed a keen sense of observation. Later on in life he’d always say, 'I soaked it up like a sponge.'"
Matt liked the concept of people physically inflicting pain on each other, which to him was like the roughhousing he was already doing with his brothers. After that initial session, Matt became a regular guest at Rich's practices, even hollering a few instructions at the wrestlers.
"The wrestling mat was an even playing field for me, it didn't matter if I could hear or not," Hamill said. "The mats became my home, and it kept me busy and out of trouble."
Hooked, Matt wondered if Loveland had any wrestling for little kids. Because of his natural born strength -- his biological father was a collegiate weightlifter -- Matt was advanced compared to those in his age bracket and he dominated the competition as he grew bigger and stronger. The summer before entering ninth grade, Matt enrolled in 1960 Olympic freestyle gold medalist Doug Blubaugh's Top of the World wrestling camp in Bloomington, Ind., where he spent his next three school vacations.
Matt's wrestling education didn't end with the dawn of a new school year. After practices at Loveland High, he'd drive 55 minutes to Dayton and former Ohio high school champion Jeff Jordan's camp, where one day he met Purdue assistant wrestling coach Scott Hinkel. Matt raced home to tell his parents to expect a phone call, one which Hinkel raved about skills he had never seen out of anyone at the high school level.
"Matt became his own self-made wrestling being," Rich said. "He's a monster in terms of eating and drinking [wrestling]; he's so set up like a sponge. He has such a keen sense of observation, a keen sense of wanting to never be satisfied, always wanting to improve himself and never backing down from a challenge.”
Matt competed at Purdue for one season (1996-97), but there were problems. The interpreting services promised by the program weren't adequate. Once Matt dropped out and returned home, Janet called Ron Gross, the wrestling coach at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), the home of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf. Gross recruited Hamill out of high school but had no chance at him due to his Division I talent.
Gross left the door open if it didn't work out at Purdue. Hamill and his parents stepped through it. During the offseason, Hamill rolled with RIT's wrestlers during an open mat session. Gross, a member of two national championship teams at Ithaca College (1989 and 1990) and a two-time All-American inducted into school's Hall of Fame in 2004, had to test Hamill out for himself.
"He took me down with no problem, like four our five times in a row," Gross recalled. "His strength was second to nobody I've ever wrestled."
RIT also had a full-time interpreter at every practice and competition. Hamill's family was sold on the package, and Gross received a phone call he dreamed about for the last two years.
"I was jumping up and down in my living room because I knew he was going to be transferring in," Gross said. "That was a good day for me."
Competing for RIT, Hamill became a three-time NCAA Division III national champion and took part in the 2001 Summer Deaflympics, where he won a silver medal in Greco-Roman wrestling and gold in freestyle wrestling. One Fourth of July, Rich saw Hamill watching a UFC bout on television. Hamill told him, "I think I might do that."
A month later, Hamill accepted his first MMA fight near South Bend, Ind.
"I asked Janet, 'What has this boy gotten into now?'" Rich said.
Hamill won in the first round via multiple strikes, as well as his second fight, held in his backyard of Cincinnati. He then cooked up a story that he was traveling to Oklahoma to train with 2000 Olympic gold medalist Rulon Gardner, but Rich grew suspicious when Matt said via e-mail that Gardner had moved his camp to New Mexico.
A resource officer in Cincinnati who ran local MMA shows revealed that rumor had it Hamill was in Las Vegas being screened for the third deason of "The Ultimate Fighter." Both parents were stunned that Matt led them on a wild goose chase, and more so when Hamill was accepted and was to train under the legendary Tito Ortiz. Right before the tapings, Hamill accepted a request for help on a mat game from the UFC's middleweight champion, a feared striker named Rich Franklin.
Injuries forced Hamill out of the "TUF" competition before the semifinals, but he TKO'd Jesse Forbes on The Ultimate Fighter 3 Finale, a debut that lasted 4:47 into round one. His next fight was a unanimous decision win over Seth Petruzelli well before the latter's taste of fame thanks to his 14-second KO of Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson.
"After the fight with Jesse, I was happy to get my first official win inside the octagon," Hamill said. "I was very raw at that point and was able to use my limited skills and pull off the win. As for Seth, he and I had a war. It was the first time I faced someone so well-rounded. I was happy to get the decision."
Hamill's first fight since the controversial loss to Michael Bisping was to be against Stephan Bonnar at UFC Fight Night 13 in suburban Denver. When Bonner was forced to withdraw due to a serious knee injury suffered during training, another UFC newcomer anxious to impress named Tim Boetsch took the fight on 10 days' notice. Stacked at 5-foot-11, 205 pounds and aptly nicknamed "The Barbarian," Boetsch attacked his opponents with ferocity and brute skills in wrestling and Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do.
Boetsch delivered a wicked knee to Hamill's jaw in round one that opened a severe cut on Hamill's lower lip, but despite eating two more, Hamill kept coming. Besides taking Boetsch's best shots, Hamill also handled what his opponent couldn't: Colorado's high altitude. Winded in round two, Boetsch attempted a single-leg takedown but left himself open for a relentless pounding. With Boetsch's head pressed against the cage, Hamill unloaded, and the fight was stopped at 1:25.
"I landed a real solid blow and I'd say if that happened to nine out of 10 guys, the fight would have been over right there," Boetsch said. "But he can take shots, and that's one of his attributes. He has a real strong chin and I definitely tested it that night.”
Well before the battles with Bisping and Boetsch, Hamill's story was grabbing attention. Shortly before a TKO win over Rex Holman moved his UFC record to 3-0, Hamill was contacted by writer/producer/actor Eben Kostbar and director/producer Joe McKelheer regarding their interest in making his life story into a movie. Hamill was a UFC neophyte but living a life compelling enough for someone to want to build upon it.
"I was very excited and honored," Hamill said. "They flew to Columbus for the Rex Holman fight to meet face to face with me."
Hamill was happy, and his confidence was at a high. His TKO of Boetsch improved his UFC record to 4-1, proved his performance against Bisping wasn't a fluke, and justified the fan and media backlash. Without hesitation Hamill accepted a fight with Franklin, his old sparring partner and friend, at UFC 88.
It was set up perfectly. A win over a popular former middleweight champion returning to the light-heavyweight division would elevate Hamill into serious title consideration. Once during a sparring session, Hamill took Franklin down with stunning ease, so the plan was to stand with Franklin for no more than a minute and then take the fight to the mat, where Hamill ruled.
Hamill knew Franklin like a book. He also loved and respected him. That admiration was the beginning of a cycle that sent Hamill's world crashing down.
(Check out Part 3 of "Matt Hamill: Raw" on Wednesday.)
