In the aftermath of Matt Hamill's third-round TKO loss to Rich Franklin, Hamill's trainer Duff Holmes has decided to express his displeasure with his fighter's execution of their gameplan in an interview with Fightline.com.

This is what Holmes told Fightline.com before the UFC 88 bout:

"No way Matt Hamill stands with a guy like Franklin. Matt is, by far, the best wrestler in the UFC's light heavyweight division so our plan is simple; we're going to take Rich down and work the ground and pound while avoiding submissions."

This is how an apparently angry Holmes reacted to Hamill's performance after UFC 88. Hamill did not attempt a single takedown in their bout:

"I practically begged Matt to take Rich down. I was screaming at him to stop fighting Rich's fight and fight his fight. I can't explain it. He just had this blank look on his face. I don't know where he was, but the Matt Hamill that I know and trained for the past 11 weeks was not in that octagon on Saturday."

One potential problem for Hamill may have been his friendship, allegiance, and loyalty to Franklin, his onetime mentor. Holmes recognized that this might be a problem before the fight:

"Matt got his start helping Rich work on his takedown defense. Those two go way back and Matt has a deep respect and allegiance to Rich. He vouched for Matt to join 'The Ultimate Fighter' and helped get Matt on the show. He's sponsored Matt with his company American Fighter and has been a kind of mentor to him, and to be honest, that has me a little concerned."

This isn't the first time we've seen student face teacher or starstruck fan face idol. We saw the same thing with Georges St. Pierre in his first bout against Matt Hughes. The mental game is very important in MMA and many fighters psyche themselves out -- essentially painting their opponents as vile enemies -- to get ready to go to war. It seems like it would be difficult to bash your opponent's face in if you have too much respect for him/her.

Hamill is young and is still learning the fight game. He's made a lot of progress in a short time and while I can understand his trainer's exasperation, I think Hamill will learn from this and get better. He didn't make a physical mistake in this loss as much as a mental one.

And, once Hamill puts all the pieces together physically and mentally he should be a force in the UFC light heavyweight division. And, who knows, maybe we'll see Hamill-Franklin II and if we do, hopefully we'll see some double legs from Hamill.

And, to be fair to Holmes, some sites have painted him as some sort of monster for calling Hamill out in public. I think his statements come from a sincere place in his heart -- he truly believes in Hamill's ability and talent and is upset that he didn't fulfill that potential in the bout against Franklin. Coaches are usually toughest on the athletes they believe can accomplish the most.

Assist: FightTicker.com member EERS_1_Fan