Matt Hamill Appears Motivated

by Luke Thomas on Aug 27, 2008 4:27 PM EDT in News Comment 3 comments

Since Hamill is deaf, it's difficult to understand what he's saying without the assistance of subtitles. That being said, what I can glean from this interview is that Hamill is intensely motivated, cognizant of the specific challenges, confident in his abilities, respectful of Franklin and aware of what's at stake. None of that necessarily implies he'll be able to effectively avoid Franklin's left straight, but Hamill is a very live underdog in this fight.

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- You’re fighting Rich Franklin. Is he a good friend of yours?
- Yeah, he’s a really good friend of mine, I help him with wrestling takedowns. Rich and I, we grew up together, raised and born in Cincinnati, Ohio. One day, he asked me— he wanted some help with takedowns, so I helped him out with takedowns, with wrestling. And still, we’re still friends, no matter what. Inside the ring, outside the ring – we leave friendship out the door. [unintelligible] It’s like I’m fighting against my brother. And I have to do this, ‘cause I fight for a living and I fight for my daughter(?), you know. So, I mean, I’m getting my name out there. And I know he has more experience than I have. I’m inexperienced. My record is 6-1 and his record is 25-3. So if I can beat him, that’s a big win for me, he’s a former world champion. That gets me more motivated, and I wanna get out there and show what I got. I’m a really fast learner and I’m getting better every time I fight.

- Do you think that he is at a disadvantage going up in weight class?
- Well, it doesn’t matter, you know, because he goes up in weight class, he gets more energy. He has a hard time getting down to 185. Normal weight, where I start at, is 220. So I go down to 205, he goes down to 185. [unintelligible] The big advantage is he will probably be able to hear the coach in the corner, and I can’t hear the coach in the corner. And I’m deaf, I have my own gameplan, you know. But that’s alright, I’m gonna go out there and do my best.

- What has you most concerned with Rich?
- Rich is the world class striker, so I have to keep my eyes open. It’s not gonna be easy. There will be a blood(?), I have no doubt about that. [unintelligible] He’s gonna have to beat me, my body and my soul. So I’m just going out there, giving 100% and show what I got.

- You have a gym here in Utica?
- I used to have a gym. [unintelligible] my house. I’m getting a bigger gym, so I don’t have to pay rent. Because I have 30 acres, more like a (?). [unintelligible]. I like to train around the country.

- What are you doing to help bring MMA to New York state?
- Well, when I found out that there’s no MMA or UFC or any other MMA is legal [unintelligible], but there might be a time, the next year or two years, there might be a vote and hopefully it will be legal for MMA in New York state. But before that, I went to the Senate and testified to legalize MMA. But [unintelligible] veto, you know, they’re not gonna have MMA in New York. I think it’s because it’s a brutal, bloody sport and they don’t like that.

- Dana White told me at UFC 87 that UFC is coming here in 2009.
- Two-thousand— oh, okay! Whatever happens happens, you know. We’ll just play it by ear. We’ll see what happens someday.

by Chris Nelson on Aug 27, 2008 4:45 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Appreciated. I can typically understand him but I think this may be a video…which was an mp3…which came from a handheld recorder in a room with a lot of background noise.
It’s not exactly helping the situation.

by Simco on Aug 27, 2008 6:19 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs