Jamahal Hill claims infamous UFC PI run-in with Alex Pereira was staged
Ex-UFC light heavyweight champion Jamahal Hill has just dropped a bombshell in a recent interview, claiming that his heated confrontation with Alex Pereira at the UFC Performance Institute was faked to generate hype.
Jamahal Hill had a recent sitdown with longtime MMA journalist James Lynch, making an astonishing claim during the pair's conversation. Hill faced Alex Pereira for light heavyweight championship gold back at UFC 300, but before locking horns inside the octagon, the pair nearly came to blows in an encounter at the UFC Performance Institute that Hill now claims was entirely staged.
The Jamahal Hill vs. Alex Pereira beef was fake
When his UFC 300 bout with Alex Pereira was announced, Jamahal Hill did everything in his power to drum up fan interest. He embarked on a trash-talking crusade, belittling Pereira's skill at every turn, and even confronting the latter at the UFC Performance Institute. However, as it turns out, the entire feud was staged to generate hype. That is, at least, what Hill himself claimed in an interview with James Lynch on Home of Fight (6:28):
"Me and him are cool, bro. There's never been any beef. There's never been, like, any animosity. We've never had to be separated or any of those things. There was the video that went viral. That wasn't, but I told you, that wasn't... we planned that. That was for us to try to hype up a fight between the two of us. I was trying to jump the line over Magomed ."
Unfortunately for Hill, he ended up becoming one of 'Poatan's' most iconic conquests at light heavyweight, as Pereira knocked him out within three minutes of round one. The loss sparked what has become a three-fight losing streak for him, with Hill subsequently getting TKO'd by Jiří Procházka in round three at UFC 311, then suffering a lopsided unanimous decision loss to Khalil Rountree Jr. at UFC on ABC 8. Unable to regain the light heavyweight title he once held, Hill is now aiming to move up to the heavyweight division, where he is eyeing the controversial Josh Hokit. He becomes the latest light heavyweight to move up in weight, with ex-205-pounder Johnny Walker also set to face Ante Delija at UFC Fight Night 283.
Meanwhile, Pereira himself just came off a disastrous heavyweight debut after Ciryl Gane TKO'd him in round one of their interim heavyweight title fight at UFC Freedom 250.
