Trainer: 'I practically begged Matt to take Rich down' at UFC 88

by MMAmania.com on Sep 9, 2008 10:39 PM EDT

Quoteworthy:

"No way Matt Hamill stands with a guy like Franklin. Matt is, by far, the best wrestler in the UFC's light heavyweight division so our plan is simple; we're going to take Rich down and work the ground and pound while avoiding submissions.... Matt got his start helping Rich work on his takedown defense. Those two go way back and Matt has a deep respect and allegiance to Rich.... He's sponsored Matt with his company American Fighter and has been a kind of mentor to him, and to be honest, that has me a little concerned..... I practically begged Matt to take Rich down. I was screaming at him to stop fighting Rich's fight and fight his fight. I can't explain it. He just had this blank look on his face. I don't know where he was, but the Matt Hamill that I know and trained for the past 11 weeks was not in that Octagon on Saturday.... I can't explain it. The only person that knows why he didn't come out to fight is him. I told him after the fight that his performance was uncharacteristic and that he really needed to do some soul searching to see if this is really what he wants to do. He had absolutely no fighting spirit, no killer instinct. He looked like a shell of himself and was just out there to get through it and that is very disconcerting."

Duff Holmes -- a trainer for Matt Hamill -- vents his frustration and bewilderment regarding the gameplan that his fighter executed against Rich Franklin over the weekend at UFC 88: "Breakthrough." Hamill was finished in the third round via technical knockout after essentially going toe-to-toe with the former middleweight champion for most of the entire fight despite his superior edge in the wrestling department. And when he did attempt takedowns he could not finish them ... Hamill appeared to be content just holding an ankle rather than driving Franklin into the cage or using it somehow to get "Ace" to the floor. Curious indeed.

(Thanks to Tracy Lee once again over at CombatLifestyle.com for the pic.)

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Comments

does he know his fighter at all, matt cant hear him screaming! bad joke, but seriously yeah he should have taken rich down, but hamill seems to like to box in most of his fights, didnt he do it with bisping and bosch???

by jslim on Sep 9, 2008 10:48 PM EDT reply actions

Friend or not , Matt looked horrible. Franklin apparently had no problem beating his ass. Hell, I wanted Franklin to win and even I was screaming at Hamill to go for the takedown. Kalib Starnes can thank Matt for not having the worst fight anymore in recent memories.

by c-war on Sep 9, 2008 11:26 PM EDT up reply actions

It wasn’t as bad as Starnes lol, I just don’t understand how an OLYMPIC LEVEL WRESTLER doesn’t use his best attribute.

by Chase on Sep 10, 2008 2:50 AM EDT up reply actions

Exactly jslim, he’s not gonna hear the dude screaming at him. Also, When Hamill DID take Franklin down, Franklin got out of it quickly.

c-war…he looked terrible but it reminds me of how everyone looks terrible and somehow never sticks to an intelligent gameplan against A. Silva. When you’re gassed and fighting a superior opponent, things aren’t going to go to go according to plan. I think he gassed and had no energy to keep going for the takedowns; Franklin was stuffing them later on in the fight and being gassed would account for the blank look on Matt’s face.

by RedDog on Sep 10, 2008 4:33 AM EDT up reply actions

It wasn’t as bad as his trainer makes it out. Rich was throwing a lot of kicks to the legs and body of Hamil, by round 2 I guarantee he was feeling it and it took a lot out of his shot, by rd 3 he couldn’t put anything behind a take down. Rich chopped him down and it was a good gameplan on his part, he even said in an interview that Hamil puts his hands up high when he steps back leaving his body and legs exposed. Rich took advantage of that and chopped him down. Hamil didn’t look terrible, he just got beat by a better gameplan.

by O damn he got caught on Sep 10, 2008 9:11 AM EDT up reply actions

Agreed RedDog. I think we have to give Franklin some credit here.

