- Matt Hamill
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For the biographical film about Matt Hamill formerly titled "Hamill", see The Hammer (2010 film).
Matt Hamill 
Born Matthew S. Hamill
October 5, 1976
Loveland, Ohio, United StatesOther names The Hammer Nationality American Height 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) Weight 205 lb (93.0 kg; 14.6 st) Division Light Heavyweight Reach 76 in (193 cm) Style Freestyle Wrestling, Greco-Roman Wrestling, Boxing, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Stance Orthodox Fighting out of Utica, New York Rank NCAA Division III Wrestling,
purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-JitsuYears active 2005 – 2011 (MMA) Mixed martial arts record Total 14 Wins 10 By knockout 6 By decision 3 By disqualification 1 Losses 4 By knockout 2 By decision 2 Other information Mixed martial arts record from Sherdog Matthew S. Hamill (born October 5, 1976) is a retired American wrestler and mixed martial artist.[1] He is a three-time NCAA Division III National Champion in wrestling (167 lb class in 1997, 190 lb class in 1998 and 197 lb class in 1999) while attending the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in Rochester, New York.[2] Hamill also has a silver medal in Greco-Roman wrestling and a gold medal in freestyle wrestling from the 2001 Summer Deaflympics.[3]
Contents
Early life
Born in Loveland, Ohio, Hamill was deaf from birth. He was introduced to wrestling by his step father who was a wrestling coach at Loveland High School.[4] Hamill attended the Rochester Institute of Technology for 3 years transferring there after a year at Purdue.
MMA career
Hamill was a contestant on the third season of The Ultimate Fighter reality television show, training under Tito Ortiz in the 205 lb (93 kg) weight class. He won a preliminary fight against Mike Nickels via decision, but was unable to continue into the semi-finals due to injuries. On June 24, 2006, Hamill fought fellow contestant Jesse Forbes at The Ultimate Fighter 3 Finale on Spike TV and won via KO.
Hamill faced The Ultimate Fighter 2's Seth Petruzelli in a Fight of The Night performance he won via unanimous decision at Ortiz vs. Shamrock 3: The Final Chapter on October 10, 2006. Judges scored the bout 29–28, 30–27 and 29–28 for Hamill.
Hamill then fought Rex Holman at UFC 68: The Uprising where he won by KO in the first round.
Hamill fought fellow TUF 3 alumni Michael Bisping at UFC 75 in London, England on September 8, 2007, where he lost via split decision. The decision was considered controversial by many, in large part because the fight was held in England, Bisping's home country. However, the two American judges ringside awarded the victory to Bisping, with the lone British judge scoring the fight for Hamill. A rematch was scheduled for UFC 78, but due to knee surgery, Hamill withdrew. A rematch has become unlikely after Bisping dropped down to the middleweight division after his loss to Rashad Evans.[5][6]
Hamill next fought Tim Boetsch on April 3, whom he defeated in the second round by KO,[7] bringing his record to 4 wins and 1 loss. During the fight, Hamill suffered a badly split bottom lip due to a knee strike.[7]
Hamill then went on to UFC 88 and fought former UFC Middleweight Champion Rich Franklin as the co-main event. He lost the fight by KO after a kick to the liver at 0:39 of the third round.[8]
At UFC 92, Hamill defeated Reese Andy in the second round by TKO due to strikes. Hamill fought former NCAA wrestling champion Mark Munoz at UFC 96, defeating him with a right leg roundhouse kick to the head, knocking Munoz unconscious and earning him the Knockout of the Night award.[9]
His next fight was scheduled to be Brandon Vera at UFC 102, but due to a knee injury while training, Hamill was replaced by Krzysztof Soszynski.[10]
Coming off of knee surgery, Hamill faced off against undefeated light heavyweight prospect Jon "Bones" Jones at The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights Finale and won by DQ after Jones hit Hamill with two illegal elbow strikes on the ground. At first, Jones was deducted one point for the infraction, but Hamill indicated that he had dislocated his shoulder earlier in the fight and was unable to continue. When the official result was read, with the spectators in the stadium seeming to expect a victory for Jones, it was revealed that Jones had been disqualified for the illegal elbows and that the match was being awarded to Hamill. Many fans as well as other fighters have voiced opinions to the fact that Jones was the clear winner of the fight even though being given a disqualification.[11]
Hamill defeated Keith Jardine on June 19, 2010 at The Ultimate Fighter: Team Liddell vs. Team Ortiz Finale.[12] Hamill won this fight by majority decision. Jardine was deducted a point for accidentally poking Hamill in the eye in Round 2.
