Jamahal Hill is the former UFC light heavyweight champion, who has been out of action for more than a year now. Following his title win over Glover Teixeira at UFC 283 last year, Hill has been on the sidelines owing to injury. In that time, he has faced a lot of ridicule, with his status as a champion seemingly being forgotten by many.
For those unaware, “Sweet Dreams” laid his claim to the light heavyweight title in January of last year. After a bloody back-and-forth with former champ Teixeira, Hill fulfilled his lifelong dream of becoming a UFC champion. However, the celebrations were short-lived as only a few months later, Jamahal suffered a very serious Achilles injury in July, leading him to vacate the title.
We đź‘Ź Can’t đź‘Ź Wait đź‘Ź#UFC300 is almost here đź‘€
Buy the PPV early: https://t.co/kOInf4xnPV pic.twitter.com/28gPiZopRA
— UFC (@ufc) March 24, 2024
Now, in his comeback fight, he is set to take on Alex Pereira at UFC 300, the man who became champion after him and is also the protege of Glover Teixeira. Thus, there is a lot of backstory to the fight, and a lot of interest for it as well. With that said it must be noted that Hill has been severely undermined by fans coming into the fight. As such, let’s try and find out why that is the case.
Why is Jamahal Hill underrated among fans and fighters?
For the most part, a lot of what makes Jamahal Hill the underdog in his fight against Alex Pereira has more to do with the latter. After all, the Brazilian has done the unthinkable, having fought 7 times in a span of three years, claiming two titles in the process. Thus, his accomplishments far outweigh what a lot of fighters have done in the sport. However, while Jamahal is no slouch either, his achievements do not stack up as well.
Since his arrival in the UFC, Jamahal has garnered a 6-1-1 NC record with 4 of his wins coming by way of KO/TKO. Thus, the 32-year-old managed to get the attention of many with back to back to back knockout wins over Jimmy Crute, Johnny Walker, and Thiago Santos. At the same time, many have placed an asterisk over his title win, claiming that he went ‘life and death’, with a 43 year old Glover Teixeira.
Additionally, questions have been raised over his resume, considering that he has no wins over any other fighter in the current LHW top 5. As such, his biggest win over an active contender is #7 ranked Johnny Walker who has been rag-dolled by a fair few fighters. Thus, until he proves his mettle against a top name, which he is very capable of doing, Jamahal Hill remains below Pereira and even Jiri Prochazka in people’s power rankings.
Fans have often ridiculed Jamahal Hill, for many reasons
Although the people haven’t exactly been singing his praises, it must be said that Jamahal Hill has often been on the receiving end of a lot of trolling and ridicule on social media. Aside from his ‘beef’ with journalist and reporter Ariel Helwani, the fans have often lumped into the 32-year-old former champ, for numerous reasons.
Starting things off would be Hill’s physique, which in recent years has ballooned into something that usually resembles a heavyweight. Whilst it also correlates with his good form, Jamahal has attracted a lot of mean comments on his shape, when he is out of camp. While he creates a lot of humorous content on his socials, Hill’s tubby figure remains the big talking point about him.
Jamahal Hill pops his top during interview with Michael Bisping to show off physique two weeks out from title fight against Alex Pereira at #UFC300. 👀💪🏆
Bisping: “I never want to see that angle again.”
Hill: “Oh, yeah. Wow, hey, yo, yeah, that was crazy.”
🎥 YouTube via… pic.twitter.com/zNU2cUxZIr
— Parry Punch (@ParryPunchNews) March 29, 2024
Naturally, Hill has hit back at criticism from fans about his physique and resume, by claiming that he will knock out Alex Pereira. In the lead-up to the fight, he has even claimed that their fight is a ‘mismatch’. Considering that Hill had seen his arm get dislocated by Paul Craig in the past, it led to fans calling Hill ‘delusional’ as well. All things considered, it is clear that Jamahal Hill has a lot of people to prove wrong at UFC 300.