by wAyNe on Sep 10, 2008 9:49 AM EDT up reply actions

whats there to hear? the strategy was obvious. Do you really think that the trainers shoulud have had to tell mat to take the fight down? Everyone knew that it was grappler vs. Striker. Rich’s job was to keep the fight standing and Mat’s job was to take rich down. Mat barely attempted any takedowns, therefor he dID not do his JOB! He cheated himself, his trainers and the fans out of a fight. Who wanted to see mat fight a k-1 style fight against Rich? Clear mismatch! I am happy with the outcome cause I had money on Rich, but why have trainers and gamepans if you arent going to even attempt to implement them?

watching the fight, I thought WOW mat is just handing rich this fight! I was happy at the time cause I was winning money, but it was a shame that we didn’t really get to see Rich tested at 205. It was basically TARGET practice!

by john on Sep 10, 2008 11:22 AM EDT up reply actions

JOHN. now you see what i meant when i said his trainer didnt throw him under the bus. he was just trying to get his point across that matt really underperfromed and needs to get tougher mentally. i agree with the fact that rich had something to do with it, but hamill really tanked.

by b.w. on Sep 10, 2008 12:32 PM EDT up reply actions

yeah BW but his trainer shouldn’t have made that public. Something need to stay in house. Hammil just got lit up, no need to embarress him wit the press!

by john on Sep 10, 2008 1:03 PM EDT up reply actions

I believe Hamill’s team has like signboards or signals so that when Matt looks at their direction, he knows what to do. the trainers should’ve put up their signboard for takedown…Problem is, Matt might be eating one of Franklin’s kicks doing that…

by TheNegation on Sep 9, 2008 11:41 PM EDT up reply actions

really dissapointing fight, i can understand his trainers frustration… its not like his corner was telling him to do an uncomfortable or difficult move hes not used to. takedowns are hamills bread and butter and he completely abandoned them in this fight… i agree 100% with holmes’ assessment of the fight and hamill’s mental issues, hamill could have definitely won that fight and he needs to realize that or hes gonna have a tough time in the UFC

by brendan on Sep 9, 2008 11:50 PM EDT up reply actions

Hammil went all Andy Wang!

by john on Sep 10, 2008 7:44 AM EDT up reply actions

Sure he went all Andy Wang – I agree – but please, Kalib Starnes’ name has no business here . . .

by MSlice on Sep 10, 2008 7:52 AM EDT up reply actions

John went into the TUF vault.. nice.

The Wangster..

DW : BJ kicked you off his team..Jen Pulver will except you on his team..

Wangster : ..but want to be on BJ’s team..=(

by PhilQNY on Sep 10, 2008 8:39 AM EDT up reply actions

Agreed! Nothing is as bad as what Kalib did. If Hammil had sucha problem with beating Rich up, then why did he take the fight? Just sitting there letting Rich throw those missle kicks at him was painfull to watch.

I won $400 on Rich so I wont complain, but Hammil just gave Rich the fight. I would have thrown my TV out the windown if I had money riding n Hammil.

I hope Rich steps in for Tiago to fight Machida!

by john on Sep 10, 2008 8:39 AM EDT up reply actions

that would be tight.. but with that cut over his eye…I don’t know.

by PhilQNY on Sep 10, 2008 8:59 AM EDT up reply actions

Phil: I just found out that it wont happen. Machida is officialy off the UFC 89 card. They wont look to replace the fight, instead they are bumping the Shane Carwin fight onto the main card which reay pisses me Off!

I really want to see Gono vs. Hardy!

VM: U forgot, I am Gono’s biggest fan as well! lol

by john on Sep 10, 2008 9:13 AM EDT up reply actions

Shane’s not a bad fighter to watch. 100% of his fights end in KO/TKO and never get passed the first round. Although, I’m Not saying I would rather see him than Machinda. Just watch out for Shane.

by Kimura by Fedor on Sep 10, 2008 12:15 PM EDT up reply actions

Thanks John.

by PhilQNY on Sep 10, 2008 12:17 PM EDT up reply actions

kimura: I am not saying that Carwin isnt a good fighter to watch. My beef is that his opponent isnt!

