Will Jamahal Hill’s Vanity Be His Downfall Against Jiri Prochazka at UFC 311?
Could Jamahal Hill’s never-ending barrage of excuses and constant arguing with fight fans online be his undoing at UFC 311?
On Saturday, ‘Sweet Dreams’ returns to the Octagon for the first time since suffering a brutal first-round knockout against light heavyweight king Alex Pereira at UFC 300. Since the loss, Hill has regularly discussed his disdain for the result, suggesting that referee Herb Dean’s brief stoppage due to an accidental low blow gave ‘Poatan’ an unfair advantage.
Hill even tried to pick a fight with Pereira at the UFC Performance Institute before promptly walking away when ‘Poatan’ tossed him a pair of gloves and offered to go a few rounds.
As a result, ‘Sweet Dreams’ has been relentlessly trolled online and dubbed a sore loser by UFC fans. But instead of ignoring the comments, Hill often chooses to snap back and address his haters on YouTube — a decision that could ultimately cost him against a fighter as dangerous and disciplined as Jiri Prochazka.
Will Jamahal Hill get crushed under the weight of his own excuses?
Discussing Hill’s upcoming return to the Octagon alongside her husband Dan Hardy, UFC flyweight standout Veronica Hardy suggested that the former 205-pound titleholder’s addiction to social media, on top of a slew of other obstacles, could be his undoing this Saturday night inside the Intuit Dome.
“It’s just kind of been injury after injury [for Hill],” Hardy said on the Outlawed Picks Podcast. “He’s kind of put on weight, lost weight and stuff. And Jiri, he’s going to be more consistent in being disciplined and looking for a way to fix things rather than being distracted by everything else [social media] around him…It means you can take things that are bad and make them better without them crushing you so much or spending so much time online trying to respond to other people [suggesting that’s what Hill does].”
Jamahal Hill goes into his 10th promotional appearance with a 6-2 record and one no-contest. Undoubtedly, his biggest victory came against Glover Teixeira at UFC 283 to win the vacant light heavyweight title. Hill vacated the belt months later after suffering a ruptured Achilles during a charity basketball game.
Since then, his only appearance inside the Octagon was against Pereira. He was scheduled to return over the summer against Khalil Rountree Jr. and Carlos Ulberg, but neither of those fights came to fruition.
