Matt Hamill
There’s been a lot of talk about Matt Hamill around the internet. Matt, aside from the coaches, is clearly the star of the show so far (and we haven’t even really seen him fight). His situation is interesting and the personality he’s shown engages a lot of viewers. I was recently contacted by a hard-of-hearing martial artist and blogger by the name of Mike McConnell. He’s written some posts about Matt Hamill in relation to the deaf community on his blog Kokonut Pundits. His Hamill-related posts: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4. Obviously, I’m a little behind, as he updates faster than I do. I’ll continue to link to his blog entries weekly in case you’re interested in his unique perspective. My older sister is deaf, so I’m also personally excited that Matt, as a deaf athlete, is getting a lot of mainstream recognition.
There’s an interesting bit about refereeing deaf fighters posted at mma-snark.com.
The Show
The show begins with a recap of last week’s fight (Stine vs. Starnes, in which Stine got eliminated), with comments from the other fighters.
One said, of Stine’s screaming, “Don’t moan, ’cause they’re gonna stop the fight and that’s just lookin’ for an easy way out.”
Team Shamrock is shown discussing strategic fight picks (remember, they have “The Hammer,” as Ken says, and have the power to choose the next fight). Ken says it should be Jesse or Bisping vs. Noah or Josh. The team ends on a chant of “Green Power!” but I kind of preferred “On 3, let’s just say ‘Team.'” It exemplified their spirit so well.
At Home
The Brits get into an argument about the toilet being clogged. The word “dickhead” gets thrown around a lot. Matt laughs and says he’s never seen guys from New England get into an argument. The guys from the UK are all sorts of offended (“Where IS New England?” – Ross) and they make it clear to Matt that they’re from England, just. Matt’s cool about his mistake and repeats “I’m wrong,” etc. His housemates say that sometimes it’s hard to gauge where he’s at in relation to understanding the other guys.
Team Ortiz Training
Tito’s coaching Noah to keep his hands up. Tito says that a lot of guys in MMA have difficulty learning to keep their hands up. Tito comes up with this idea to make Noah carry a basketball around, held against his face with his arm so his posture is correct and his hands get used to being in position. Noah seems to enjoy this training tactic.
Fight Announcement
The fight will be a Light Heavyweight bout. Ken chooses Jesse (Shamrock) vs. Noah (Ortiz). Jesse’s excited and says that Noah’s boxing is no good.
At home, the Team Ortiz guys get bored and play with Noah’s basketball in the house. The basketball is the star of the episode.
Team Ortiz Training
Tito says that Matt is a great wrestler and that he could probably make him the next champ. Bisping says Matt is his competition. He feels that Tito is spending a lot of time with Matt because they’re the same sort of fighter, and Tito is interested in creating another Tito.
Tito tells us that Matt has had no interpreter for the show and that he’s been reading lips the entire time, so Tito feels obligated to spend more time with him to make sure he understands his coaching. Bisping wants equal treatment.
At Home
Jesse, at 21, likes to break shit. The other guys on Team Shamrock kind of like this about him. I even sort of like it. I laughed pretty hard when he (at 200+ and 6’2) climbed into a tiny cubby-hole in the wall (why is there a hole in the wall that is neither a window nor a door?) and started tossing candles across the room, simply stating, “I’m throwin’ candles.” He admits to being immature and bored.
We learn that Tait kicked Noah’s basketball into the garden. Noah says he’s upset because it’s not his ball, it’s his coach’s ball. Noah confronts Tait about the situation. Tait is immediately defensive and refuses to get the ball, though Noah is polite. Tait just assholes it up throughout the segment, and in his video interview, he stammers something incoherent about “Dumb people being offended about being dumb” that I didn’t understand because, apparently, I’m dumb and offended by my dumbness. Of Noah’s fight with Jesse, Tait says that no one will be able to help him: “Tito & his big basketball-like head is not gonna help you.” Oooooh.
Team Shamrock Training
Ken says his fighters are overtrained and he doesn’t want them injured, so he gives them the day off. He tells them that this is “not a sign of weakness.” Jesse says Ken is a smart coach.
At Home
Bisping tucked the basketball safely away next to the door with every intention of playing with it after his training session. It seems like the basketball is Bisping’s only friend. Team Shamrock (Kalib, Jesse, and Tait) are home and start thinking of ways to torment the basketball/mess with Noah before the fight.
Tait: Stab it.
Jesse: Haha. With what, though?
Kalib: Do it up like The Godfather.