I would prefer Machida over any of them but if its between the Carwin fight and the Gono match up, I would prefer to see Gono. Then again, like you said Carwin will KO him in a couple minutes which eaves time for other fights to air!

by john on Sep 10, 2008 1:06 PM EDT up reply actions

One thing is for sure and matt hamill was not agressive whatsover. maybe he had the GSP butterflies like when he fought hughes the 1st time. maybe hamill had too much respect, oh well he shoulda known better and taken him down. how a fighter stays away from the best thing they do is beyond me…

by blah. anything can/and will happen in MMA on Sep 10, 2008 12:24 AM EDT up reply actions

You might be right. Now all he needs to do is write Rich’s name in a brick and toss it in the ocean! Oh, and maybe twist his nipples a couple of times.

by Pat on Sep 10, 2008 7:20 AM EDT up reply actions

I don’t think i’ve ever seen a fighter get thrown under the bus by a trainer like this. I agree that he should have taken it down. The standup strategy worked against bisping but he was lucky that the high altitude burned boetsch’s lungs out because he was getting torn up with some heavy hands.

by NameNotRequired on Sep 10, 2008 12:36 AM EDT up reply actions

Matt Hammill is deaf, I didn’t know he was retarded as well. I get really pissed off when I see (a minority) of these talented fighters not listen to their corners and continue to deliberately make the same mistake round after round and their opportunity to win slips away.

Matt Hammill has been getting away with his sloppy standup using sheer brute force until now. If anyone’s been paying attention to his pre-fight interviews he always talks about standing and banging to make it more exciting for the fans and that’s exactly what he’s been doing.

I don’t think it was a case of giving up because Rich is his good friend. I believe it’s a case of Hammill finally being exposed by a superior standup artist. As much as Hammill wants to be a standup fighter he should stick to dirty boxing and frequent takedowns finishing his opponents with tough as nails GnP.

by THORAZINE on Sep 10, 2008 1:26 AM EDT up reply actions

I agree, he can scream for hours, the blank stare is because he can’t hear him. lets face it, hammill is a bit over rated and wasn’t ready for someone as experienced as rich!

by kevin doesn't know shit on Sep 10, 2008 6:01 AM EDT up reply actions

KEVIN. hamill can read lips and im sure can tell the difference betweeen his corner yelling at him BETWEEN rnds and not undrerstanding him at all. how do you think he made it through tuf. he didnt have a translater with him in the house.

by b.w. on Sep 10, 2008 12:36 PM EDT up reply actions

wow, thanks b.w., I guess my sarcasm doesn’t translate through the computer

by kevin doesn't know shit on Sep 10, 2008 1:15 PM EDT up reply actions

lol. no it doesnt. ive seen quite a few the same type of posts and its a little hard to tell who is being sarcastic and who isnt.

by b.w. on Sep 10, 2008 3:55 PM EDT up reply actions

Matt is maybe to nice of a guy to ever be a superstar in the sport. It was sad the way he just let Rich beat him. Rich is good but Matt sucked the other night.

by Brian "Bisping-Hater" on Sep 10, 2008 6:42 AM EDT up reply actions

I agree, Matt can not hear you screaming…the fight in general was bland…

by Bruce on Sep 10, 2008 1:29 PM EDT up reply actions

Hamill needs to leave Utica NY and head back to the homeland and train at JG school.

by "Mr. NC-17" on Sep 9, 2008 10:50 PM EDT reply actions

Matt probably became confident with his stand up skills. Either that, or Franklins game plan to hinder Matt from going for take downs was a success? Matt probably didn’t have much of a killer instinct when he was fighting his friend. I’d imagine that it would be hard to do something like that.

by RyanHobbs on Sep 9, 2008 10:52 PM EDT reply actions

Not to mention the leg kicks that Franklin scored on several occasions.

by naturalshadow on Sep 10, 2008 4:18 AM EDT up reply actions

Exactly, those are killer and they take your base and will away from you.

by RedDog on Sep 10, 2008 4:34 AM EDT up reply actions

Is it me or should the trainer be keeping this in house. If you’ve got issues with how a fighter performed or his desire in the game you don’t raise it in public.

