UFC light heavyweight champion Jamahal Hill wants no fight more than the former champ Jiri Prochazka. Prochazka has targeted a bout with Hill as his comeback fight when he recovers from the shoulder injury that forced him to vacate the title, and Jamahal “Sweet Dreams” Hill told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour that he enormously looks forward to facing a fellow young, powerful striker.
Of Prochazka, he said: “That is the fight that I want. There is no fight I want more than that fight. I know that’s a big fight, and I know that fight can catapult me into the right type of [financial] figures I want to be in.”
Jamahal Hill on Prochazka Fight: “There Is No Fight I Want More”
Of course, complicating matters is Prochazka’s damaged shoulder. Prochazka expects to return to action in the summer, a timeline that suits Hill just fine – if it comes true.
“I’ll wait. I’ll wait, I’ll let him go through his rehab and things over these next couple months. But around maybe like April, I want an answer. I want to know an answer: Are you going to be back? Are you going be back around this time?
If not, they need to start making preparations to have me fight somebody else.” If it was anyone else, says Hill, they’d have to do a lot to earn the chance to relieve him of the UFC belt.
“Somebody else is going to have to earn it. Somebody else is going to have to earn it at this point. I’d love to see [Anthony Smith] fight for a title, whether that’s against me or whatever. I believe he’s been around long enough, he had his shot, he’s grinded and he deserves another shot. And he had an unfortunate injury, but it still happened and things like that, so I believe from the UFC side, they would want more, another victory, another solid victory or something for him. But for me, it’s next man up.
Outside of Jiri, I don’t think there is [a clear-cut next title contender], just because of how the Magomed and Blachowicz fight ended.
There’s not really anybody to match either one of them up with, so maybe they fight again. That could be a possibility. But Magomed didn’t really help himself with hopping on the microphone and saying the things he said after, which, the UFC don’t control the judges.”
Is Prochazka vs Hill the fight to make? Let us know in the comments.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8m8n8UvBXwQ
