Jamahal Hill has become one of the few people to call for a fight against Magomed Ankalaev.
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is holding off on the Russian contender’s return to a title fight as the champion, Alex Pereira, will next defend against the No. 8-ranked contender, Khalil Rountree Jr., at UFC 307 on Oct. 5, 2024. Meanwhile, Ankalaev has to get through one more fellow contender, Aleksandar Rakic, at UFC 308 later that month (Sat., Oct. 26, 2024).
Despite the match ups getting booked, all 205-pound contenders are largely in disapproval of the title fight, including Hill and Ankalaev. Ultimately, Hill was one of the more outspoken on the matter, which led to Ankalaev questioning why “Sweet Dreams” was “crying” about it. Hill responded with a proposition, as per usual.
“This dude just can’t stop trying to clout chase in whatever way he can, bro,” Hill said on his YouTube channel (h/t Bloody Elbow). “For you to say I’m crying because I spoke on an obvious fact of the game that affects everybody in our weight class, I see what you’re trying to do.
“You see that the whole fanbase are kind of against me, they want to try throw sh*t on me, you think you can get some cool points by jumping on that bandwagon and call me out, stop it, bro,” he continued. “You’re talking this, fly out to Abu Dhabi, this and that. If you want to fight me, I’m the former champion. If I decide to give you a chance we’ll do it on some sh*t on my terms. If my phone rings and they need someone to come step in and handle you, you’re light work for me.”
Hill, 33, hasn’t fought since his title fight loss to Pereira at UFC 300 (watch highlights). The former champion was supposed to return against the next challenger, Rountree, at UFC 303 this past June 2024. Unfortunately for him, he suffered an injury that prevented him from making it to fight night.
“He’s coming off tainted drug tests, tainted supplement, whatever,” Hill said. “He’s coming off that where he was set to fight me in a Light Heavyweight contender fight to where now he gets to bypass that and now it’s straight to a title fight.
“It’s a wild wild turn of events, man,” he continued. “It’s crazy. I don’t know if it’s ever happened before where a fighter has been removed from a bout cause of tainted substances or whatever and then receive a title shot over a number of other contenders.”