Matt just lost the biggest fight of his career, don’t kick him when he’s down.

Its almost like the trainer whats to stand on Matts head and shout “look it wasn’t my fault, i’m still a good coach”.

Nob in my books.

by Nick J on Sep 10, 2008 6:10 AM EDT up reply actions

It looks like that because that is exactly what his trainer is doing.

by naturalshadow on Sep 10, 2008 3:13 PM EDT up reply actions

I have no idea if friendship had anything to do with his lapse of tenacity or not, but I have always wondered if it is really possible to get 100% mentally prepared for a fight with a close friend. I know most guys will say, a real fighter can fight anybody, anytime. However, Anderson Silva obviously feels some apprehension when it comes to fighting close friends. It’s got to be wierd at best.

by Jrandolph on Sep 9, 2008 10:54 PM EDT reply actions

Yeah the mental aspect has to be difficult to overcome. Facing a guy that helped you train to fight other fighters in the past would just be strange. Rich Franklin seemed to handle it well. I think that Hammill might have gotten a little too confident in his striking ability because of how well he did using it in his last two fights.

by RyanHobbs on Sep 9, 2008 11:06 PM EDT up reply actions

Most definitely…….. Matt didn’t do near as well as I thought he should have. Not saying I thought he would have won but I sure thought he would put on more of a fight,

by Psyqo78®™ on Sep 9, 2008 11:37 PM EDT up reply actions

sounds comparable to the first GSP vs Hughes fight, maybe he had to much respect and admiration for Rich that it afected his performance.

Watch the hammil/ bisping fight hammil was only about 1000x more aggresive

by dia mette on Sep 10, 2008 12:42 AM EDT up reply actions

I had no idea that those two went back so far, and were friends and training partners for a while. It might be one thing to fight a friend, it would be another thing entirely to fight a mentor.

by chefdaddy on Sep 9, 2008 11:11 PM EDT up reply actions

i was wondering the same thing myself. a wrestler trying to stand up with a striker, how silly.

by bradpittfightclub on Sep 9, 2008 11:11 PM EDT reply actions

He said…

“I was screaming at him to stop fighting Rich’s fight and fight his fight.”

Someone should tell him that Matt is deaf.

by Jose Bastillo on Sep 9, 2008 11:45 PM EDT reply actions

Hamill hasn’t really shown us his superior wrestling in his last couple of outings. I know it’s there, but he needs to be willing to use it more. I’ve watched the eventual fading of guys like Hughes, Liddel and Tito to name a few, and the one common thread seems to be the lack of ability to be operate succesfully in more than their strength. However, Hamill has left his best weapon on the shelf. We used to say that fighters have to change with the times, but I’m becoming more convinced that a fighter may have to change dramatically, from fight to fight. The one thing that I really like about Coutre, is his willingness to alter his fight style to match a specific opponent. Hamill has good striking, he’s big, has a good chin, but you have to know when to dance with the one that brung ya.

by Jrandolph on Sep 9, 2008 11:51 PM EDT reply actions

Work.

Grab the fucking ankle and not do shit.

Work or complete bitch who feels he owes something to Rich.

Fuck that fight anyways. Two very likeable fighters going at it kind of sucks.

by Cypher on Sep 9, 2008 11:54 PM EDT reply actions

i was impressed with him, how many guys other then silva have stood up with franklin and lasted near that long?

by randy murders on Sep 10, 2008 12:02 AM EDT reply actions

okami and louisau took him a combined 8 rounds

by brendan on Sep 10, 2008 12:23 AM EDT up reply actions

Maybe Matt has a man crush on Rich…

by bigmcmac on Sep 10, 2008 12:09 AM EDT reply actions

LOL …

by Liddell-Marquardt-GSP-Sherk on Sep 10, 2008 12:16 AM EDT up reply actions

i think that spot is still held by george…

by brandon on Sep 10, 2008 1:15 AM EDT up reply actions

yeah gurgel would love to gurgel rich’s semen in his mouth

by brendan on Sep 10, 2008 1:29 AM EDT up reply actions

Here’s the line . . . and here’s you 10 feet past it.

by PW on Sep 10, 2008 2:02 AM EDT up reply actions

maybe brendan has the crush.

by whimwham on Sep 10, 2008 9:09 AM EDT up reply actions

WOW!!! Brendan is sick!

by LJ on Sep 10, 2008 12:59 PM EDT up reply actions

A freakin men!

