Matt Hamill vs Thiago Silva

Matt Hamill (11 - 4)  is planned to fight Thiago Silva (15 - 3, 2 NC) on October 9, 2013 in Brazil.  A recent poll favors Thiago Silva to win over Matt Hamill by roughly a 75% favorability rating.  Who will win? Watch and find out.

Matt Hamill Interviews Compilation

For historical blogging purposes and convenience I decided to place all of the interview links of Matt Hamill into one place from 2006 to 2011. Four of those interviews were done by myself while others were done by somebody else.

Funny thing tho, I continue to get a lot of hits on one of the Matt Hamill interviews coming from a Wikipedia source on Matt Hamill (see reference #27) with a reference to a Matt Hamill interview blog piece I did in 2006. People are always looking up in Google or Bing info on Matt Hamill and get directed to one of my blog pieces on him.

Probably no surprise but I'm one of the very few deaf/hh bloggers who have done interviews with Matt Hamill. It was great interviewing him at the time. I was honored when I was given several photos of him practicing his sparring from Matt Hamill including exclusive photos of him joshing around with Tito Ortez and others. He gave me permission to use them in my blog.


Kokonut Pundit's Exclusive Interview #1 with Matt Hamill (with exclusive photos from Matt Hamill)- June 27, 2006


Kokonut Pundit's Exclusive Interview #2 with Matt Hamill about his 2008 Olympics dream - July 3, 2006.


Another Matt Hamill Interview (with picture) - July 16, 2006


Kokonut Pundit's Exclusive Interview #3 with Matt Hamill - July 17, 2006


Kokonut Pundit's Exclusive Interview #4 (post fight) with Matt Hamill - September 29, 2007.


Matt Hamill post fight video interview - captioned. Oct 24, 2010


Matt Hamill - pre-fight video interview - May 27, 2011

Matt Hamill's UFC Video Highlights

Here's a 6 minute plus video highlights of Matt Hamill's past UFC fights over the last several years. Enjoy.

Will Matt Hamill fight Vinny Magalhaes in 2013?

Vinny took a few jabs at Matt Hamill saying that his recent fight win was boring enough to put 19,000 spectators to sleep.

"I don't like when people still say that I should have won (Submission of the Night) on (UFC 152)," Magalhaes posted. "(Hamill) deserved it more, he put 19,000 to sleep in Toronto."

Never mind in 2009 Matt Hamill landed a vicious kick to Munoz's head delivering a knock out punch three minutes into the first round of the fight that earned him $60,000 in the UFC's $60,000 Knockout of the Night bonus money.



All this trash talk by Vinny Magalhaes brings up the speculation that Magalhaes will fight Hamill in 2013. Only time will tell.

Why did Matt Hamill come out of retirement?

Everything you ever wanted to know on why Matt Hamill came out of his year long retirement as a MMA fighter at the UFC can be found here. Words of encouragement can still reverberate in a person's mind from a loved one that has since long passed away. It only takes a few reminders to bring back that voice of encouragement. And it can become a powerful source of inspiration.

Matt Hamill wins his 13th MMA fight

Enjoyable night at the Buffalo Wings sports bar with numerous large tv screens to watch up close the UFC 152 match with Hamill vs Hollet. One thing different about Matt was his near clean shaven head but the real story is Matt's comeback after his 1 year retirement from the MMA UFC. Matt was evidently in control in all three rounds with a minor cut around his eyebrow. It was clearly an easy call after three rounds with a a score of 29-28, 30-27, and 30-27 in favor of Hamill where he won his 13th fight. More in depth analysis of the fight can be found here. 

The real fight anticipation at the sports bar was the Jon Jones vs Vitor Belfort and was the highlight of the fight that night at the bar. Odds were in Jon Jones' favor to win with his exceptional fighting skills. Jones was able to get out of a deadly straight armbar which he struggled to free himself for about 30 seconds. After that he wouldn't allow himself to make that same mistake again and returned the favor in Round 4 giving him an Americana armbar winning the fight with a submission win

A reminder...Matt Hamill in UFC fight on Saturday

Don't forget to watch Matt Hamill's return the UFC ring tomorrow, September 22 against Roger Hollet, once again, since Matyushenko tore his Achilles tendon.

Vladimir Matyushenko tore his Achilles tendon, taking him out of the fight with returning Ultimate Fighter season 3 product Matt Hamill.

The funny part of the whole thing, however, is that Hamill will now face the fighter he was originally slated to face at UFC 152, the debuting Roger Hollett.

Hamill (10-4) has been in retirement since losing to Alexander Gustafsson more than a year ago, at UFC 133. He was originally slated to return against Hollett at UFC 152, but the opponent was switched to Matyushenko when Hollett fell out of the fight a few weeks ago.

Now, with the injury to Matyushenko, it appears Hollett has had time to recover and will step back into the fight with Hamill.

Hollett (13-3), who fights out of Nova Scotia, gives the Toronto fight card a little more Canadian flavor. Hollett is riding a five-fight winning streak, including a victory over John Hawk under the Bellator banner, so he doesn’t intend to make it an easy return bout for Hamill. 

