Consider former UFC light heavyweight champion Jamahal Hill among those unimpressed by Magomed Ankalaev’s latest victory.
After controversially being snubbed of the chance to challenge reigning champion Alex Pereira in Utah earlier this month, Ankalaev returned nine months on from his main event win over Johnny Walker to meet the highly regarded Aleksandar Raki?.
The pair shared the Octagon on the main card of this past weekend’s UFC 308 pay-per-view, with the Russian getting the nod on the scorecards to extend his undefeated streak to 13 straight fights in Abu Dhabi.
During a video recently uploaded to his YouTube channel, Hill reacted to the events that unfolded inside the Etihad Arena on Saturday night, unsurprisingly paying close attention to the crucial contest that played out in his division.
The former champ had criticisms for both contenders, noting a “lack of weapons” on the part of Ankalaev and poor “fight IQ” from Raki? across the three-round contest in the Middle East.
“Magomed Ankalaev vs. Aleksandar Raki?, holy sh*t, what a pretty boring fight,” Hill said. “Pretty boring, fellas. I’m going to be real. I’m always going to be real whenever it comes to talking about fights, and this fight was boring. It showed a lack of weapons — I’m not going to say on Raki?’s side, because Raki? kind of got into his bag a little bit and showed some of the weapons he has. It showed a lack of weapons on Magomed’s end.
“I’ll get into that. it seems like we’re probably going to be on a collision course,” Hill continued. “Raki? showed a lack of fight IQ. Magomed is wholeheartedly a counter fighter. That’s what I mean by lack of tools. Lack of tools is being able to come forward and enter, things that actually get you forward. That’s not something that he’s good at doing, which, against Alex (Pereira) and I, is going to be a problem.”
Those comments come as little surprise given Hill’s immediate reaction on social media, which marked a repeat of his cageside response to Pereira’s successful title defense in Salt Lake City earlier this month.
— Jamahal Hill (@JamahalH) October 26, 2024
But despite his less than positive assessment of the latest win on Ankalaev’s unbeaten run, Hill did admit that the Dagestani is deserving of a long-awaited second title shot in the UFC. And Dana White appeared to reluctantly share the same sentiment during his post-fight press conference.
“Sweet Dreams,” meanwhile, will be looking ahead to his chance to return to winning ways in pursuit of a shot against the Pereira vs. Ankalaev victor.
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