Following his beatdown of Rex Holman at UFC 68, former The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) season three light heavyweight Matt Hamill called out castmate Michael Bisping, according to a post-fight video on UFC.com.
Here's a transcript of his comments:
"I think I'm ready for I guess Mike Bisping from England. We are going to find out who's going be the TUF 3 champion. It's not over yet."
During the quarterfinals of the show, Hamill was hospitalized after his unanimous decision win over Mike Nickels. He was forced to withdraw from the semifinals — and a date with Bisping in the Octagon — because of the injury.
Bisping, of course, went on to defeat Ross Pointon and Josh Haynes to capture the TUF 3 205-pound title.
Hamill—who is deaf—is a decorated collegiate wrestler who has only been training mixed martial arts for a year and a half. However, since TUF 3 wrapped, he has been perfect, recording a 3-0 inside the Octagon.
It's a remarkable accomplishment and one that apparently was not lost on the fans at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, on March 3, according to an article on InsideFighting.com.
Here's a snip:
By the time Hamill had entered the Octagon to fight fellow Ohioan Rex Holman he had a full standing ovation from the largest North American MMA crowd in history, with all of them whooping, cheering, clapping, stomping, whatever it took to let him know exactly how much he had spoken to them through his life's example.
And it worked.
During the post event press conference, after he had beaten Holman by TKO in the first round, Hamill said that it was ‘the first time I felt the vibrations from a crowd.' During his in-ring post-fight comments Hamill was nearly overcome with emotion.
Bisping is scheduled to fight Elvis Sinosic at UFC 70 in Manchester, England, on April 21, making a possible bout with Hamill out of reach at least for the time being.
But, the seed is planted and the two have history, as well as loyal fans, providing just the ingredients UFC matchmakers love to exploit.
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