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Two years ago, it would’ve been hard to picture Jamahal Hill as a future UFC light heavyweight champion.
Sure, Hill was an intriguing prospect, but he had just lost for the first time in his career to Paul Craig and division was littered with big names.
But then Hill started picking up victories. Impressive ones, at that. He had back-to-back performance of the night winning efforts with first-round knockouts.
That earned him the biggest fight of his career against for UFC No. 1 contender Thiago Santos. Hill also dispatched of Santos, this time via a fourth-round TKO.
And when Jiri Prochazka was forced to vacate the light heavyweight title due to injury, suddenly Hill found himself in a title fight against former champ Glover Teixiera.
Hill won that fight in January via unanimous decision, and suddenly he was the king of the division. But it didn’t last long.
Hill revealed on his YouTube channel that he, like Prochazka, was opting to vacate the belt due to injury.
“I have unfortunately suffered an injury,” Hill said. “I’ve ruptured my Achilles’ [tendon]. It’s just one of those things that happens. It’s a tough injury (and) it’s one that will require surgery and will require time and rehab and things for me to be out for a while. Also with that, I was given an opportunity. I was given a blessing that came at the misfortune of someone else. Jiri Prochazka was the champion, he suffered an injury as these things happen. He gave up the belt and allowed for others to not hold the division. To keep the division moving forward. To keep entertaining (and) to make sure the people had a champion. I’ll do the same.
“Right now, the biggest thing is focusing on my recovery, focusing on getting back to 100 percent. I need to take some time to focus on my health and make sure that I’m 100 percent and I’m the fighter that everybody knows who I am and who I’ve been since I’ve stepped into this. In order to do that, I need to focus on healing and getting ready and rehabbing.”
Hill will reportedly have surgery on the injury. The recovery timeline is typically eight to 12 months. Hopefully it’s not long after that fans see him back in the octagon at his best.