Hamill next fought his former "TUF" coach, Tito Ortiz at UFC 121 which he won by unanimous decision. At the post fight press conference UFC President Dana White promised that Matt's next opponent would be a top-10 fighter. This promise seemed to be broken, as Hamill was scheduled to face undefeated Phil Davis (fighter) at UFC 129. When it was announced that Thiago Silva had failed his UFC 125 drug test, Silva was removed from his bout to face former UFC light heavyweight champion and current top contender Quinton Jackson. Hamill subsequently faced Jackson at UFC 130 and lost the fight via very one sided unanimous decision. At UFC 133 Hamill faced off against up and coming Swedish striker Alexander Gustafsson, replacing an injured Vladimir Matyushenko.[13]. After an uneventful first round, Gustafsson dropped Hamill in the second with a straight punch followed by an uppercut, subsequently finishing Hamill with punches and elbows from the mount.
Subsequent to UFC 133, on August 8, 2011, Matt Hammil decided to step away from the UFC and MMA, as he lost his last two fights. "Today is a sad day for me. After six years and 13 fights in the UFC I’m ready to hang up my gloves and retire from this amazing sport," he said on his official website. [14]
Personal life
Hamill is divorced from his deaf wife and has a hearing daughter from the marriage.[15][16][17]
Hamill is the subject of an upcoming movie entitled The Hammer about his early life and wrestling career. Originally set to star Eben Kostbar, it was criticized by the deaf community for featuring a non-deaf actor; however, Hamill himself supported the casting of Eben due to his wrestling experience and the fact that Eben is fluent in American Sign Language.[18][19] Kostbar withdrew from starring[20] and deaf actor Russell Harvard will now be playing Hamill.[21] The movie is being produced by Joseph McKelheer and Eben Kostbar and being directed by Oren Kaplan.[22]
Hamill and his longtime girlfriend Brittany Houck were engaged to be married in May 2008.[23][24]
Championships and accomplishments
Ultimate Fighting Championship
- Knockout of the night honors (x1)-Mark Muñoz
- Fight of the night honors (x2)
Mixed martial arts record
Professional record breakdown 14 matches 10 wins 4 losses By knockout 6 2 By submission 0 0 By decision 3 2 By disqualification 1 0 Result Record Opponent Method Event Date Round Time Location Notes Loss 10–4 
Alexander GustafssonTKO (punches and elbows) UFC 133 August 6, 2011 2 3:34 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States Retired from MMA shortly after Loss 10–3 
Quinton JacksonDecision (unanimous) UFC 130 May 28, 2011 3 5:00 Las Vegas, Nevada, United States UFC Light Heavyweight title eliminator Win 10–2 Tito OrtizDecision (unanimous) UFC 121 October 23, 2010 3 5:00 Anaheim, California, United States Win 9–2 Keith JardineDecision (majority) The Ultimate Fighter: Team Liddell vs. Team Ortiz Finale June 19, 2010 3 5:00 Las Vegas, Nevada, United States Fight of the Night Win 8–2 Jon JonesDQ (downward elbows) The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights Finale December 5, 2009 1 4:14 Las Vegas, Nevada, United States Jones was disqualified for using multiple 12 to 6 elbows. Win 7–2 Mark MuñozKO (head kick) UFC 96 March 7, 2009 1 3:53 Columbus, Ohio, United States Knockout of the Night Win 6–2 Reese AndyTKO (strikes) UFC 92 December 27, 2008 2 2:19 Las Vegas, Nevada, United States Loss 5–2 Rich FranklinTKO (body kick) UFC 88 September 6, 2008 3 0:39 Atlanta, Georgia, United States Win 5–1 Tim BoetschTKO (strikes) UFC Fight Night: Florian vs. Lauzon April 2, 2008 2 1:25 Broomfield, Colorado, United States Loss 4–1 
Michael BispingDecision (split) UFC 75 September 8, 2007 3 5:00 London, England Win 4–0 Rex HolmanTKO (strikes) UFC 68 March 3, 2007 1 4:00 Columbus, Ohio, United States Win 3–0 Seth PetruzelliDecision (unanimous) Ortiz vs. Shamrock 3: The Final Chapter October 10, 2006 3 5:00 Hollywood, Florida, United States Fight of the Night Win 2–0 Jesse ForbesTKO (strikes) The Ultimate Fighter 3 Finale June 24, 2006 1 4:47 Las Vegas, Nevada, United States Win 1–0 Robert HitteTKO (punches) XFO 7 August 27, 2005 1 1:52 Island Lake, Illinois, United States References
- ^ http://www.matthamill.com/?page_id=9
- ^ NCAA.com
- ^ Matt "The Hammer" Hamill
- ^ RIT NTID STORY →TH
- ^ Iole, Kevin (September 9, 2007). "Questionable verdict". Yahoo! Sports. http://sports.yahoo.com/box/news?slug=ki-bispinghamill090907. Retrieved 2007-09-11. "White said the rematch is 'a no-brainer and I'm going to be on it right away.'"
