{"id":64887,"date":"2011-04-06T21:03:59","date_gmt":"2011-04-06T21:03:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/deafnation.com\/joelbarish\/?p=5483"},"modified":"2020-07-03T19:16:09","modified_gmt":"2020-07-03T19:16:09","slug":"inside-the-cage-with-matt-hamill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.joelbarish.com\/videos\/nb-theamericas\/nb-usa\/inside-the-cage-with-matt-hamill\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside the Cage With Matt Hamill"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/21619920\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" title=\"Matt Hamill in Training for Fight\" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><strong>Inside the Cage With Matt Hamill<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\nWritten by Anthony Mowl<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s an unplowed dirt road that leads to 30 acres tucked away in upstate New York, just a snowmobile ride away from Canada. We\u2019re deep in the country, miles away from cities and shopping centers in Utica, a place that Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter Matt \u201cThe Hammer\u201d Hamill calls home. They call him The Hammer because that\u2019s what his fist feels like when he\u2019s punching. But he hits more like the pickup truck that sits in the driveway of his house. Like the 4&#215;4 he drives, Matt is built tough and will take on anything, anywhere.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re here to see Matt train for the biggest fight of his life so far, and he\u2019s quick to point out the \u201cso far.\u201d He has a bigger fight in mind, one for the UFC Light Heavyweight Belt, and this is just another stop on that road. A 300-pound tire sits outside his house, on top of the hill where he flips the tire up and down. The forest that lines his property has climbing ropes, and the thin mountain air he runs in is great for conditioning. There\u2019s a new building just a few paces away from his house with his own private gym and a steel black cage. The mat on the cage has Matt Hamill\u2019s name on it, as if there were any doubt that the cage belongs to him. \u201cThis is my crib,\u201d he says proudly, not talking about his house, but the cage he is standing in.<\/p>\n<p>Matt has fought ten brutal fights inside the UFC Octagon and has won eight of them. He started out as a wrestler and has since turned into a well-rounded fighter who will take you on the mat or standing up. He has earned the respect of UFC President Dana White, and millions of fans around the world. The local post office in Utica doesn\u2019t deliver mail to his house anymore, because there are too many bags of fan mail for the mailman to handle. Fan favorite or not, in every fight he has come into, Matt has always been the underdog. Being the favorite or the underdog doesn\u2019t matter to Matt, because either way, he\u2019s showing up to fight.<\/p>\n<p>On Memorial weekend, Matt is fighting Quinton \u201cRampage\u201d Jackson, one of the baddest, most unmerciful fighters in the UFC, ranked #3 in the world. Matt has a team of four who work around the clock to get Matt ready for the fight. His head trainer Duff Holmes oversees a strength and conditioning coach, boxing coach, and a Jujitsu coach. Matt invites other UFC fighters to his crib to train with, and regularly fights fighters longer, faster, and more experienced than him. But you\u2019d be hard-pressed to find anybody better than him, and this is why Matt\u2019s team thinks that anything short of winning the belt would be a disappointment. The current Light Heavyweight titleholder is Jon Jones, who Matt has already fought and won. But Matt won on a technicality when Jon Jones threw down illegal 12-to-6 elbows after Matt dislocated his shoulder during the fight. \u201cWe have unfinished business,\u201d Matt says, shaking his head, \u201cand we have to fight again.\u201d But Matt\u2019s not focused on Jones right now, not with Rampage Jackson coming up.<\/p>\n<p>Strength and conditioning coach Dave Kingwater who can bench press over 600 pounds himself says that Matt\u2019s the strongest person he\u2019s ever trained. Kingwater came aboard Matt\u2019s team when Matt walked in his chiropractor\u2019s studio looking for treatment after getting hurt during a fight. Kingwater immediately noticed two things; that Matt was incredibly driven, and that he was overtraining. Overtraining was probably why he was getting hurt, and Kingwater began designing a program that was different than regular weight training; functional-specific strengthening over short bursts that would give him the strength and flexibility to quite frankly, kick anyone\u2019s butt in the Octagon. Rampage is well known for his striking power, and hits as hard as anybody on the planet. But this is Matt \u201cThe Hammer\u201d we\u2019re talking about here, and he\u2019ll hit you just as hard. \u201cOnce he picks you up and takes you to the mat, you can\u2019t stop [Hamill].\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If you believed what you read in the UFC blogs and articles, you\u2019d think that this was going to be a one-sided fight, and that Rampage was going to destroy Matt. But the team wanted this fight, and says they have nothing to fear from Jackson. Duff Holmes tells me that fighting Jackson was a strategic decision. \u201cRampage is a one-dimensional fighter. He\u2019s a striker, and all he does is hit. Matt will take him down and it won\u2019t even be a fight.\u201d If you went to Las Vegas to place a bet on the fight, you\u2019ll find Jackson\u2019s the odds-on favorite. But Hamill doesn\u2019t believe that, and he\u2019s even hungrier than he is confident.