“I want to apologize to the deaf community for the remarks I made about Matt it was uncalled for. He is a good fighter and I was out of line.”
While Matt Hammill remains focused on the fight in an interview with MMA Fighting:
“I’m not thinking about what (Tito’s) mindset coming into this fight is. I’m just focusing on fine-tuning my own skills and my own mindset.”
“This is a big test for me and what I am capable of. 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.”
Tito “Huntington Beach Bad Boy” Ortiz (15-7-1) +145
Loss Forrest Griffin – Decision (Split) UFC 106
Loss Lyoto Machida – Decision (Unanimous) UFC 84
Draw Rashad Evans – Draw (Unanimous) UFC 73
Loss Chuck Liddell – TKO (Punches) UFC 66
Matt “The Hammer” Hamill (9-2) -175
Win Keith Jardine – Decision (Majority) TUF 11 Finale
Win Jon Jones – DQ (Illegal Downward Elbows) TUF 10 Finale
Win Mark Munoz – KO (Head Kick) UFC 96
Win Reese Andy – TKO (Punches) UFC 92
Tito Ortiz’s comments:
“[Matt Hamill] He’s been babied his whole life coming from being deaf of course and he’s going to be babied after when I knock him out.”
“He’s slow; he’s like a big slow ox. I’m going to pick him apart and I know his corner can’t really tell him what to do and show him the mistakes he does.”
“I’ve noticed he’s deaf, so he has a soft head, you hit him with more and more shots. You people don’t know this. Watch how Franklin knocked him out quick.”
“You hit them with soft shots because their equilibrium, they don’t have no equilibrium. And you hit them with shots and you hit them with small shots, I’m not looking’ for big shots. I’m looking’ for small shots. Little small shots and by the second, middle of the third round you’re going to see someone going to sleep and I’ll snuggle him.”
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