Matt Hamill

RIT Tigers

Matt Hamill (born October 5, 1976) is an American former mixed martial artist and wrestler who competed in the Light Heavyweight division of the UFC.

He is a three-time NCAA Division III National Champion in wrestling (167 lb class in 1997, 190 lb class in 1998 and 197 lb class in 1999) while attending the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in Rochester, New York.

Of Irish descent, Hamill was deaf from birth.

He was introduced to wrestling by his stepfather Michael Rich, who was the head wrestling coach at Loveland High School.

Hamill attended the Rochester Institute of Technology for three years transferring there after a year at Purdue University.

Hamill was on The Ultimate Fighter 3 reality television show, training under former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Tito Ortiz in the 205 lb (93 kg) weight class.

He won a preliminary fight against Mike Nickels via decision, but was unable to continue into the semi-finals due to injuries.

On June 24, 2006, Hamill fought fellow contestant Jesse Forbes at The Ultimate Fighter 3 Finale on Spike TV and won via knockout.

Hamill faced The Ultimate Fighter 2's Seth Petruzelli in a Fight of The Night performance he won via unanimous decision at Ortiz vs. Shamrock 3: The Final Chapter on October 10, 2006.

Judges scored the bout (29–28, 30–27, and 29–28) for Hamill.

Hamill then fought Rex Holman at UFC 68: The Uprising where he won by TKO in the first round.

Hamill fought fellow TUF 3 alumnus Michael Bisping at UFC 75 in London, England on September 8, 2007, where he lost via split decision.

The decision was considered controversial as many believed Hamill won the fight.

A rematch was scheduled for UFC 78, but due to knee surgery, Hamill withdrew.

A rematch since became unlikely because Bisping subsequently dropped down to the Middleweight division after losing a split decision to Rashad Evans.

Hamill next fought Tim Boetsch on April 3, 2008, whom he defeated in the second round by TKO, bringing his record to 4 wins and 1 loss.

During the fight, Hamill had a badly split bottom lip due to a knee strike.

Hamill then went on to fight at UFC 88 against former UFC Middleweight Champion Rich Franklin as the co-main event.

He lost the fight by TKO after a kick to the liver at 0:39 of the third round.

At UFC 92, Hamill defeated Reese Andy in the second round by TKO due to strikes.

Hamill fought former NCAA wrestling champion Mark Muñoz at UFC 96, defeating him with a right leg roundhouse kick to the head, knocking Munoz unconscious and earning him the Knockout of the Night award.

His next fight was scheduled to be Brandon Vera at UFC 102, but due to a knee injury while training, Hamill was replaced by Krzysztof Soszynski.

Coming off of knee surgery, Hamill became sick.

Hamill faced off against undefeated prospect Jon Jones on December 5, 2009, at The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights Finale.

Jones would be disqualified for using illegal 12–6 elbows.

The unified rules of mixed martial arts prohibit downward elbow strikes, and Jones was initially only penalized a point from the round.

However, because Hamill could not continue due to his dislocated shoulder, he was awarded the DQ win.

Consequently, the tape was reviewed and showed that Jones' elbows further damaged Hamill's already bloody and lacerated nose.

This marked the first time that Nevada has used its recently enacted instant replay rule, in which the referee's decision was supported by the commission which utilized a slow motion replay to review the elbows.

Hamill contested the decision, stating after the fight that he "definitely didn't win" and Jones "definitely didn't lose".

Hamill defeated Keith Jardine on June 19, 2010, at The Ultimate Fighter: Team Liddell vs. Team Ortiz Finale.

Hamill won this fight by majority decision.

Jardine was docked a point for accidentally poking Hamill in the eye in round 2.

Hamill next fought his former The Ultimate Fighter 3 coach, Tito Ortiz on October 23, 2010, at UFC 121 which he won via unanimous decision.

Hamill was next scheduled to face undefeated Phil Davis at UFC 129.

It was then announced that Thiago Silva had failed his UFC 125 post fight drug test, and Hamill was named as his replacement in his bout against former UFC light heavyweight champion and current top contender Quinton Jackson.

Hamill lost the fight via a one sided unanimous decision.

At UFC 133 Hamill faced off against up and coming Swedish striker Alexander Gustafsson, replacing an injured Vladimir Matyushenko.

After an uneventful first round, Gustafsson dropped Hamill in the second with a straight punch followed by an uppercut, subsequently finishing Hamill with punches and elbows from the mount.