Hamill: ‘Friendship out the door vs. Ortiz’
“Tito has fought a lot of good fighters and he has had amazingly close fights,” Hamill told MMA Fighting. “But…
“Tito has fought a lot of good fighters and he has had amazingly close fights,” Hamill told MMA Fighting. “But I’m not thinking about his record or what his own mindset coming into this fight is. I’m just focusing on fine-tuning my own skills and my own mindset.”
This won’t be the first time Hamill has had to put personal past relationships aside in a fight. At UFC 88, Hamill fought fellow Ohioan Rich Franklin – whom he had trained with several years earlier. Franklin wound up being instrumental in pushing Hamill, a collegiate wrestler, toward MMA. Hamill lost that fight by third-round TKO thanks to a Franklin liver kick. But he gained new perspective on turning off the friendship switch when it’s time to touch ’em up.
I had to get the mindset of friendship out of the door when I learned who I was fighting.
— Matt Hamill
“This is a big test for me and what I am capable of,” Hamill said. “I had to get the mindset of our friendship out of the door when I learned who I was fighting. It’s business. I don’t want to make the same mistakes I did with Rich Franklin. In the cage, (Ortiz) will be my opponent – nothing else.”
Hamill said he has only had sporadic contact with Ortiz after taping the show, but he still considers him an MMA mentor. “We were pretty close back then, but life gets in the way,” Hamill said. “We lost touch the last couple years, only touching base once in a while. And since learning of this fight, there has been no contact. I’m a friendly, open-minded person. When it comes to business that night, I will put everything aside until after the fight. I can’t predict what the outcome will be between us after the fight. Hopefully, there will be no bad blood – I do have a level of respect for Tito as my former coach and mentor.”