At Bellator 124 we will see a winner emerge from the company’s latest light heavyweight tournament and witness Emanuel Newton defend his title against Joey Beltran. Although those fights have the potential to be very exciting it has been my experience that quite often the most interesting fights are the ones less advertised. The undercard or preliminary fights are where we get to see lesser known fighters start their run at the bigger stages of the MMA world.
One such fighter is Michael Hamida. Hamida grew up in the unforgiving city of Grand Rapids, Michigan, and got into MMA as a way to focus his energy into something positive rather than becoming another statistic. Grand Rapids MMA, founded by his stepfather Mark Malone and uncle Sean Malone, gave Michael a foundation to build on. That foundation saw him go 15-3 as an amateur and 2-0 as a pro under their banner.
Hamida now fights as a member of Midwest Training Center out of Schaumburg, Illinois, where he trains with head coach Alex Trujillo and MTC’s strength and conditioning coach Daniel Finnegan. Hamida is currently undefeated as a professional at 3-0 and will be putting that record on the line against Adrian Hadribeaj at Bellator 124 on September 12th. I recently had the pleasure of talking with Michael about his Bellator debut.
Aaron Robbins: Hey Mike, thanks for taking the time to talk with me today. Since there a bunch of fans that may not have heard of you yet, let’s start by having you give us some background information.
Michael Hamida: “Ok sure. Well I grew up in Grand Rapids, in a pretty rough neighborhood. I kind of grew up fighting. I never got in trouble with the law officially, but they had their eye on me, and they let me know that I wasn’t headed down the right path. My stepdad knew what was going on with me and told me to get my ass into a MMA gym, so I started training with Team Challenge, but unfortunately that gym closed down. I was lucky though because my stepdad and my uncle opened up Grand Rapids MMA, and so I was able to train there. I trained for a while and ended up winning my first amateur fight. At the time I wasn’t sure that I even liked the sport, but they kept after me, telling me that I had the talent to make something of myself in the sport. I won three amateur fights before my first loss and then had a seven fight win streak. Fighting started to become more fun at that point and so I just stuck with it. I fought my entire amateur career and my first pro fight out of Grand Rapids MMA. Now I’m fighting out of Midwest Training Center in Illinois and I’m just chasing the dream and seeing where this sport can take me.”
AR: It’s great that you found a way break away from what your city was trying to hand you, and find yourself on this journey. Now I know from talking to you that you went pro in 2012, and you’re currently 3-0. Take a minute and walk us through your last fight.
MH: “My last fight I fought Aaron Cook for TWC, he is a Muay Thai dude. He is a gamer man, real tough guy with a good game plan. He knew I basically like to go to the ground so he knew to put a lot of pressure on me. I didn’t have a full training camp for that fight. I had just moved to Chicago and was still looking for a full time gym. I didn’t go into that fight with a solid game plan, but I’m a fighter I go in there with the mentality that I’m going to take some hits to give some hits. I was hoping to go in there and just hit him hard and knock him out, but he came out really solid. He put a ton of pressure on me and threw a lot of kicks, but he gassed himself out and I was able to take him down. I wasn’t able to keep him there and he popped back up and hit me with a knee that dropped me. He got carried away, he saw that my eyes rolled a little and went down with me not worrying about posture and I threw him in an armbar and won the fight. It was a tough fight, but you got to have heart in this sport.”
AR: That’s fantastic Mike, it’s never easy to go against a solid Muay Thai practitioner. Now you mentioned you had just moved to Chicago from Grand Rapids. How did you decide on Midwest Training Center?
MH: “That’s a funny story, so I’m at a fitness club called Xsports out here and a WC fighter named John Hosman walks up to me because I’m wearing a wrestling bag. He checks out the bag and says ‘so you a fighter?’ and I say yeah I’m getting into it, I’m 2-0 as a pro, and he says ‘check out MTC’. So I roll up there it’s a Monday, wrestling day, and there are these stud wrestlers on the mat, top level college guys and I’m just banging with these guys, and afterwards coach Al, Alex Trujillo, comes up to me and says ‘you’ve got some real talent, you should keep training here’. So I came back, it’s only the second time I’ve been there and everybody was treating me like family. Everybody was introducing themselves and making me feel comfortable, and that was the biggest thing for me. Being part of a team like that makes you want to strive for your dream. Being at that gym makes me feel like I’m home.”
AR: Give us an inside look at MTC and why you guys have the high level of athletes coming out of that gym.
MH: “Well Coach Alex is just an amazing guy. He works with us and really strives to close any holes we have in our game. He takes the time to really see what’s going on in your skill set. Coach Al has really worked on me being more aggressive and he teaches us really slick counter striking. Then we have our strength and conditioning Coach Daniel Finnegan, we call him Finny, that guy is awesome. He really tries to pinpoint your weaknesses and forces you to work specifically on them. Coach Finny really cares about his guys and pushes them to be the best they can be. We have Bobby Kaleal available to us for our nutrition and diet. The gym also has top notch talent in there to train with us, guys like Clay Guida and Brian Gassaway. Recently I had a chance to train with Stipe Miocic, that guy is a beast. He is like wrestling with a bear on steroids, I was doing everything I could and it was like he was laying there watching T.V. and eating ice cream. (laughs) The gym is just loaded with super talented guys to train with. I am really pleased to be there with them.”
AR: Yeah. I’ve had the chance to talk with a few guys out of MTC and it seems like a really great place to train. Mike what sets you apart as fighter?
MH: “A lot of people see me and they don’t see a fighter, I don’t have scars or cauliflower ears, but I have that fighter’s instinct. I want to get in that cage and I want to hurt you. I’m also a humble guy, I know I still have a lot to learn but I’m willing to work my ass off to get there. I have the desire to be on that banner, to be known around the world as one of the best, and that drives me to train hard and do whatever it takes to improve. I push myself hard and I’m aggressive when I train, but I also try to be funny when I’m in practice. I like to make the other guys laugh, but when I get in the cage for real, I’m all business.”
AR: Great answer Mike, now speaking of all business, you will be making your Bellator debut on September 12th against Adrian Hadribeaj. Give us your thought on the fight.
MH: “Adrian is a karate guy, the karate stuff is cool and people like to see all the flashy kicks and what not, but realistically he has a lot of flaws in his stand up. I believe there is a high chance that I’ll knock him out. I think it’s a really good match up for me. He holds his hands low and I think I’m going to catch him, if he doesn’t go out on the feet I’ll take him to the mat and smash him there. I mean honestly he is a stand up fighter and I’m a ground guy with good hands, so I’m not worried about his striking and I know he won’t be looking to take me down. I’m pretty damn confident I’ll be ending the night with my hand raised.”
AR: Alright, I can’t wait to see it! That does it for me, anybody you want to give a shout out to?
MH: “Hell yeah, I want to thank GRMMA, MTC, Midwest Conditioning Systems, Shakedown Street, Ink House, Vengeance Fight Gear, and Master Tech Services.”
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