Jamahal Hill sets summer deadline for grudge match UFC title fight with Jiri Prochazka
Newly crowned UFC light-heavyweight champion Jamahal Hill has plans for his first title defense, and he wants the last man to hold the title, former champion Jiri Prochazka.
During an epic Fight of the Year winning affair between Prochazka and former champion Glover Teixeira at UFC 275, Prochazka submitted the Brazilian with a mere 28 seconds left in the fifth and final round to become the UFC light-heavyweight champion.
Prochazka was expected to make his first title defense in an immediate rematch with Teixeira, up until he suffered a gruesome shoulder injury that forced him out of the bout.
Considering, the UFC decided to make a vacant title fight between no. 2 ranked Magomed Ankalaev and no. 3 ranked former champion Jan Blachowicz at that same event, UFC 282, instead.
Once that fight ended in a draw, we were once again left without a champion, so the UFC made another vacant title bout, this one between then no. 7 ranked Jamahal Hill and his opponent that got passed up the month prior, Glover Teixeira, at UFC 283.
Hill put on a performance of a lifetime against Teixeira, winning all five rounds en route to the unanimous decision victory.
Now, Hill is already looking ahead, and he wants to fight the most dangerous man in the division, perhaps in the sport, Jiri Prochazka:
“I’ve wanted to fight Jiri for a long time. I’m willing to wait (un)til July, August, but past that I think it’s (the) next man up.”
This is a respectable timeline. It gives Prochazka time to recover and get himself into a training camp, but if it isn’t enough time, Hill still wants to remain active and defend his title.
Jiri Prochazka is not only a former UFC light-heavyweight champion, but also a former Rizin light-heavyweight champion. What’s more, he never lost either belt in a fight; he defended the Rizin title a single time prior vacating it for a UFC contract, and he was of course forced to vacate his UFC title due to the injury he recently suffered.
Prochazka is 29-3-1 as a professional with 28 finishes, 25 of which come via knockout. He submitted the greatest grappler to ever grace the UFC’s 205 lb division, he’s on a 13-fight win streak, and he’s gone 23-1-1 in his last 25, avenging the only defeat in that time via knockout.
Jamahal Hill on the other hand is just 12-1 (1 NC) with seven knockouts, 13-1 with eight knockouts if you count his no contest, which was overturned due to a failed drug test (marijuana). But, despite his relative inexperience, Hill is incredibly well equipped to keep that title for the foreseeable future.
Does Jamahal Hill end up fighting Jiri Prochazka next?
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