Alex
Pereira believes Jamahal
Hill’s heart could make him a more dangerous opponent than
fighters with more experience or better technique.
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Pereira is scheduled to defend his strap against Hill in the main
event of UFC
300 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturay. The clash
with mark the Brazilian’s fourth
Ultimate Fighting Championship title fight within a year and a
half and just his 12th professional mixed martial arts bout.
However, while Pereira might be relatively new to MMA, he has
amassed plenty of experience in combat sports over a career
spanning more than a decade. According to Glory Kickboxing records,
Pereira had a 25-3 amateur kickboxing career with all of his wins
coming via knockout. “Poatan,” which translates to “Stone Hands,”
made his professional kickboxing debut in 2012 and went on to
finish 21 of his 33 wins via knockout in a 40-fight career. Pereira
also became the first fighter in Glory history to hold two titles
at the same time.
In comparison, Jamahal
Hill’s 13 MMA bouts since 2017 might appear lacking to some.
However, Pereira isn’t taking “Sweet Dreams” lightly, as the
Brazilian believes experience and technique don’t always win
fights. As Pereira has observed in his extensive kickboxing career,
some of his hardest fights were against opponents with grit and
will coupled with relentless cardio — even if they might not have
been the most experienced or technically sound. And from his
observations regarding Hill, Pereira expects a display of heart
from his opponent on Saturday.
“I respect him a lot because even kickboxing [I] fought guys that
were not that experienced but had a lot of heart. A lot of
eager[ness] to fight, so they gave [me] a hard fight. Sometimes it
doesn’t matter if you’re the most technical, most experienced guy,
but if you don’t have enough cardio, you don’t have enough heart.
Jamahal has shown everybody he has a lot of heart in his fights,”
the 36-year-old said in an interview with ESPN.
“[I] study his fights, I saw a lot of that. So, [I] definitely
respect that because sometimes, like I said, sometimes the guy can
be the most technical but don’t have heart, don’t have cardio, he’s
not gonna be as good as the guy that don’t have the same mileage
but put[s] the heart out.”
While Hill made his MMA debut in 2017, he began training MMA in
2010 after turning down an NCAA basketball career. Hill kicked off
his MMA record with five consecutive wins, including one over
future UFC fighter Dequan
Townsend, who was competing in his 27th career outing.
A knockout win over Alexander
Poppeck on
Dana White’s Contender Series in 2019 earned him a UFC contract
where he racked up a 5-1-1 record to speed his way to a title shot.
Hill dethroned Pereira’s teammate and mentor, Glover Texeira, via a
unanimous decision after five rounds of war at UFC
283 in January 2023. However, he had to vacate the belt soon
after due to an Achilles tendon tear suffered while playing a game
of pickup basketball.