UFC Vegas 119’s Hyder Amil didn’t have an easy go of things last year.
Facing pressures both external and internal (quite literally), Amil (11-2) lost two of his three fights in 2025. But taking a look at the bigger picture, those setbacks are a little more understandable.
During this week’s UFC Vegas 119 media day, Amil explained that “I lost my last fight, but I won something bigger. They found out, I was puking, I was fighting stomach symptoms during the fight, and they found out I had an ulcer, a hole in my stomach with acid while I was fighting, pouring out. And that’s why I was wincing and it was burning. And I puked after, I don’t know if everyone saw.”
Doctors later performed an endoscopy and discovered an infection. “If I were not to get rid of the infection, within a year or two, I would have got stomach cancer,” stated Amil. Now, the featherweight is free of infection. He also now understands why he wasn’t recovering well last year, “because my stomach was compromised.”
“Now I feel so healthy. I know I’m 36, but I get to tell everyone, it’s hard to feel old when this is the best you’ve ever felt. I can’t wait until Saturday.” Also losing his father, his best friend and his dog in 2025 and going through “craziness” last year, Amil phrased it as “I’ve been racing with a broken car for eight months.”
“I’ve cleaned up my life, got it organized, got the infection gone, and I’m looking at this fight as ‘did Hyder Amil learn his lessons from last year?’ But also, I’m looking at this fight as, I’m looking forward to what it’s like to race with a fixed car.”
Amil also touched on the UFC’s White House card last weekend, and Ilia Topuria vs. Justin Gaethje. He sees the fight as showing something about American athletes.
“That just shows one thing about, I feel like Americans, that’s American grit. He [Topuria] was tough, he was hitting the body, but you can hear Gaethje’s like ‘good body shots’ and just wore him out with that grit. I grew up as a wrestler her, one thing is, just out-grit people. And that’s kind of like what I do a lot in my fights.”
“A lot of people compare me and Justin Gaethje to be very similar. So hat’s off to Justin Gaethje,” Hyder Amil added.
Watch the full UFC Vegas 119 media day appearance by Hyder Amil above.
