Jamahal Hill has looked to quell fears that he could be out of the Octagon for a long time following his first professional defeat.
‘Sweet Dreams’ fell to a controversial TKO loss against Paul Craig at UFC 263 this past week. The controversy stems from the fact ‘Bearjew’ appeared to snap Hill’s arm and the fight was not immediately waved off as a technical submission. The bout was allowed to continue and Craig landed nasty ground and pound while Hill’s arm flopped around before the referee finally brought an end to the bout.
Post-fight, it was revealed that Hill had not suffered a broken arm and he had in fact dislocated his elbow. A few days on from his first loss, Hill is feeling optimistic about his injury and his fighting future.
“It’s not as bad as it looked,” Hill told TMZ Sports. “There’s no break. My elbow just dislocated pretty badly but they were able to pop it back in and the doctor said it’s rock solid. It’s doing all the movement that it needs to, it’s just going to be sore for a while. I’ll follow up with my doctor when I land back at home and we’re gonna go from there. Hopefully I can be back in real soon.
“It was a little discomfort whenever I first originally looked down and saw it, pain didn’t really register, it was just ‘Win.’ It was just the competitor in me. I tried to knock him out. I was like,’ ‘Alright, you’ve got to land that shot, try to knock him out.’ That’s what I went for but it was pretty bad spot for me not being able to post up with my arm at that time. The only thing I can do from that point is, ‘How’s my face on the ground? Learn. Good lesson. Alright this happened.’ Instantly my mind is on growth, how do I grow from here? I got up and went to the official, stood up at the official decision to show respect to my opponent, to show respect to the game. I went and took my lumps and now I’m gonna adjust and I’m gonna come back.”
Al Guinee has been receiving backlash following the fight but Hill the thankful the referee gave him the chance to try to pull off something “spectacular”.
“He gave me a chance to try to pull out something spectacular,” Hill said. “If it was one of my guys, I would have wanted him to protect him but it’s kinda hard to say that with me, with the heart I have in there. I wanted to try to get that knockout still.” (Transcribed by MMA Fighting)
Do you think Jamahal Hill will bounce back from this injury and return to contention in the light-heavyweight division?