Find your nearest sports bar that will show the UFC 152 fights. Will the Deaf Hammer in his 15th fight beat Roger Hollet? We'll know tomorrow.  Who do you think will win?

Matt Hamill vs Vladimir Matyushenko

An update on the Matt Hamill's next UFC fight. Previously Matt Hamill was to fight Roger Hollet but Roger sustained some injuries and so a new fighter was needed to replace him.  The new fighter is now Vladimir "The Janitor" Matyushenko.  The UFC 152 fight will still happen on September 22, less than two weeks away.  Hamill and Matyushenko will be a part of the main card lineup. Incidentally so will Michael Bisping who won a very controversial fight against Matt Hamill when Bisping was in the 205lb category and decided later to compete in the 185lb weight category. Bisping is doing very well at that weight category.

Matt Hamill comes out of retirement to fight again

Matt Hamill stated last week that he has come out of retirement after a year long break to fight in the upcoming UFC 152 fight on September 22 against Roger Hollett. The Hamill vs Hollet fight can be seen on Pay Per View TV.

Apparently Hamill's hunger to fight has not entirely disappeared after allowing his body, mind and spirit enough time to recover. The question now becomes can he make it at age 35 years old? Can he succeed in winning more UFC fights? We'll have to wait, watch and see what happens after September 22.

Welcome back, Matt!

The Hammer returns!

(Check out my past interviews with Matt Hamill here, here, here, and here).

Matt Hamill - prefight interview

Don't miss it. This Saturday, May 28 at 6PM West Coast time or 9 PM East Coast time. How will Matt Hamill do? The only way to find out is to watch the UFC fight.

Another new milestone......and upcoming Matt Hamill fight!

Whoo hooo! Over 900,000 visits on my Kokonut Pundit blog. Only another 100,000 more hits to go til I hit 1 million visits. You can see the Sitemeter number on the leftside of my blog and scroll down til you see it. After 7 years and 1799 blogs later I hit the 900,000 mark. How many deaf bloggers are in that same league? My 8th year will begin this October 22, 2011. Hopefully, sometime in 2012 I'll hit my 1 millionth mark.

One thing I noticed over the last few days is that I've gotten a lot of hits from Wikipedia on Matt Hamill it mentioned about my interview (see #13 in Wikipedia's references) with Matt Hamill back in June 26, 2006. This happens every time Matt Hamill gets ready for a fight but this time the fight against Rampage this Saturday, May 28, has produced an unusual number of traffic flow from Wikipedia compared to other fights.  I'm one of the very few bloggers who have done interviews with Hamill and I was given several photos of him practicing sparring and joshing around with Tito Ortez from Matt Hamill to use in my blogs.

Anyway, do not miss this epic fight!! I plan to go to a sports bar with my wife and enjoy the fight there. It's better to pay $50 bucks on drinks and snacks and watch the fight there than to pay $50 bucks for pay per view.

I just wanted to toot my horn and thank you all for visiting Kokonut Pundit, a nationally known professional patriotic purveyor of highly entertaining and informative blogging!

Matt Hamill to fight Quinton "Rampage" Jackson

On May 28 Matt Hamill will finally have a shot on challenging one of the top 10 UFC fighters. Dana White, UFC president, made sure of that.

"I was supposed to fight in Toronto against Phil Davis, but I wasn't really happy with [him being] my opponent," said Hamill. "When I found out Rampage had no one to fight, Duff Holmes called Joe Silva and said 'Matt Hamill is available, Matt Hamill wants to fight 'Rampage.' Dana White wanted me to fight anyone in the top ten. Trust me, when I got Rampage, I got very excited. This is the moment I wanted, I'm one fight away from the title. This could be a great fight, it could be a war, it's not going to be easy but when an opponent is ranked better than me it keeps me motivated. May 28, I'll be ready."

Good luck, Matt. Give it 110%!

Matt Hamill's UFC win payout disaparity over Ortiz's pay

You would think that Matt Hamill would get a pretty good chunk of money for winning the UFC fight against Tito Ortiz but not so. Despite Tito Ortiz losing all three rounds against Matt Hamill it was Tito who came out on top, money-wise, by nearly 10 times the purse pay that Hamill got in an UFC fight on October 26, 2010.

In the UFC, fighters’ payment is a problem, and the amount that fighters are earning is also a problem. How do you pay Matt Hamill $29,000, with a $29,000 win bonus and pay his opponent Tito Ortiz $250,000 to fight. Ortiz hasn’t won since 2006 when he last beat 42-year-old Ken Shamrock.

Now, I do take my hat off to Tito Ortiz for standing up to White in the past and now this could be a case of the squeaky wheel getting the oil. In 2008, Yahoo Sports reported White saying, “(Ortiz) is one of the most dishonest human beings I’ve ever met,” White said. “I put up with him when he was a good fighter. He’s not anymore. He’s done. I’m no longer in the Tito Ortiz business.”

How can you pay him a quarter-million dollar to fight and he loses his fourth fight in a row and still employed?

Great question there.

Another question, who should Hamill fight next? Silva? Or Vera?

