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The opportunity of a lifetime fell into the lap of Jamahal Hill in the immediate aftermath of UFC 282. The vacant UFC light heavyweight championship was supposed to go home with Jan Blachowciz or Magomed Ankalaev on Saturday, but a split draw cleared the way for Hill’s first pay-per-view main event and title fight.
UFC President Dana White condemned the performances of Blachowicz and Ankalaev at UFC 282, describing the fight as “terrible.” White’s lack of enthusiasm for Saturday’s headliner motivated him and UFC matchmakers to pivot to a new title fight just one month later. Glover Teixeira vs. Hill will now headline UFC 283 in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday, Jan. 21. Hill, who was already scheduled to fight Anthony Smith in a Fight Night main event on March 11, was offered the Teixeira fight before Saturday’s headliners had even left the cage.
“The fight ended in a draw, which shocked and surprised me. I thought Magomed won the fight,” Hill told CBS Sports. “I was thinking, ‘Oh, shit. What are they going to do now?’ I like to be funny so I sent out some tweets, ‘Me and Smith for the title. Shit! I’m still ranked number seven!’ Things like that. Literally, before they even left the cage, my phone rang. It was my manager and he let me know that they wanted me vs. Glover for the belt in Rio. I said, ‘Yes.’
“Right away, initially, I was thinking six weeks is close. We need to get right back to business. I sustained an injury in my last fight so I’ve been taking care of that. I just started working my way back into the gym and things like that. We would have liked a little more time but it is what it is. Six weeks is a lot of time.”
Check out the full interview with Jamahal Hill below.
The UFC light heavyweight division has been in a constant state of flux over the last 18 days. Prochazka vacated his title, Teixeira was removed from the card, Blachowicz vs. Ankalaev graduated to the main event, the fight ended in a split draw and a new main event was booked for UFC 283 between Teixeira and Hill, leaving Smith without an opponent.
Teixeira previously stated that UFC offered him the Ankalaev fight at UFC 282; however, he declined to fight Ankalaev on such short notice and requested to have the bout moved to UFC 283. Hill revealed on Monday that UFC called him to fight either Blachowciz or Ankalaev in the co-main event, which he too declined.
“They called and offered me [a fight] and I said the same thing,” Hill said. “They called and offered me a number one contender’s fight against either Jan Blachowicz or Magomed. They said they didn’t know which one it would be for sure. I thought one of them was hurt. They didn’t say it was Jiri.
“It was two weeks out. The weight cut and where I was at, it wasn’t going to work. The way I look at it is that oddly enough I was right… My fight against Smith was a number one contender’s fight, especially with Jiri out. Who was going to stand in the way?”
The booking of Teixeira vs. Hill bumps a historic fourth fight between UFC flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo and interim flyweight champion Brandon Moreno to the co-main event.