Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Another great night of fisticuffs went down last weekend (Sept. 12, 2020) as UFC Vegas 10 invaded the APEX facility, located in the heart of Las Vegas, Nevada. Plenty of fighters were left licking their wounds, including Khama Worthy, who was knocked out by Ottman Azaitar in just 93 seconds (see it again here). And Andrea Lee, who suffered her third straight defeat after getting outclassed by Roxanne Modafferi.
But which fighter is suffering from the worst post-fight hangover, now a few days removed from the show?
Angela Hill.
Coming into her fight against Michelle Waterson, Hill was making history by being the first African-American woman to headline a UFC event. But “Overkill” wasn’t content with that landmark, she wanted to be the first one to win a headlining bout, too.
Both ladies were in desperate need of wins, as Hill was coming off a close split decision defeat to Claudia Gadelha, while Waterson was on a two-fight skid after back-to-back losses to Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Carla Esparza.
After five rounds of back-and-forth action, Hill and Waterson left fans satisfied by delivering a fairly close and entertaining bout. Once the scores were tallied up, Waterson was awarded the split decision win, leaving Hill with another tough pill to swallow after yet another close loss.
Losing is never easy, but I can only imagine just how tough it is for a combatant to suffer back-to-back split decision losses that really could have gone either way. Because instead of being 2-0, you drop to 0-2, which can be career-changing. While the armchair combatants will be quick to criticize and yell “Well, try finishing the fight next time!” it’s not like Hill didn’t. She was aggressive and pushing the pace, but finishing a long-time veteran hungry for a win herself isn’t as easy as it seems.
Dana White was quick to sing the praises of Hill and Waterson during the post-fight press conference while also taking aim at critics. White was so content that he awarded Hill and Waterson each a $50,000 post-fight bonus for “Fight of the Night.”
Still, “Overkill” was obviously not happy with the end result of the bout.
“It sucks, man. I keep ending up in this position where I put my all into getting the finish and getting the decision and it just doesn’t go my way,“ she said during the press conference (video here). “I definitely felt like I did more damage in the fight,
“I’ve said it every time I’ve had a loss like this where it was a close decision, or I felt like I got robbed: Every time I’ve had a fight like that, a takedown would’ve made a world of difference just because the way MMA is scored,” she continued. “That’s a big thing I need to sit down and work on. I did more damage in that fight.”
As for what’s next for Hill, perhaps a showdown against Felice Herrig is in order. “Lil Bulldog” is currently on a three-fight losing streak and both she and Hill are in desperate need of a victory. And it could lead to another fast-paced and action-packed showdown.
Objections?