Lou Ferrigno "The Hulk" pre-UFC 121 fight video interview - captioned

Here's a captioned video interview with Lou Ferrigno "The Hulk" on his thoughts oo the upcoming UPC 121 fight and about Matt Hamill. Don't miss this interview! Captions added courtesy of MMA Heat "Karyn Bryant." Be sure to send your kudos to her for having captioning available for those who need it in her interview with Lou Ferrigno. Also, word has it that Karyn Bryant will make sure that Matt Hamill get to meet Lou Ferrigno.

Video: Matt Hamill post fight response with reporters - captioned

Captions courtesy of Kokonut Pundit

Will Matt Hamill soon become one of the top 10 UFC fighters for his weight class? Only time will tell.

Matt Hamill post fight video interview - captioned.

Captions added courtesy of Kokonut Pundit.


Read here about what Tito Ortiz said about Matt Hamill by making fun of the Deaf community in pre-fight trash talk.

Tito Ortiz in post fight talk.

Student knocks off teacher in fight with round by round description of fight. Last night I gave all three rounds to Matt Hamill, the judges at the UFC also gave all three rounds to Matt Hamill.

Matt Hamill wins fight against Tito Ortiz!

It was great watching Matt Hamill face his former coach and trainer during his TUF days. I was at the Buffalo Wild Wings Bar and Grill during their Saturday fight nights where I had the chance to see the fight on 15 different screens of all sizes throughout the restaurant. The place was packed only because the Phillies vs San Francisco baseball game for the World Series slot. My wife and I had to stand for nearly 3 hours with the last 2 hours watching the UFC 121 fights. Then it was finally Matt's turn to fight. The ultimate test in battling it out against a former coach and trainer. In all three rounds Matt dominated them with the last round had Tito getting his own taste of Matt's patented "Ground and Pound" meat grinder. By the time it was over everybody knew Matt won the fight. Even Tito Ortiz raised Matt's arm recognizing that he won even before the announcement was made. Tito's face was bloodied and bruised while Matt hardly had any bruise or even a cut on his face. This is a huge win for Matt tonight.

If you haven't seen my rare post-fight pictures of Matt Hamill and Tito Ortiz together rough housing around then don't miss it. Those pictures are not available anywhere else on the internet except at my blog.

ADDENDUM: Watch Matt Hamill post fight video conference - captioned!

Rare post fight picture of Hamill vs Ortiz

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Here's a rare post fight picture of Tito Ortiz delivering an underhook shot to the chin of the well known deaf MMA Matt Hamill. You won't find this picture anywhere else except on Kokonut Pundit. But it's not a picture you'd expect seeing how Hamill allowed himself to take one on the chin by Ortiz...all in the name of rough housing fun.  A post fight picture after the TUF3 show. Of course, this group picture was taken over 4 years ago. Yet it is just bizarre considering the turn of events not knowing that these two MMA fighters would come to blow someday but 4 years later that revelation has come true today at the UFC 121 fight with Hamill versus his former MMA coach. Watch the pre-fight presser video with Ortiz and Hamill (not captioned).  The UFC 121 fight starts at 7 PM (Pacific Time)/10 PM (Eastern Time).

ADDENDUM: Matt Hamill wins the fight! Watch the post fight video interview of Matt Hamill in caption!

Video: Matt Hamill and daughter at school

A special "show -n- tell" for Matt Hamill's daughter at her school by bringing her father to school.

His daughter Tierra talked about what life is like communicating with two deaf parents, and what seeing a movie about her dad's life is like. Together the two taught the class some basic sign language and answered questions.

Tierra says that she wants people to know that while she and her parents communicate differently their life is otherwise just like anyone else's. The first grade classroom is completing a unit on diversity, and a lesson from father daughter team gave them a new perspective.

Matt Hamill may already be an action figure, a character in a video game and a reality  show athlete but he never expected his life to be profiled in a movie due out next month called "Hamill."

Don't forget. Matt Hamill is to fight his former trainer and coach Tito Ortiz on October 23, 2010 in the UFC 121 fight in Anaheim, California.

Matt Hamill to fight Tito Ortiz!

Man. How raw can this get?

The fight card for UFC 121 which is scheduled for October 23 at the Honda Center in Anaheim is shaping up to a big one with some big names in the sport. The latest confirmed fight will have "The Huntington Beach Bad Boy" Tito Ortiz facing his former pupil in Matt "The Hammer" Hamill according to MMAFighting.com

Tito was the coach on "The Ultimate Fighter" Season three opposite Ken Shamrock. Matt Hamill was on Tito's team and according to some of the other fighters appearing on that season he received preferential treatment from Tito. The special care given to Matt seemed to stem from the bond between solid wrestlers.

And who would've thought this would happen after seeing rare pictures of Matt Hamill and Tito Ortiz hamming it up and clowning around in front of the camera like a bunch of happy frat boys? And now, it's gonna get real serious between the two on October 23, 2010. Of course, none of this is exactly official but tentative at this moment.

By the way, those pictures were sent to me by Matt Hamill as part of my continuing interviews with Matt Hamill that began 4 years ago.