Jamahal Hill on Saturday got back to the kind of performance that got him a UFC contract in the first place.
Nearly a year ago, Hill didn’t impress UFC president Dana White all that much in the first five minutes of his Contender Series fight against Alexander Poppeck. But in the second round, he turned it on big time and won White over to get a UFC contract stemming from his TKO finish.
He made his official UFC debut in January and outworked Darko Stosic for a light heavyweight win. But Saturday at UFC on ESPN 9 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Hill (8-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) was devastating against Klidson Abreu (15-5 MMA, 1-3 UFC) for a first-round TKO win.
Hill knocked Abreu down early, then settled in and kept the pressure on. After his second knockdown, he made sure to finish the deal and put Abreu out less than two minutes into their fight on the prelims.
It was strong enough of a performance that UFC analyst Daniel Cormier told Hill in their post-fight interview that Oscar-winning actress Halle Berry texted White to tell him that Hill was “fire.”
And that’s not a bad night at the office no matter how you cut it when you get the attention of one of the greats in film history. (Seriously: Have you seen “Monster’s Ball”? It’s ridiculously topical right now in America, and also a ridiculously moving Berry performance.)
Check out Hill’s finish below.