Indeed, Jesse stabs the basketball with a steak knife and puts it in Noah’s bed. Noah gets into bed later that night, looks at the basketball, and goes to sleep with absolutely no reaction. Even the next morning, he doesn’t mention it. As Tait said, “No excitement came to pass.” I was sure Bisping was going to lay into someone for destroying his only hope for fun in the house.
In the car, though, conversing with Team Ortiz, Noah says that “Jesse was the motherf*cker who popped my basketball.”
Team Ortiz Training
Tito says that he needs to get Matt an interpreter so he can get the most out of his training. In a completely bizarre segment, Tito grabs Matt’s ears, bounces up and down a little, and, in a sing-song voice, tells him “You’re gonna like me more than ever!” They introduce the interpreter, Wing, and Matt is very happy. His teammates said he almost cried.
I think now is the time to discuss face-turn Tito. People are expressing their love for this new side of Tito and their newfound respect for Tito as a fighter and a human being. Others are rejecting Face Tito and saying that it’s an act, that it’s editing, etc. I’m compelled to say that I’ve always enjoyed Tito Ortiz, and he entertains me either way. I love his faux-crying at the crowd’s boos.
The Weigh-In
Both fighters make weight. Ken says Jesse should be okay as long as he doesn’t “get caught in a stupid submission.”
At Home
Tito and Dean come over (singing, bouncing around) to make dinner for the guys. Tito says he’s got a special place in his heart for all these kids. Bisping isn’t impressed and continues to bitch about favortism: “I’m not getting coached as well as everybody, but it’s okay! Because I’m getting a spaghetti dinner!”
Team Shamrock Training (finally) (sort of)
Ken says Kalib is slacking off and going too light. Ken yells at Kalib and Ross for walking out of the practice and tells them to “go do something else!” Ken implies that Kalib is sacrificing the training of his teammates to keep himself from injury now that he’s already secured a spot in the semi-finals. He makes sure to tell them that “This is not ballet dancing!” Tait describes Ken’s tirade as “a little bitch-fest.” Tait’s got a ridiculous superiority complex. Stephan Bonnar, in his commentary on spiketv.com, shares Ken’s sentiments and says, “I’d like to see Ken take them on a vacation…to the chute box academy for a week.” I would, too.
The Chael Sonnen real-estate commercial airs again. I could YouTube a terrible version of it if anyone’s a hardcore Sonnen fan. Let me know.
Team Ortiz Night Practice
Noah is planning on sparring. Rory freaks out and says “Who the hell trains with 24 hours left before a fight?” During very simple training, Noah twists his foot. It swells up and gets pretty scary, and Rory is pissed. Tito says “Things happen for a reason, man.” X-Rays reveal no obvious fracture, but Noah’s in pain, and the team conspires to create a big cover-up act at home so no one on Team Shamrock notices that Noah is injured. It appears to work!
In commercial news, I think that new Franklin Xyience commercial is horrifying and it gives me nightmares about high school. “Every day,” he says, in that freakish half-light. Shudder.
The Fight
Tito tapes Noah’s foot. Jesse comes to the Octagon looking mean.
The fight stays standing for a little bit (“Underhook with the left arm!” shouts Tito repeatedly, as Noah ignores him) before Jesse takes Noah down. On the ground, they grapple for a bit. Jesse is on top the entire time. Near the fence, Noah shifts his hips and goes for an armlock. Jesse pulls away and Noah armbars him. Jesse attempts to roll out (which looks beautiful), but gets locked in deeper and taps out. Tito is happy and says the fight was exactly how he thought it would be. Jesse’s departure is uneventful, but he assures that “America will see how that fight should’ve gone.” Shamrock is sure that Tito’s win will make him more cocky and bemoans the fact that they “lost the hammer.”
The Teams
Team Ortiz
Middleweights: Danny Abaddi, Rory Singer, Kendall Groves.
Light Heavyweights: Matt Hamill, Michael Bisping, Josh Haynes, Noah Inhofer.
Team Shamrock
Middleweights: Kalib Starnes, Solomon Hutcherson, Ross Pointon, Ed Herman.
Light Heavyweights: Kristian Rotharmel, Tait Fletcher, Mike Nickels.
If you’d like to review some information on the fighters, the Introductions column is available here.
UFC 59 is this weekend and The Rev has his preview & picks up. Be sure to check those out. As for my picks, I’ll tell you about them if they wind up not being as horrible as they usually are. I will tell you that if Nick Diaz wins by TKO, you all owe me fifty bucks.
