Michael Bisping and Matt Hamill had a little bit of a rivalry on season three of The Final Fighter, which led to the pairing competing contained in the octagon. However the former UFC middleweight champion couldn’t be extra thrilled for his previous foe’s life-changing second.
To kick off 2025, Hamill revealed that as a result of a brand new listening to support, the primary deaf fighter in UFC historical past was in a position to hear his relations for the primary time in 41 years.
“I used to be simply so glad for the man,” Bisping instructed MMA Combating whereas selling his upcoming movie Den of Thieves 2. “I imply, sure, on the present we had sort of a tumultuous relationship, we simply had a aggressive rivalry. I used to be younger, I checked out Matt Hamill because the the one man that would doubtlessly beat me and due to that, I’m a competitor, and I used to be younger and I used to be immature. He had his methods and I had my methods and we sort of clashed somewhat bit. I don’t know if that was all in my head or not however that was an extended, very long time in the past.
“We fought. It was a really shut struggle. It was 2007, nearly 20 years in the past, however since then I’ve wished him nothing however the very best. After which once I heard that—and we’ve shared a couple of tweets forwards and backwards through the years, all good and well mannered—once I heard that, I used to be simply overjoyed.”
Bisping and Hamill fought at UFC 75 in September 2007, and after an ultra-competitive quarter-hour, Bisping improved his document to 14-0 by incomes a break up determination nod.
The 45-year-old Bisping went on to compete 25 extra instances contained in the octagon, together with his unbelievable crowning achievement second at UFC 199 when he knocked out Luke Rockhold on quick discover to win the middleweight title. Hamill competed 11 extra instances within the promotion, together with victories over Tito Ortiz, Keith Jardine, and his disqualification win over present heavyweight champion Jon Jones.
Seeing Hamill have such a breakthrough together with his listening to has Bisping—in a joking means—questioning what sort of life-changing second he might have.
“It’s unbelievable what expertise is doing nowadays,” Bisping mentioned. “I do know there’s talks about new eyes and issues like that, you by no means know. Elon Musk, shoot me a kind of new eyes and I’ll be again within the octagon earlier than you realize it.
However for Matt Hamill, what an attractive day. I imply once I heard [that he] heard the sound of his kids and his mother and father and simply issues like that, these are issues that we take as a right. I can solely think about how that should have felt for him, and I might genuinely not be happier for him.”
