Michael Bisping and Matt Hamill had a bit of a rivalry on season three of The Ultimate Fighter, which led to the pairing competing inside the octagon. But the former UFC middleweight champion couldn’t be more thrilled for his past foe’s life-changing moment.
To kick off 2025, Hamill revealed that due to a new hearing aid, the first deaf fighter in UFC history was able to hear his family members for the first time in 41 years.
“I was just so happy for the guy,” Bisping told MMA Fighting while promoting his upcoming film Den of Thieves 2. “I mean, yes, on the show we had kind of a tumultuous relationship, we just had a competitive rivalry. I was young, I looked at Matt Hamill as the the only guy that could potentially beat me and because of that, I’m a competitor, and I was young and I was immature. He had his ways and I had my ways and we kind of clashed a little bit. I don’t know if that was all in my head or not but that was a long, long time ago.
“We fought. It was a very close fight. It was 2007, almost 20 years ago, but since then I’ve wished him nothing but the best. And then when I heard that—and we’ve shared a few tweets back and forth over the years, all nice and polite—when I heard that, I was just overjoyed.”
Michael Bisping reacts to ex-rival Matt Hamill being able to hear for first time in 41 years - MMA Fighting
