Las Vegas, NV — With UFC Vegas 59 just about a month away, Jamahal Hill is ready to take on “The Sledgehammer.”
That would be Thiago “Marreta” Santos (Merreta being Portuguese for sledgehammer), with the light heavyweight pair headlining the Fight Night card on August 6.
Hill (10-1, 1NC), however, told Cageside Press on Friday at UFC X that when he fights, there’s only one hammer.
“I’m in there, there’s only one hammer, and I’m never the nail. So they can expect dominance,” Hill said, asked about what fans can expect from the fight. “Same thing as always: I’m coming, it’s all action.”
While Santos has seen a number of his recent fights go the distance, “I don’t care what his last few fights looked like. When you’re in there with me, you have no choice but to fight, because I’m in there to fight,” Hill continued. “That’s what we’re paid to do, that’s what I’m out there to do and that’s 100 percent, 1000 percent what I fully intend to do, is take the fight to him and see how he deals with it.”
Hill, who recently turned 31, has found considerable success of late, knocking out his last two opponents. The key to that success, he said, is to remain focused.
“Just the focus. Staying locked in, staying true to myself, and not listening to any noise or outside things, or anything like that. Just focusing on the things I can control, and that’s myself and the things that I do well,” he explained. “Just focus on the basics. And complete confidence in myself and the dominance I know I can bring to this game.”
Having debuted in the UFC in 2020 after a win on Dana White’s Contender Series, Hill is part of a new generation of light heavyweight. One who has seen the division transition from the Jones-Cormier-Gustafsson triumvirate to a more open field.
“It’s amazing. It’s something that happened that I’ve wanted for a long time. I wanted to be in this position, I wanted to get here,” Hill observed. “And now seeing the changing of the guard, the guys that I grew up watching and things like that, and all the new fighters, it’s exciting. We’re taking the game over and we’re showing the things we’ve learned from the older generation. And that’s just what it’s about.”
Watch our full interview with UFC Vegas 59 headliner Jamahal Hill above.