While his trainer shouldn’t have said those comments publicly, I couldn’t agree more with them, especially with this recent fight when Franklin was kicking him as often as he was.

In too many fights:
- he spends way to much time in stand up.
- he looks gassed by the end of the first round (although this wasn’t the case in this last fight).
- he just doesn’t have that mean killer instinct. He looks like a nice guy hesitant to hurt his opponent.

He needs to reevaluate his game if he intends to move up in the UFC ranks.

by mmamaniaReader on Sep 10, 2008 1:19 AM EDT reply actions

That would be frustrating. I’ve been there before mentoring someone. You tell them to their face exactly what to do, then they do the complete opposite thing. Then you ask them why and they shrug. Then you explain carefully what you need them to do. They knod, and go out there and not do it. It’s weird, like the person is in outer space or something. I’m not talking about fighting btw.

It’s frustrating and bewildering though and I can see why this guy put it like this.

by dave on Sep 10, 2008 1:30 AM EDT reply actions

Is my post floating around in cyberspace again?…lol… eggh’ I hate it when that happens.

by THORAZINE on Sep 10, 2008 1:53 AM EDT reply actions

Hehe, well don’t worry man. Just today here in the office, I had like 12 posts gone into cyberspace. Hope some higher being gets to read ’em.

by TheNegation on Sep 10, 2008 2:47 AM EDT up reply actions

Yeah, I was being sarcastic in mine, but no way should it be not be posted, it had my rant n’ rave for the day… I spent like 10 mins writing it, maybe it’ll pop up tomorrow after it’s been looked at?

by THORAZINE on Sep 10, 2008 3:06 AM EDT up reply actions

hahaha I know what ya mean. It truly sucks when a post get lost. (crosses fingers)

by RyanHobbs on Sep 10, 2008 3:09 AM EDT up reply actions

He would have won if he took him down, period…Matt can take guys down whenever he wants, he’s actually a decent striker but against Rich she should have followed the game plan, take him down and beat him up, if he gets caught oh well but he should have known he was going to lose on his feet. Dumb move on his part IMO. I would like to see him do some Rampage slams, etc…he has decent stand up if he NEEDS to use it but he should have done what he’s better at, taking people down…oh well, maybe he will learn…maybe he thinks it’s too easy for him or something…hopefully he’ll change his mind now that his liver got smashed by a wicked kick! He’s got promise tho.

On another note, listen to Hell Yeah by Rev Theory, awesome tune, red wings come out to it, just saw them live, they rocked…..

by Shanny on Sep 10, 2008 3:30 AM EDT reply actions

“I was screaming at him to stop fighting Rich’s fight and fight his fight. I can’t explain it. He just had this blank look on his face.”

Maybe he is deaf?

Haha..

Haha.. But yeah if I wanted to lose a fight vs Rich Franklin, I would have done the same thing that Matt Hamill did.

by DirtyML on Sep 10, 2008 4:20 AM EDT reply actions

How could you not listen to a guy that has his own beer?

by Luppers on Sep 10, 2008 9:01 AM EDT reply actions

Yeah Matt just gave Rich the fight, I don’t think he even wanted to fight Rich. I think he kind of felt bad hitting Rich or winning the fight. After all they are freinds, that is why Silva won’t fight Filho, and Fitch won’t fight Koschek.

by Danablk on Sep 10, 2008 10:03 AM EDT reply actions

Fitch has said he won’t fight Koscheck? I get the feeling that Kos secretly is dying to fight Fitch and if one of them ever get a hold of the belt (which I dont see happening anytime soon) I dont think Kos would not hesitate twice about fighting Fitch.

by WB on Sep 10, 2008 5:01 PM EDT up reply actions