LOS ANGELES – If you thought the trolls and critics are getting to Jamahal Hill, think again.
Although heavily criticized by many fans in the MMA word due to his back and forth with UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira, among any other takes and opinions, Hill (12-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC) claims to be unfazed by it all.
The recent comments have more specifically stemmed from Hill’s recent confrontation with Pereira at the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas. While many fans criticized his approach, some fighters backed him up – which is the only thing that matters for the former champion.
“As far as everything of the stuff online and people talking, I understand that it’s hard to watch people do things that you wish that you could do or maybe that you want to do or that you don’t have the courage to do, so you want to spit out some venom and bring them down to a certain level of where you are or maybe you feel about yourself,” Hill told reporters on Wednesday at the UFC 311 media day.
“So I don’t really focus on that. It’s really the fact that the guys that are actually in here and take the same risks as you and do it, and they respect me and understand what I’m putting into this, that means a lot more than any weirdo sitting in his mom’s basement with Cheeto dust and sh*t.”
Hill returns this Saturday on the main card of UFC 311 against Jiri Prochazka (30-5-1 MMA, 4-2 UFC). Despite the outside noise, Hill is fully focused on the task at hand, which is one he saw coming years ago.
“I asked for this fight the first time back in 2021 when he first got here, so I already had it in my mind,” Hill said. “This was a guy I was already starting to be aware of and be on the lookout for that we eventually might meet.”
Hill has been wanting to fight Prochazka for quite some time. It was never about Prochazka’s status as a former UFC and Rizin FF champion, but more due to his style of fighting.
“I didn’t really know who he was or know anything about his career before he got to the UFC,” Hill said. “It was just his style. He came in and burst on the scene in a very big way with a very big knockout over a guy that’s been here a while, and I thought I’d be on a collision course, too. After that, I was like, ‘OK, this guy has a fun style, an exciting style, and it’d be nice to share the cage with him and put on a good show.'”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 311.
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