A friendly game of basketball between UFC players is what led to Hill blowing out his ankle and relinquishing the light heavyweight title.
A pick-up game of basketball may be responsible for the UFC light heavyweight division being without a champion again.
On Thursday night (July 13th, 2023), Jamahal Hill announced he was the latest fighter to relinquish the 205-pound title after suffering a ruptured Achilles tendon. Now we’re getting word that the injury was suffered during a Team Cormier vs. Team Hill basketball game organized during International Fight Week.
“From what I heard, per sources, the injury occurred at the MMA fighter basketball game ahead of UFC 290,” MMA Fighting’s Damon Martin reported on Twitter.
The game in question went down on the Friday night before UFC 290 and saw Jamahal Hill and Daniel Cormier assemble teams of fellow UFC fighters to play a friendly game of hoops (video via MMA Junkie). Other players involved include Belal Muhammad, Kevin Holland, Derek Brunson, Mike Malott, and Phil Rowe (who earned himself the MVP of the game award). The stakes were oh so high: Team Cormier took home a $3000 prize after inching out Team Hill 49-48.
Jamahal Hill now loses out on the seven figure payday he was expected to earn in his first UFC title defense.
Fight Hoops MMA Basketball : Team Daniel Cormier vs Team Jamahal Hill. I’m one of the judges for the MVP trophy kind of stressed about this pic.twitter.com/D58vxpUPE9
— Helen Yee (@HelenYeeSports) July 8, 2023
It’s the kind of freak accident that you can’t really do much about (except perhaps stretch a little more before undertaking any activity). There was nothing too rough about this basketball game and fighters go through tougher training sessions every day. Our biggest gripe is that Jamahal Hill should have already defended his belt by now. He won it off Glover Teixeira in January and has been calling on the UFC to move the division forward and stop waiting on former champ Jiri Prochazka to heal up.
Now Hill is in the same position as Prochazka: forced to relinquish the title, with a promise he’ll get a shot upon his return. The average Achilles tendon repair takes six to nine months to heal from. Probably longer if you’re a high caliber athlete who wants to ensure the strength and stability of the ankle. Here’s hoping Hill recovers fast and gets a shot as his belt as soon as possible.