Matt "The Hammer" Hamill Has Officially Retired From the Sport of MMA

Matt "The Hammer" Hamill (10-4-0) has officially retired from the UFC and MMA entirely. The Hammer is recognized as the only deaf fighter to have competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. After having fought in just one professional bout in his MMA career, Hamill was accepted to be a competitor on the third season of the hit reality competition show The Ultimate Fighter where he was picked to be part of Team Ortiz. Hamill stood out to viewers as an active fighter who lives with the disability of being deaf. After taking an interest in the unique athlete, Ortiz looked to make Hamill feel welcome and decided to bring in somebody to talk in "sign language" to help when coaching him. With a background in wrestling, Hamill instantly connected with Ortiz and the two have since been good friends. After defeating Mike Nickels in the preliminary rounds on TUF, Hamill was unable to compete in the semifinals due to injuries. After TUF, Hamill was given the chance to make his UFC debut to earn a contract with the promotion on the TUF3 finale where he won his fight via a late Rnd1 TKO. Winning his next two bouts to make his record 4-0, Hamill took on fellow former Team Ortiz teammate Michael Bisping at UFC 75: Champion vs Champion in London, England. This fight went all three rounds and lead to one of the most controversial decisions ever when Bisping was handed the Split Decision win where two judges scored 29-28 for him and one judge scored 30-27 completely for Hamill. With his first official loss on his record Hamill rebounded with a Rnd2 TKO win over Tim Boetsch that lead to a match against former Middleweight champion Rich Franklin. After a back-&-forth fight Franklin landed a crippling body-kick that lead to an early Rnd3 TKO. After his second official loss Hamill rebounded again with a Rnd2 TKO over Reese Andy and followed that up with a highlight Rnd1 head-kick over Mark Munoz that earned him the Knockout of the Night bonus. His next bout saw him matched against rising star Jon Jones. While Hamill came in as a fan favorite, Jones outmatched him dominantly taking him down at will and picking him apart with the superior reach. When the fight hit the ground, Jones continued to dominate to the point that a majority of analysts and fans believed the fight should have been stopped. Continuing his attacks from the top, Jones made the mistake of utilizing his elbows while pointed downward to the face of Hamill and was immediately followed by the referee halting the fight. While many figured the fight was a basic TKO win for Jones, shock filled the arena when the result was announced as a Disqualification win for Hamill seeing that Jones had utilized the illegal "12-to-6 elbows". This technically extended Hamill's win streak to three in a row while also handing Jones his first technical loss on his record, which still stands as the only loss on the current champion's record. Following the fight against Jones, Hamill fought TUF2 alumni and well rounded veteran Keith Jardine to a Majority Decision that earned the Fight of the Night bonus. Following the win over Jardine, Hamill took on his former TUF3 coach and idol in former Light Heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz. In a bout where Ortiz had the advantage with overall experience and a better wrestling background, Hamill dominated his former coach with striking and wrestling in much of the fight. Riding a win streak and coming off entertaining fights over experienced veterans of the sport, Hamill looked to jump into title contention when he asked to step in to take on former Light Heavyweight champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson in place of a suspended Thiago Silva. While Hamill was considered the superior wrestler coming into this bout, he failed to take Jackson down at all and was outclassed in the stand up, which lead to him losing the fight via Unanimous Decision. Looking to rebound from this loss, Hamill stepped up to fight as a late replacement against rising Swedish competitor Alexander Gustafsson. While Rnd1 saw little action from either fighter, Rnd2 saw Gustafsson quickly assert his striking power when he rushed Hamill to the cage where one left began a barrage of strikes that lead to the ground where the referee stopped the fight. Seen as coming in not looking his best, many questioned where Hamill was in his career coming off the first two fight losing streak in his career. Those questions were answered today when Hamill announced that he would step down from professionally competing in MMA. Hamill leaves the sport with a devoted fan base and a life story that has even been turned into movie aptly named Hamill. The underdog story that he has lived for much of his life captured fans' interests and even gave hope to people with disabilities that they felt hinder them from leading normal lives. Hamill has been an inspirational figure competing on the biggest stage in the sport and continuing to improve his skills coming into the UFC with nothing more than a background in wrestling and becoming recognized as a dangerous striker with natural heavy hands that grew to include a kickboxing game that resulted in one of the best highlight head-kicks when he knocked out Munoz. An accomplished collegiate wrestler, a dangerous striker, a fan friendly personality, and an all around kind person, Hamill is not a fighter any MMA fan should forget. Excitement, determination, and enjoyment are words that can be used to define the career of the professional Mixed Martial Artist that has been Matt Hamill. As a representative of the sport and the deaf community, Hamill is a figure that everyone can look up to.