UFC 283 really lived up to the hype and it was in large part due to the championship fights that capped off the night. The main event was kind of thrown together at the last second, but it was a fight that I was especially looking forward to. If you've been here awhile, it's not secret that I've been a Jamahal Hill fan (despite picking against him too often). While that took a hit due to his recent comments, I still feel good for the guy. He's been through a lot and has had a long road to this point. Seeing someone realize their potential and achieve their dream will always make me feel good, regardless of their opinions on other things. Unfortunately, that means Glover Teixeira had to lose, which no one wanted to see. Glover had taken on the role of MMA's favorite grandfather and we all knew it was coming eventually, but no one wanted to see him go. I'll get into it more, but I'm glad Glover got to go out on his own terms, even if it wasn't his best night. It was a great fight and an excellent way to cap off a really nice first PPV of 2023. It's been awhile since I did one of these fallouts, but maybe I'll just reserve them for title fights or if there's a random really big fight like Chito vs Sandhagen or Merab vs Yan. It's good to be back.
I think Jamahal proved almost everyone wrong. Not even his biggest supporters could've expected him to look this good. Hill fought as close to flawlessly as he could have. He limited Glover's offensive success to a couple of takedown attempts and some isolated landed strikes. He largely kept the fight at range and used all of his physical advantages. He was the larger, longer, and faster fighter and it showed. He kept Glover on the outside and on the end of a lot of strikes. In particular, Hill's left high kick was really effective and is what brought the fight close to finishing on a couple of occasions. When Glover did get takedowns, Hill did as well as he could've. He stayed safe until he could create and opening to stand up. Glover only really got remotely close to one arm triangle attempt and even then, it wasn't all that close. It's really hard to imagine this fight having gone any better for Hill unless he would have finished, but that says more about Glover's toughness than anything Hill did incorrectly. I don't think anyone was really thinking of Jamahal Hill as a guy who could hold onto the belt for a long time going into the fight, but if that is the caliber of performance he can turn in consistently going forward, I'm not going to put it past him to go on a very nice run as champion. Hill's game plan in this fight wasn't especially complicated, but executing it was easier said than done. He stopped a lot of takedowns and got back up when he did go down. Just because it's not complex, doesn't mean it's easy as we've seen. Every opponent Glover has fought over the last handful of years needed to do the same and largely couldn't. Hill was a guy who a lot of people had serious questions about in a lot of those areas and he answered them as well as he possibly could have. What a fantastic night for him and his family.
The next move for Hill is going to be a very interesting one to monitor. The obvious move would be to match him up with Jiri Prochazka. There still doesn't really seem to be a timeline for his return though. When he was pulled from the fight in December, the rumor was that he would be out for at least a year. Now, Jiri is saying he hopes to return in July or August. If that's actually the case then maybe Hill waits for Jiri. If it is closer to the one year range, Hill can look to jump in with another opponent and earn a paycheck and title defense. There really doesn't seem to be a number one contender lined up for that fight though. Assuming it would come in the May, June, or July range, everyone would be available. Both Magomed Ankalaev and Jan Blachowicz would be back in the fold. After fighting to a draw, it's really impossible to say which the UFC would prefer to give the opportunity to. Aleksandar Rakic would probably be in line to return from injury at that point. However, he has been out for awhile because of that injury and is coming off of a loss. Anthony Smith is an option, but he's also coming off an injury and a loss. He also just missed weight as the backup fighter. There's obviously a bunch of ways to go and I don't think one is necessarily any better than the other. In my opinion, Rakic seems like the least likely option. He probably has the least in his favor out of all the options right now. He's been out for awhile now and the UFC isn't likely to throw him into a title fight coming off of an injury and a loss. He also doesn't have the excitement factor or fanbase to force the UFC's hand. Jan Blachowicz has the sparkle of being a former champion and a win against him would give Hill an added degree of legitimacy as a champion himself. I think Blachowicz is probably the most reliable option. He has been a champion before and we know he is generally well liked by the fans at large. He's also a known name and has headlined PPV cards in the past, which isn't nothing. The downside to Jan is that he's already had multiple title shots and he's in his late 30s now. His long term upside is limited and because he lost to Glover, having him regain his title right after Glover retires would be a bit strange. Magomed Ankalaev seems like he may have the UFC brass behind him. We know Glover wanted to fight Jan after Jiri pulled out, but the UFC wanted Ankalaev in the fight. Now, there's no way to know how their stance on him has changed since the draw, but they seemingly viewed him above Jan just a month or so ago. Ank also has age on his side. A win for him could lead to a long title reign, where Jan is more limited in how long he can hold the belt because he's approaching 40 years old. What's working against Ank is that I just don't know how many people are really pounding the table to see him fight. We've seen him in multiple big fights and main events and the fights really haven't been all that great as entertainment products. Dana was clearly unhappy with the Jan fight and I don't think he was thrilled with the Santos fight either. I know there's not too many fans who are super excited to see him on fight cards. Overcoming that is probably his biggest obstacle right now. The final option is Anthony Smith and he probably has the most unique route to getting this fight, so maybe that helps him. He was just booked against Hill until they made the short notice title fight, so he has the story working for him. He's probably the most popular of the options amongst fans as well, so he has the intrigue factor working in his favor as well. The negatives to Smith are that he's coming off of a loss to Ankalaev and an injury. If it were up to me, I think I would go with Jan Blachowicz. He's just the most proven commodity and he's consistently delivered entertaining fights in big spots, outside of when he fought Ankalaev. However, I could see a scenario where they can't differentiate Jan and Ankalaev and Anthony Smith slides in. Rakic is definitely the least likely and it just doesn't feel like Ankalaev is the guy they're super eager to put back in a title fight.
As you all know by now, we don't have to talk about a next fight for Glover Teixeira as he called it a career after coming up short. However, I just want to take a moment to congratulate him on a great career. That wasn't the way he wanted it to end, but it really seemed out of his hands a bit. Jamahal Hill was just on a different level that night. Glover had his moments and even had a couple of times where he could have potentially won it. Glover Teixeira has been around this sport forever and accomplished virtually everything that one can do in this sport. I'm really glad that the loss to Jon Jones wasn't the end for him. That could have been the defining loss of his career, but he bounced back in a huge way. He may end up being more well known for what he did in the second half of his career than for what he did in his athletic prime. He came all the way back from the Jones loss to earn a title shot and then took the belt. He had a fight of the year winning fight post 40 years old. Glover should be proud of what he accomplished and I hope we get to see him around the sport for years to come. He's a tremendous ambassador for MMA and having more people like him around makes the sport better. What an amazing career and I'm glad he got to go out in front of his home fans like that.
What did you guys think of the fight? Who do you want to see Jamahal Hill fight next if Jiri isn't available? Leave any and all thoughts in the comments. Thanks for reading and have a good one.
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