Earlier this week, with UFC Vegas 48 approaching, Jamahal Hill suddenly found himself thrust into the main event.
Thanks to Rafael dos Anjos vs. Rafael Fiziev being pushed back to UFC 272, Hill’s fight against Johnny Walker had been promoted to the main event. His first main event in the UFC.
During the card’s media day this week, Hill (9-1, 1NC) said he was feeling good, “locked in,” and “just taking it in, taking in the whole fight week and the experience and everything that just happened.”
Helping him through the process is his son, attending his first Fight Week alongside his dad. “I have travel anxiety, like whenever any time a fight comes up, any time I have to leave, it’s kind of, anxiety, so him being here helps,” Hill revealed. And it’s hard to imagine anything ratcheting up the anxiety like an impromptu main event.
That said, Hill is trying to take it in stride. “It’s a bigger spot, it’s the main event spot, so you’re expected to deliver,” he noted. “But other than that, I always deliver I feel like, so I don’t feel any different, I’m just approaching it like always.”
Hill also took time Wednesday to address the doubters that emerged after he suffered his first career defeat last year, against Paul Craig. Hill got back in the win column in his next bout, against Jimmy Crute, but feels that few were expecting to see him bounce back.
“Hell yeah. Hell yeah. There was no question, it wasn’t no thing, there was doubt, absolutely nobody had me winning my next fight,” Hill exclaimed. “Everybody was against me, they couldn’t see me doing anything. Even now, people still, like, it’s crazy. It’s a weird thing, how people view fighters and their skills and what their capabilities are. It’s like, you could see a basketball player shoot 0 for 10, if Steph Curry shot 0 for 10 from three point, you wouldn’t be like ‘oh he shouldn’t shoot.’ Whenever he shoots, ‘he shouldn’t shoot!’ Just because you slip up and you have a bad performance in certain areas, don’t mean you can’t do things.”
Watch the full UFC Vegas 48 media day scrum with Jamahal Hill above. The event takes place this Saturday, February 19, 2022 at the Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada.
