Jamahal "Sweet Dreams" Hill won the UFC Light Heavyweight this past weekend and nobody is letting him have a moment in the shade with the belt. Every major MMA journalist, blogger, or analyst has only been talking about who's next, Opinion Octagon included. Fighters are also chomping at the bits to get Jamahal's newly earned title. Middleweight Champion Alex Pereira seems to want to avenge his friend and coach Glover Teixeira as he sent a message out through social media saying "I heard Prochazka is injured. What about knocking me out?" Jamahal even said on Ariel Helwani's show, MMA Hour, "Let me just get this moment." However, as the interview continued Jamahal revealed who and when he wants to fight next.
The Light Heavyweight Champion, Jamahal Hill has barely had a moment to breathe since becoming the champion. With that said, he does have a lot of "options" for his first title defense. I say options in quotes because ultimately Jamahal is not the one who decides who he fights. Yet, on Helwani's show today Jamahal responded to Alex "Poatan" Pereira saying he thinks it's crazy people think Pereira can beat him. However, he did welcome the challenge saying "If he wants to come up and test his luck with that shit he can come get it." The story for this fight is super compelling with Alex being on a quest to avenge Glover and become the double champ. Jamahal, on the other hand, had nothing but respectful things to say about Glover. Especially after Glover told Jamahal to walk out with him to avoid getting stuff thrown at him from the crowd. Hill said he would not have responded well to that.
Jiri Prochazka is another fighter who took to social media to let Jamahal know he is coming for the belt he never lost. We posted a poll on Instagram and Twitter asking you if Jamahal should defend his title against Jiri or Magomed Ankalaev.
Sixty-seven percent of you on both Twitter and Instagram want Magomed Ankalaev to be Jamahal's first title defense. Magomed will definitely be ready to fight earlier than Prochazka, but Jiri actually claims he'll be ready by July or August. Jamahal said he wants to fight in July or August, he hopes that Jiri is his opponent. Jamahal wants to prove the doubters who believe Jiri is still the best Light Heavyweight in the division wrong. Although, if Jiri isn't ready Jamahal has no problem fighting a different opponent. He mentioned Ankalaev, Jan Blachowicz, and Alex Pereira. Hill wants to defend his title against the biggest names possible, he said. Yet, Hill also feels that because of how Ankalev vs Blachowicz ended that they should fight again for the number one contender's spot.
The reason we are so fixated on Magomed being the first title defense for Jamahal is that there is an odd connection between these men. They both only have one professional loss and it is to Paul "The Bearjew" Craig. It is just such a weird connection that we feel a storyline can be built off of that and the promotions would be great. If only the Bearjew could be the special guest referee for the fight, but unfortunately this is real life, not pro wrestling. Yet, we would still love to see this fight come to fruition and then hear what the Bearjew has to say about being the only man to defeat these two men fighting for the Light Heavyweight Championship.
There is also a strange minority of people who believe Anthony "Lionheart" Smith should get the title fight because he was originally supposed to fight Jamahal before the famous draw at UFC 282. Ariel Helwani asked Hill about fighting Lionheart and if it would be weird because Lionheart cornered Jamahal this past weekend. Jamahal said he would fight Anthony, it wouldn't be weird because both guys know that at the end of the day, the title fights are what you work so hard for, but he also said Smith probably needs another win before a title shot. That's really all you need to know. If you are currently lobbying for Anthony Smith to get a title shot coming off a loss to Ankalaev just because he was scheduled to fight the new champion, then you better get your act together and start lobbying for Beneil Dariush to get his deserved title shot against Islam Makhachev just because they were scheduled to fight last February.
Jamahal's next fight is going to be a couple of seasons away. However, he did say today that he would like a definitive answer in April if Jiri is going to be ready to fight this Summer. Expect to hear about Hill's first defense in April or May because he wants to fight someone in July or August whether it's Jiri, or not.
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