Jamahal Hill couldn’t disagree more with those who claim Ultimate Fighting Championship’s (UFC) Light Heavyweight division is one of the weaker on the roster.
The current 205-pound kingpin has yet to defend his freshly won title, but sees a plethora of strong challengers lining up despite what the community may tell him. Light Heavyweight has been in a bit of disarray since late 2022 when the former titlist, Jiri Prochazka’s, devasting shoulder injury forced him to vacate the throne. As a result, the immediate vacant title bout that followed was fought to a draw and led to Hill battering Glover Teixeira in Brazil for a unanimous decision championship victory.
Jon Jones was the last champion of the division to defend more than a single time, relinquishing the belt in early 2020. Hill argues the “hot potato” nature of the title proves the division’s strength more than the opposite.
“I think it’s an exciting time for the division,” Hill told MMA Junkie. “I’ve heard a lot of people say some s—t like, ‘The division is the weak division.’ That’s the dumbest s—t I ever heard. The logic that I’m hearing is it’s a weak division because anybody can beat anybody whether they’re one dude beating the s—t out of the entire division … that makes the division weaker. If we really think about that, that’s the dumbest s—t you’ve ever heard.
“It just speaks to that level of greatness,” he continued. “That’s not a knock on the division. That’s just the level of that person that comes in at that time. When people say it, I’m like, ‘Bro, you really are stupid.’ I’m not even gonna sugarcoat it. I just have disregard for any intelligence you might have. Because you’re saying that a division is worse because it’s more competitive as opposed to one dude being leaps and bounds better than everybody else. That’s insane to me.”
Hill is expecting and hoping to get back in action around August 2023 for a possible Boston, Massachusetts showdown with a returning Prochazka. If “Denisa” isn’t fully healed by then, other options like Magomed Ankalaev are appetizing contenders for “Sweet Dreams.”