Hill isn’t bothered by the internet’s interpretation of a run-in he had with Pereira, because he’s all about getting paid well to fight — not scrap for free.
2025 kicks off with UFC 311 on January 18th and it features a stacked card including two title fights and a UFC light heavyweight contender’s match between Jamahal Hill and Jiri Prochazka.
Hill is looking to get back to the 205 pound belt he held briefly that is now wrapped around the waist of Alex Pereira. And while he’ll have to get through Prochazka if he wants a “Poatan” rematch, he seems pretty laser-focused on Alex lately.
“Sweet Dreams” almost got into a brawl with Pereira at the UFC Performance Institute last week, which he explained to reporter Helen Yee in a new YouTube video.
“We had an exchange where he said something on Twitter,” Hill said. “And I just went to go tell him in person, ‘Yo, I’m coming. I’m I’m putting in the work. Don’t run the heavyweight. After I handle this guy, you’re next.’ That was pretty much how it started, and then it went from there.”
“He said ‘You woke up from UFC 300,’ I was like, ‘I’m wide awake now and I’m going to put you to sleep for real.’ It was never anything like, ‘Oh, let’s fight right now’ or nothing like that. It was just competitive talk and then it went from that to what people saw.”
Audio from the interaction was muffled, but the video clearly showed Pereira tossing boxing gloves at Hill’s feet and Hill not picking them up.
Alex Pereira and Jamahal Hill ran into each other and were ready to throw down pic.twitter.com/tkMgzRO1m9
— FULL SEND MMA (@full_send_mma) December 5, 2024
“How they interpret it is how they interpret it,” Hill said of the moment. “What people took is he threw the gloves for me, I should’ve put them on, and things like that. But I’m here to get paid. We made a lot of money the first time we fought. And we can go right then. Like I told him, we don’t need gloves because if we gonna fight right here, right now. We just gonna fight. You know what I’m saying?”
“But I get paid. I’m here to make money, and I’mma knock your ass out and I’mma collect a check for it.”
When asked about the interaction, Pereira suggested Hill focus on his UFC 311 fight with Jiri Prochazka. He was happy to give “Sweet Dreams” a second chance, though, if Jamahal got past Jiri. For Hill, Pereira is the fight he’s gunning for, and he plans on making a statement against Prochazka to get it.
“100%, there’s no other fight,” he said. “There’s no other fight after that, especially with a dominant and decisive victory in this next bout. That’s all that I see next for myself.”