Jamahal Hill’s priorities right now are recovering from the injury that kept him from fighting at UFC 303 and then doing everything possible to land a rematch against Alex Pereira.
Ahead of Saturday’s event, where Hill was originally scheduled to face Carlos Ulberg before a knee injury took him out, the former UFC light heavyweight champion posted a lengthy video responding to a breakdown from Demetrious Johnson regarding his loss to Pereira at UFC 300. Hill also offered his insights on several different angles from the fight to explain why he believes he was actually doing everything right up until Pereira blasted him with a punch that put him down and out just minutes into the bout.
Hill promised it’d be the final time he’ll address the fight.
“I’m literally only saying this to say what happened,” Hill said on his YouTube channel. “To point out from my point of view what happened and what it is. The fact of this, ‘Oh, he can’t accept the loss, he needs to cope’ — the hardest thing I ever had to eat in this game was whenever I lost my ‘0’ to Paul Craig. When I was sitting there and I was locked up in the submission and I could not use my arm, I’m like, ‘Oh shit, I’m about to lose.’ I literally remember that feeling. I remember it vividly, and that was a very, very hard thing for me. I went out and partied with this man that night. I enjoyed life after that with that individual.
“Me taking a loss is not a problem for me at all. I’m simply saying what happened.”
A big part of the breakdown centered around the final sequence. Hill threw a kick that clipped Pereira low, which caused referee Herb Dean to step forward to potentially pause the fight for a foul, but the Brazilian waved him off.
A moment later, Pereira connected with the punch that put Hill down for the final time.
“I’m not mad at him for being a gritty competitor,” Hill said of Pereira. “Granted, it sucks being on the shitty end of it, but he did what he had to do. He pushed his brand further. He kept the belt where it’s at and all those things. It’s kudos to him.”
As far as what comes next, Hill needs to get healthy again first and foremost, but he’s keeping a close eye on the UFC 303 main event when Pereira faces former champion Jiri Prochazka for the second time.
Pereira knocked out Prochazka in their first encounter back in 2023. Now Pereira seeks to make it two in a row after the 205-pounders stepped up on short notice to fill the main event void left by Conor McGregor’s withdrawal from his fight against Michael Chandler.
Hill doesn’t seem to care much about who wins or loses, and the same goes for the title, but he promises there’s some unfinished business that he has to handle with Pereira.
“Best of luck to you in your fight, in this rematch with Jiri,” Hill said addressing Pereira directly. “Because if you lose, I don’t give a f*ck if they offer me a title shot — it’s me and you. You win, I’m going to go starch the next guy and I’ll see you soon. You lose? I’ll see you real soon.”
There’s no word yet on how long Hill is expected to be sidelined with his injuries.
