Matt Hamill dominates his mentor Tito Ortiz at UFC 121
During season three of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality television show, Matt Hamill fought under the tutelage of Tito Ortiz. On Saturday night at Ultimate Fighting Championship 121, Hamill,
fighting in a style reminiscent of a younger Ortiz, easily bested his mentor in their three round battle.
Prior to the fight, Ortiz directed a large amount of trash talk toward his opponent. Ortiz claimed, “He’s been babied his whole life coming from being deaf and he’s gonna be babied when
I knock him out and look for a little snuggle.” Ortiz continued, “He’s deaf, so he has a soft head.”
Hamill, who has been deaf since birth, did not engage in the pre-fight trash talk. Instead he elected to take the high road, saying, “We’re both real hungry and we want to win. I just
want people to know that I do belong in the UFC.”
With all the pre-fight talk finished the two fighters entered the Octagon at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California with very different goals in mind. Ortiz, returning to the UFC after
neck surgery, was looking to re-establish himself in the sport he once dominated as the former light heavyweight champion. Hamill was attempting to jump into the top 10 light heavyweight fighters in the UFC.
Ortiz went after Hamill in a very aggressive style at the start of the fight, throwing a number of kicks to go along with his punches. Ortiz looked very stiff in his movements compared
to the more relaxed Hamill. Once Hamill became comfortable with the pace of the fight he opened up on Ortiz.
Hamill landed strikes at will as the fight progressed, at times just sitting on top of Ortiz and landing hard elbows and punches. As the fight came to its close, Ortiz was a bloody and
bruised mess while Hamill was relatively unmarked.
After his unanimous decision victory was announced a very emotional Hamill offered his thanks to Ortiz in his post fight interview. The victory moved Hamill’s record to 10-2, while Ortiz
fell to 15-8-1. Ortiz has gone 0-4-1 in his last five bouts, a fact that was not lost on UFC president Dana White.
White said, “I think we all know what happens when you lose four in a row in the UFC, this is the big leagues.” Reading into that, Ortiz should not be surprised if he finds himself released
from the UFC.
Hamill, on the other hand, showed that he does belong in the ranks of the UFC's elite and his next fight may very well be against a top 10 contender.
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