In their final UFC 300 faceoff, Alex Pereira and Jamahal Hill locked eyes and traded predictions of their opponent’s downfall on Saturday night.
Hill, facing boos from the crowd, shrugged off his reception in Las Vegas and talked about his comeback from a potentially career-ending Achilles’ injury.
“This is everything to me,” he told UFC commentator Joe Rogan after his staredown with champ Pereira. “Regardless if you all boo, no matter how you all feel, what I almost lost, what I almost loss, what could have happened to me, what I did lose, it put a fire in me. It definitely put a fire in me.
“Regardless, I’m coming to leave it all in there. I’m just glad to be back.”
Hill grunted and walked away from the microphone, clearly still hyped from the faceoff.
Pereira, meanwhile, promised to make his first light heavyweight title challenger pay for disrespecting him at the press conference for Saturday’s event. Hill dangled a stone head Pereira used to promote himself and smashed it to the ground after an intense faceoff.
That contrasted with a friendly exchange of handshakes and autograph sought by Hill earlier on fight week. Pereira made it clear he was not happy about the turn.
“Well, it’s a great opportunity to be fighting at UFC 300,” Pereira said via translator. “It’s a huge opportunity. I’m very pumped for it. A few days ago, this guy said he respected me, even asked me to sign his shirt, and he did what he did yesterday. But he’s going to have his day tomorrow.”
Pereira and Hill headline UFC 300 on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Pereira defends the belt after capturing the vacant title with a knockout of Jiri Prochazka at UFC 295. Hill hopes to retake the belt he lost when he relinquished the title after his Achilles’ injury, which sidelined him for 15 months after his dominant title win over Glover Teixeira at UFC 283.