Jamahal Hill really left no stone unturned in his preparation for Alex Pereira at UFC 300.
As he gets ready to fight for the first time in over a year following a torn Achilles injury that prematurely ended his light heavyweight title reign, Hill put in all the necessary work to ensure he was ready to clash with one of the most devastating knockout artists to ever join the UFC roster. In only seven fights with the promotion, Pereira has claimed titles in two different divisions with fights against four former champions including his stunning finish over Israel Adesanya to win middleweight gold back in 2022.
Adesanya got his revenge with a knockout of his own over Pereira six months later, which stands as the only loss on the Brazilian’s UFC resume. So it makes sense that Hill reached out to Adesanya for advice about his upcoming fight against Pereira, which caps off arguably the biggest UFC card of all time.
“[Israel Adesanya was] just giving me some advice and insights on what he’s seen and his experience of being in there fighting Alex,” Hill revealed during the UFC Vegas 90 post-fight show. “Just basically essentially those things and how to approach and things like that.”
Beyond the advice he received from Adesanya, Hill seemingly kept everything else in his training camp the same as usual. Currently riding a four-fight win streak including a lopsided victory over Pereira’s mentor and coach Glover Teixeira at UFC 283, Hill maintained the “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” philosophy.
“Still the same as usual,” Hill said. “You end the camp, stay loose, get the weight down. Make weight and go and do your thing.
“Training’s been great. I’m always growing, I’m always learning new things, always adding new things. Always trying new things out. It’s been going great. Martial arts is just one of those journeys, you’ve got to enjoy the process and that’s what I’m doing.”
As far as headlining the historic UFC 300 card, Hill promises that he’s not adding any extra pressure on himself.
If anything, he’s embracing the moment to not only get his belt back but taking the opportunity to raise his profile even higher while performing on one of the biggest events in UFC history.
“One hundred percent it’s exciting,” Hill said. “The best way I can describe it, it’s like in basketball, it’s like whenever you show up to the All-Star game. All-Star weekend, everybody wants to show their skills, want to make their name, want to get off like that. This is what this opportunity is.
“There’s a lot of big names on this card. A lot of guys with reputations that bring it. That bring an exciting fight so if you want your names to be among those and with that, it’s your chance to come with it and bring it.”