- ^ Mohapatra, Pramit (September 9, 2007). "The Hamill-Bisping fallout and trust". The Baltimore Sun. http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/mma/blog/2007/09/the_hamillbisping_fallout_and.html. Retrieved 2007-09-11.
- ^ a b Matt Hamill: Raw (Part 2 of 4)
- ^ UFC 88 round-by-round live updates and official results
- ^ http://mmajunkie.com/news/13679/matt-hamill-vs-mark-munoz-added-to-ufc-96.mma
- ^ "SOSZYNSKI REPLACES HAMILL AT UFC 102". MMAWeekly.com. July 20, 2009. http://mmaweekly.com/soszynski-replaces-hamill-at-ufc-102-2. Retrieved 2011-07-24.
- ^ Raj Giri (December 5, 2009). "TUF 10 Finale: Matt Hamill vs. Jon Jones". Archived from the original on January 4, 2010. http://web.archive.org/web/20100104173327/http://fightline.com/news/mma/2009/1205/466929/the-ultimate-fighter-season-10-finale/index.shtml.
- ^ "Keith Jardine vs. Matt Hamill on tap for "The Ultimate Fighter 11 Finale"". fiveouncesofpain.com. http://fiveouncesofpain.com/2010/03/25/keith-jardine-vs-matt-hammill-on-tap-for-the-ultimate-fighter-11-finale/. Retrieved 2010-03-25.
- ^ "Hammill in for injured Matyushenko". MMA Junkie. http://mmajunkie.com/news/24400/matt-hamill-replaces-vladimir-matyushenko-meets-alexander-gustafsson-at-ufc-133.mma.
- ^ "Former ‘Ultimate Fighter’ Competitor Matt Hamill Retires from the UFC and MMA". MMAWeekly.com. August 08, 2011. http://mmaweekly.com/former-ultimate-fighter-competitor-matt-hamill-retires-from-the-ufc-and-mma. Retrieved 2011-08-08.
- ^ Article where Matt mentions his deaf ex-wife and his daughter
- ^ Article where Matt mentions his daughter
- ^ UFC 88 Countdown. Spike. 2008-09-03.
- ^ Summary of the "The Hammer" details on MMAJunkie.com
- ^ Interview with UFC.com regarding the "Hamill"
- ^ Deaf Actor to Play Matt Hamill
- ^ http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20090930/NEWS01/909300333/1003/Deaf-wrestler-subject-of-film-shot-in-area
- ^ "Hamill" IMDB page
- ^ "Hamill confident ahead of UFC 88 clash with Franklin". http://sports.espn.go.com.+2008-09-02. http://sports.espn.go.com/extra/mma/news/story?id=3564360. Retrieved 2009-08-03.
- ^ "Matt Hamill Will Fight At UFC 88". FIGHTLINE.com. 2008-06-30. http://www.fightline.com/news/2008/630/matt_the_hammer_hamill_329144.shtml. Retrieved 2009-08-03.
External links
- Matt "The Hammer" Hamill
- UFC Profile
- Professional MMA record for Matt Hamill from Sherdog
- Matt Hamill on Myspace
- "Hamill" The Movie
- Matt Hamill profile at the National Wrestling Hall of Fame
The Ultimate Fighter - Season 3 Michael Bisping · Tait Fletcher · Jesse Forbes · Matt Hamill · Josh Haynes · Noah Inhofer · Mike Nickels · Kristian Rothaermel · Danny Abbadi · Kendall Grove · Ed Herman · Solomon Hutcherson · Ross Pointon · Rory Singer · Kalib Starnes · Mike StineCategories:- American sport wrestlers
- American mixed martial artists
- Mixed martial artists from Ohio
- Light heavyweight mixed martial artists
- 1976 births
- Living people
- Rochester Institute of Technology alumni
- Deaf sportspeople
- American disabled sportspeople
- People from Loveland, Ohio
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
