The unofficial announcement of a rematch between Jiří Procházka and Glover Teixeira caused a wave of resentment among the fighters at the top of the light heavyweight division (93 kg). The most disappointed is probably Jan Blachowicz, who hoped to fight the Czech champion alone. For a change, Dagestani Magomed Ankalaev feels overlooked. Although riding a 9-game winning streak, his name doesn’t come up as often as he’d like in connection with a title shot. And the revenge is not to the liking of the skyrocketing Jamahal Hill, according to whom it will slow down the events in the division quite a bit.
“We expected it, but what the hell, December? That’s a whole year of fighting the same person,” Hill said in an interview with Sportskeeda. “Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind Glover getting a rematch. I wanted him to get it. But I thought he’d settle it by the fall or something. December the tenth, what? That’s four months from now, and when did they wrestle for the first time? It was in May, right? So they wrestled three months ago and now they need another four months of camp? Come on!”
“When it comes to s***s like that, it’s an instant rematch problem, especially when you’ve only had one defense and you’ve lost it. That’s when they become a problem because what about the rest of the division? Now I’m sitting here on sixth place. So I just have to wait or fight the guys below me. Several times. It’s annoying.”
Although Hill, who jumped to the 6th place in the division after the last victory, does not hide his goals and has been calling for quite some time after the fight with Procházka, it seems that he remains on the ground. “I want to get a chance to fight for the title. I just put my name out there to let them know that I’m ready and I have that ambition. But if I think I’m going to get a chance right now? No. I know where the line is, I see it. That that’s why the December date turns me on.” Realistically, he says, he does not even count on a fight with Blachowicz, whom he also challenged. “I know Magomed has priority with Jan. The winner then gets another chance to fight whoever wins the Procházka-Blachowicz match. So I’ll have to win the next fight first and then… You know what I mean. And when will that be? End of next year? Yeah, that’s annoying.”
Although it might seem that UFC fighters have been chasing the title too much lately, the reason for them is also pragmatic, because with the belt over their shoulder they receive higher rewards and percentages from the sales of pay-per-view broadcasts. So it’s not surprising that Hill would like to take the throne as soon as possible. But of course we believe that King Jiří of Hostěradice will rule the light heavyweight division for a few years now.
