Matt Hamill (above) has gotten under Rampage’s skin. | Photo: Terry Goodlad/Sherdog.com
Facing ‘The Hammer’
Much of the pre-fight banter has swirled around Jackson’s lack of interest in fighting a middle-tier contender. The 32-year-old was originally slated to meet American Top Team’s Thiago Silva, but issues with a Nevada State Athletic Commission drug test left the Brazilian in limbo and forced the UFC to go in another direction. Jackson claims to take the same approach with every fight, no matter the opponent.
“Some MMA fans -- they don’t understand,” he says. “They don’t hear something they want to hear, [and] they jump all over you. If they’d really get to know me, I’m not really excited about anybody I fight. It’s my job to me. It’s my career. I don’t get excited anymore. I’ve got almost 40 fights. I don’t get excited about anybody I fight. I just go and do it.”
Hamill presents his own set of challenges in the cage. Spawned by Season 3 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” he will carry a five-fight winning streak into the most significant match of his career. The 34-year-old Loveland, Ohio, native last set foot in the Octagon at UFC 121 in October, when he outpointed former mentor and onetime light heavyweight king Tito Ortiz. Hamill has been finished only once -- by former middleweight champion Rich Franklin -- in 12 professional appearances. He was a three-time Div. III national wrestling champion at the Rochester Institute of Technology.
“
My main motivation
is to win. I think Matt
made a mistake when
he said he was going
to break my will and
that I’m going to over-
look him.
”
-- Rampage on Matt Hamill.
Some point to the possibility of Hamill employing a game plan similar to that of Evans, who outpointed Jackson at UFC 114 by clinching, grappling and securing timely takedowns.
“We’re prepared for that,” Gibson says. “That Rashad situation -- that will never happen again. I had an athlete [in Jackson] who was coming off a movie. We were lucky to just get through that camp.”
Cementing a Legacy
Still in his prime, Jackson has spent more than half of his career competing in either the UFC or Pride, where his violent slam knockout of Ricardo Arona became a staple of virtually every MMA highlight reel. It could be argued that he has achieved as much as any light heavyweight of his generation, including Liddell and Rua. Even so, Jackson has remained adamant about his intention to retire at age 35, which leaves him two short years with which to cement his legacy.
“I felt that way the day I started fighting,” he says. “I didn’t want to fight past 35. I said it years ago. I don’t know why people are just catching onto it now. I’m older. I’ve had a lot of wars. I’ve got little bumps and bruises that bother me in training.”
A second title run inside the UFC would leave little ammunition for his detractors, and, after weeks of outward disinterest, Jackson seems to have found incentive in Hamill’s words.
“My main motivation is to win,” he says. “I think Matt made a mistake when he said he was going to break my will and that I’m going to overlook him. That actually lit a fire up under my ass and made me train a little bit harder just so I can break his will, so I can make sure I outclass him.
“That’s why I worked on my wrestling, [why I worked] extra on my cardio and extra on getting off my back in case he does take me down,” Jackson adds. “In the beginning, fighting him, I wasn’t 100 percent motivated as I would be against, like, someone who has beaten me before. When he said that, it motivated me just as much as I’ve been for any other fight.”
Gibson expects Jackson to be in rare form.
“I’ve never met anybody who’s such a fight night fighter,” he says. “He’s a cerebral fighter. When he puts his mind to it and believes in it, nothing stops him.”