\u201dAll of the hard work Matt\u2019s put in is for this, a shot at fighting for the belt. He\u2019s so close, and he can taste it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Today Matt is working with boxing coach Tim Green at the Mohawk Valley Mixed Martial Arts gym, another gym that Matt owns and where he trains publicly. Matt splits his time between this gym and the one at home. He fights other fighters in private at home and develops his strategy there. Here at the MVMMA, he works on rounding out his other skills that will help him in the Octagon. Matt shows up before a group of kick boxers who train there, and leaves long after they do. These amateur kick boxers are fighting soon, and Matt is helping them train for their fight. All the fighters wear foam head and face guards, while Matt wears no protective gear. Still, two of the kick boxers get bloody noses while the only thing Matt gets is a good workout. After everyone leaves, Matt continues on with a one-on-one workout with Tim Green. Matt\u2019s standup game has improved tremendously, and \u201che can stand with anybody now,\u201d says Green. When I ask him if he\u2019s proud that Matt has been favoring his standup game lately instead of taking fighters to the mat, he just shrugs his shoulders and nods his head sideways. \u201cMatt\u2019s just going with the flow of the fight. If you want to fight him on the mat, he\u2019ll take you down. If you want to take him on standing up, he\u2019s ready for that. Matt doesn\u2019t really have a preference. He\u2019s just in it to win it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Matt\u2019s been touring the country lately, promoting the new movie about his life, \u201cHamill.\u201d The movie has won awards at several film festivals in Hollywood, Miami, and most recently Cleveland. Being on the road hasn\u2019t affected his training at all, because they pack up the mats and bring them to wherever they go. They move furniture out of the way in hotels, and have full-on training sessions no matter where they stay. Matt can\u2019t afford to let the movie or the fame take away from the ultimate reason for his fame; winning fights. He puts in his hours every day in a strictly regimented workout program that builds up in intensity steadily until a few weeks before the fight when Matt will have a \u201chell week\u201d of training. Then after hell week, he will begin resting his body and focusing on dropping from his 225 pound frame down to his fighting weight of 205.<\/p>\n<p>Duff Holmes says Matt has progressed unbelievably as a fighter, and the fact that he\u2019s so athletic has helped him develop new skills quickly. But others still question whether Matt deserves this fight, whether Matt is a top-tier fighter. Holmes dismisses these people, and says to look at what Matt\u2019s accomplished in the ring. \u201cHe\u2019s 8-2. He beat a former world champion. Look at Rampage, who has lost many more times than Matt, how can you still say Matt doesn\u2019t deserve this fight?\u201d Duff thinks back to how Matt\u2019s evolved as a fighter over the last five years, and how he has had to make adjustments for his deafness. The first few fights, there was an interpreter in the ring interpreting what Duff was saying to Matt in between rounds. \u201cBut there is a natural delay with the interpreter, and there\u2019s no way any interpreter can relay the intensity that I have when I\u2019m yelling during the fight,\u201d Duff says. \u201cSo we took out the interpreter, and I learned how to sign. Now, when I\u2019m yelling at Matt directly, he picks up on my intensity.\u201d Then Duff starts laughing. Matt\u2019s too nice of a guy, and he\u2019s always smiling. Duff tells a story about the time they were flying to a fight together, and Matt decides to help an old man off the plane. \u201cHe walks slowly with the old guy; picking up what he thought was the old man\u2019s bag. It turned out to be the pilot\u2019s bag, and Matt couldn\u2019t hear the pilot yelling after him as they walked out of the terminal.\u201d There are many stories like this, stories where Matt is helping somebody out. You wouldn\u2019t think that he fights for a living.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI used to have to work to bring out the intensity in Matt, to have to help him reach deep down and find some anger. But now, Matt\u2019s in tune with himself and when he\u2019s like this\u2026\u201d Duff looks over to Matt as he spars and finishes his thought. \u201cMatt\u2019s unstoppable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Matt\u2019s never been angry, and he isn\u2019t driven by negative forces; his shortcomings, or by those who say he isn\u2019t good enough. Matt\u2019s driven with the desire to win, and the will to push himself as far as possible.<\/p>\n<p>Matt\u2019s also motivated by his role model status in the Deaf community, and he wants to prove that a Deaf person can be the best athlete in a professional sport, any sport. \u201cI belong in the top tier of fighters,\u201d Matt says during a break from his training, sweat dripping off his face. He doesn\u2019t struggle to catch his breath, because he\u2019s in the best shape of his life. \u201cOther fighters might think that I\u2019m green, but I\u2019m ready and when I show up, I\u2019m going to fight.\u201d He has always preferred to let his fighting do the talking for him. But this time, Matt has something else to add.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m going to show up, and I\u2019m going to win.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Inside the Cage With Matt Hamill Written by Anthony Mowl There\u2019s an unplowed dirt road that leads to 30 acres tucked away in upstate New York, just a snowmobile ride 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