Deaf MMA Fighter Matt Hamill Inspires Many To Overcome Obstacles

Movie About Deaf UFC Fighter and Wrestler Matt Hamill Overcoming Obstacles Is A Hit Which We Will Watch Today! Imagine not being able to hear your corner yell instructions at you during a fight.  Imagine not being able to hear music and sound clearly to communicate, learn from and enjoy.

Matt Hamill recently winning UFC 121 against his former coach Tito Ortiz on "The Ultimate Fighter"  Copyright 2010 MMA Maxim.com  All Rights Reserved. 

MMA's Matt Hamill a hit in the cage and on the big screen

 Story By Beau Dure, Special for USA TODAY

When Matt Hamill appeared on the reality show The Ultimate Fighter, two people saw potential:

•Tito Ortiz, the veteran UFC fighter coaching one of the teams on the show, made Hamill his first draft pick.

•Eben Kostbar, a filmmaker, thought Hamill's story of dealing with deafness and becoming a three-time Division III college wrestling champion would make a great film.  Four years later, Hamill is so well-established in mixed martial arts that he's a slight favorite against his former coach Saturday at UFC 121.

Next month, Hamill will premiere at the AFI Film Festival. The film took several years because Kostbar and writing-producing partner Joseph McKelheer went through roughly 75 rewrites to make sure Hamill was happy with it and that they weren't making, in Kostbar's words, "a cheesy wrestling or MMA movie."

"Our film is kind of like The Blind Side, where football is the backdrop," Kostbar says. "It's more Matt's journey, growing up in a small town where deaf education was sparse, learning to come to grips with who he is."

They also found they wanted to keep the deaf community happy. That meant replacing Kostbar, who had been cast to play Hamill in the film, with a deaf actor, Russell Harvard.  "There will always be controversy about a hearing actor playing a deaf person," Hamill says. "The deaf community has a lot of talented deaf actors, and they don't think it's fair that they aren't given a chance to portray that in films, TV and plays. I can understand that from their point of view. (The producers) made amends by casting a deaf actor who is extremely talented and did a great job portraying me."

Other actors in the film are deaf, including former Weeds and Jericho cast member Shoshannah Stern. She plays Kristi, Hamill's girlfriend who helps him adapt to life at Rochester Institute of Technology after an unhappy stint at Purdue. RIT, which keeps a list of its deaf athletes on its athletic department site, inducted Hamill (99-3 record, 47 pins) into its Hall of Fame in 2007.

Also in the cast is one of Hamill's former opponents, Rich Franklin, who helped Hamill get started in the sport. Franklin sought a wrestler to help him round out his skills and found Hamill through mutual friends. The former UFC middleweight champion then encouraged Hamill to pursue MMA and seek a spot on The Ultimate Fighter.

Franklin was reluctant to fight Hamill two years ago but dutifully followed through and handed his friend the second loss of his career. Hamill has won four in a row since then, though one was on a disqualification in a fight opponent Jon Jones was clearly winning. The fighters remained friends, and Franklin was later offered a part in Hamill. Though Franklin's character appears at a discouraging time — he's a Purdue wrestling coach who cuts Hamill as he struggles academically and athletically — he didn't hesitate to add to his growing list of film credits. "It's not the role itself that was interesting to me," Franklin says. "But it was interesting it's Matt Hamill's life that we're working with."

Hamill and Ortiz have maintained contact since TUF, but Hamill isn't sentimental about facing his former coach. "I always knew it was a strong possibility since we are in the same sport in the same weight class," Hamill says. The journey to put Hamill's life on screen was longer than his successful college career. Hamill doesn't mind. "The delay will be worth it," he says.

Matt Hamill recently at UFC 121 throwing a punch against his former coach Tito Ortiz on "The Ultimate Fighter"  Copyright 2010 MMA Maxim.com  All Rights Reserved. 

Ask the Fight Doc: Any truth to Ortiz's belief that deaf fighters are easier to KO?

By Dr. Johnny Benjamin on Oct 21, 2010 at 12:30 pm ET

In a featured bout at Saturday's UFC 121 event, student meets coach when Matt Hamill takes on fellow light heavyweight and his head coach on "The Ultimate Fighter 3," Tito Ortiz.

But Ortiz's August appearance on HDNet's "Inside MMA" program has been a recent hot topic.

And in our latest "Ask the Fight Doc" installment, MMAjunkie.com medical columnist Dr. Johnny Benjamin debunks Ortiz's ridiculous assertion that deaf fighters physically are more susceptible to knockouts.

* * * *

On an episode of "Inside MMA" on HDNet, Tito Ortiz stated that Matt Hamill was going to be easier to knock out because he's deaf and he has a "soft head" (in reference to some deaf people having equilibrium problems). Does this make any sense whatsoever? Or is this another case of Tito being Tito? Thanks. – Scott

This is a difficult question to answer – not because it has any basis in fact but because it is difficult to stay professional and not attack the character of a person who makes such ignorant statements.

So in fairness, I viewed the "Inside MMA" show in question (it debuted on Aug. 6) to appreciate and evaluate Mr. Ortiz's comments for myself.

"He's been babied his whole life coming from being deaf, of course, and he's going to be babied after I knock him out," Ortiz said. "He's slow. He's like a big slow ox. I'm going to pick him apart, and I know his corner really can't tell him what to do and show him the mistakes he does. ... He's deaf, so he has a soft head."

That prompted someone, apparently host Kenny Rice, to react in astonishment. But Ortiz continued.

"You people don't know this," he said. "Watch how (Rich) Franklin knocked him out quick. You hit them (deaf fighters) with soft shots because (with) their equilibrium, they don't have no equilibrium."

Wow. One of the problems with the First Amendment's right to "free speech" is that it also protects the statements of fools.

Deafness, equilibrium and concussions (knockouts) have little, if any, significant relationship. Deafness is a loss of hearing, not balance. The inner ear has some function in both hearing and equilibrium, but they are very separate issues.

Furthermore, what any of this has to do with an athlete's ability to withstand a blow to the head is difficult to understand. Concussions are an issue involving brain function and not the inner ear and/or vestibular apparatus.

There is not a shred of reputable medical literature that even suggests that deaf athletes are more susceptible to concussions than any other athlete.

I will not waste a great deal of your time discussing this non-issue, and I was pleased to hear that Ortiz realized the stupidity of his comments and later apologized via Twitter.

"Never argue with a fool; onlookers may not be able to tell the difference." – Author unknown, attributed to Mark Twain