The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s 205-pound
throne is once again vacant.
Early Friday morning, UFC light heavyweight champ Jamahal
Hill (12-1, 1 NC) posted a video on YouTube channel
announcing that he had ruptured his Achilles tendon. Due to the
lengthy layoff for surgery and rehabilitation, he has elected to
surrender his belt and not keep the division in limbo. In his
emotional video statement, Hill explained that the UFC informed him
that he would be able to fight for the strap after he completes his
recovery, but the timetable for his return is currently unknown
other than “as soon as possible…within reason.” MMA
Fighting subsequently reported that Hill suffered the injury
during the basketball game between MMA fighters prior to UFC
290.
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“I’m here with some news,” a crestfallen Hill said. “I’mma
be real, right off the bat, it’s not the good news that we would
hope like…everyone knows I’ve been waiting for months now to face
Jiri
Prochazka to defend my belt and my title. Unfortunately, we’re
gonna have to wait a little bit longer for that to happen. I have
unfortunately suffered an injury. I’ve ruptured my Achilles.”
Hill, the first signee from Dana White’s Contender Series to win a UFC
championship, did so by facing off against Glover
Teixeira for the vacant crown. Over the course of five rounds,
Hill beat up Teixeira in Brazil, earned a “Fight of the Night”
check and claimed gold. That victory extended his win streak to
four, as he had previously knocked out Jimmy
Crute, Johnny
Walker and Thiago
Santos in the span of about eight months to take the
short-notice opportunity. The light heavyweight title was vacated
due to an injury suffered by Jiri
Prochazka, and Prochazka decided to give his belt back instead
of forcing the UFC to create an interim championship.
Hill continued, “Yeah…it’s just one of those injuries, one of those
things…it’s just one of those things that happens, it’s a tough
injury. It’s one of those [that will] require surgery, it will
require time and rehab and things for me to be out for a while.
So…I was given an opportunity, I was given a blessing, and that
came at the misfortune of someone else. Jiri
Prochazka was the champion, he suffered an injury, as these
things happen, and…he gave up the belt to allow for others to not
hold the division up. To keep the division moving forward, to keep
entertaining, to make sure the people had a champion. And I’ll do
the same.”
At the end of June in the co-headliner of UFC 291, ex-champ
Jan
Blachowicz and former middleweight kingpin Alex
Pereira will battle it out. The promotion had remarked it could
have been a no. 1 contender matchup, depending on the result. While
it has not yet made a move, it is a possibility for that bout to be
upgraded to a vacant title match. Additionally, Prochazka has been
training again, but his return date has not yet been targeted given
that Hill will no longer be his opponent for the foreseeable
future. It is expected that “Denisa” would be fighting for his old
belt when he competed again.
“Right now, the biggest thing is focusing on my recovery, focusing
on getting back to 100%,” remarked the 32-year-old. “I need to take
some time to focus on my health and make sure that I am 100% and
I’m the fighter that everybody knows who I am and that I’ve been
since I stepped into this. And in order to do that, I need to focus
on healing and getting ready, and rehab.”
“This is not an easy video for me to make,” he expressed, brimming
with emotion. “I like to be transparent, and I like to keep it
real. If I had my choice, would I like to give up the belt? No, I
wouldn’t. Just…you gotta be consistent. I understand it’s the
business, the show must go on, and I’m not exempt from that.”