Las Vegas, December 9th 2009. Matt Hamill is lying flat on his back. Blood from a gash on his forehead is dripping into his eyes, blinding him.
“Are you done?†referee Steve Mazzagatti asks him repeatedly. Hamill does not respond. The fight is waved off.
His opponent Jon Jones is then disqualified for using illegal ‘twelve-to-six’ elbows and Hamill is awarded the victory. What nobody yet knows is that Hamill has not been KO’d by the illegal elbows. He has a dislocated shoulder. But communication is difficult: he can’t see with bloody eyes, and he can’t hear because he was born deaf.
Such adversity will always be part of Hamill’s career. If anything, fighting (and training) with a sensory disadvantage has probably made him more comfortable with adversity than many of his opponents.
“He poked me in the eye,†said Hamill matter-of-factly after his bloody brawl with Keith Jardine on Saturday night.  “I thought I was going to be blind and deaf.â€
He also broke his hand in round one, and battled through a nasty Staph infection on his back to take a majority decision against a tough veteran.
The win was Hamill’s ninth since first competing in MMA in 2005. Despite a sloppy stand-up style (“I’m not a good striker,” the affable Ohio native admitted on Saturday), six of those wins have come by way of KO – testament to his notoriously brutish strength.
Hamill has only twice tasted defeat: once to former champion Rich Franklin, and once to heated rival Michael Bisping. The latter came by way of a hugely controversial split-decision which still rancours with fans today.
Hamill’s classiness in defeat that night in London earned him an army of admirers, whilst Bisping’s classlessness in victory caused lasting damage to his popularity. Three years on, the Brit is still regularly booed when fighting Stateside.
Trailer for movie of Hamill’s life story:
Regardless of how much more Hamill achieves in MMA, his legacy as a role model is secure. A movie of his life is due for release shortly, detailing his journey from three-time NCAA wrestling champion, to gold and silver medalist in the 2001 Deaf Olympics and finally to MMA star. It’s hard not to be inspired.
By Alan Murphy
