On Sunday afternoon, Matt “The Hammer” Hamill will meet former light heavyweight (93kg) champion, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson in the main event of UFC 130.
The event marks Hamill’s first time headlining a UFC pay-per-view event after 11 fights inside the organisation and it comes in quite opportunistic circumstances.
Initially, Hamill was set to face rising contender, Phil Davis, to kick off the main card of the event. His opponent was changed to Jackson when Jackson’s original opponent, Thiago Silva, failed his UFC 125 pre-fight drug test.
Hamill was set to meet Jackson in the co-main event slot when, two weeks ago, fate intervened, and both UFC lightweight (70kg) champion Frankie Edgar, and fighter Gray Maynard, had to pull out of the main event due to injuries.
Aside from now being the event’s headlining bout, the fight will have a serious impact on the UFC light heavyweight title picture. With the division’s top contender, Rashad Evans, tied up in a bout with the aforementioned Davis at UFC 133, light heavyweight champion Jon Jones is awaiting an opponent for later in the year.
While Jackson re-established himself as a championship contender with a hard-fought split-decision win over Lyoto Machida in November, Matt Hamill has put together a five-fight win streak that includes a controversial disqualification win over the current champion.
Hamill doesn’t take credit for the win but he also doesn’t think the fight’s controversial result hurts his chances of a future title shot.
“I don’t regard the Jones win as a real win, of course I don’t,” said Hamill via email. “But maybe he will want to fight me to clear that up. Maybe Jon Jones wants to clean up his record like Anderson Silva does with Yushin Okami.”
It was clear to see in his bout with Jones that Hamill was severely outclassed by the speed and power of the current champion. Although he technically won the bout, it is seen as a loss by the majority of the MMA world, and an example of Hamill again falling short of being considered a contender in the light heavyweight division.
Prior to that fight, Hamill had come close to breaking into the upper echelon of light heavyweight fighters on two separate occasions.
Born deaf, Hamill defied his disability to have a highly decorated career as an amateur wrestler. While many would believe that being unable to hear would hinder an athletic career, Hamill has stated on many occasions that it actually helps him focus on his opponent.
His stellar wrestling ability naturally translated to Mixed Martial Arts, and Hamill was chosen as a contestant for the third season of The Ultimate Fighter.
Even though he only had three months of MMA training and one professional bout to his name, his coach on the show, Tito Ortiz, saw a great future for Hamill and decided to take him under his wing. Hamill won his first bout on the show but had to pull out of the competition due to injury.
UFC management saw his potential though, and signed him to fight in the UFC despite his lack of experience. He started off brightly, using his excellent wrestling game and developing striking game to score three consecutive victories.
In September, 2007, Hamill had the chance to show the MMA world how far he could have gone on the Ultimate Fighter if he was injury free, when he met The Ultimate Fighter season three winner, Michael Bisping, at UFC 75. Hamill dominated the opening round, but appeared to ease off in the final two rounds, allowing Bisping into the fight.
The fight went to the cards and it was controversially ruled as a split decision in favour of the Brit.
Hamill rebounded with a victory over Tim Boetsch and was then matched up with close friend and former UFC middleweight (84kg) champion, Rich Franklin at UFC 88.
A victory over the highly-renowned Franklin would have catapulted Hamill into title contention, but he appeared unable to find his rhythm in the bout and was picked apart by Franklin and stopped by a body kick in the third round.
Despite his failures in the past to situate himself amongst the division’s elite, Hamill feels that his most recent bout with his former mentor, Tito Ortiz, illustrated a turning point in his career.
“I didn’t want to fight (Tito),” said Hamill. “Him and Rich Franklin are the two people I consider close friends in MMA and I fought them both. I couldn’t get into the right mindset to fight Rich and I lost as a result. With Tito I made sure I went in there to fight hard and I got the win.”
This experience that comes with eleven fights under the UFC banner may very well give Hamill the tools he didn’t have earlier in his career to establish himself as a contender in the light heavyweight division.
Regardless, Sunday afternoon will provide us all with another interesting turn in the remarkable career of Matt Hamill.
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