Jamahal Hill clarifies Alex Pereira callout after being trolled over friendly video from UFC Performance Institute (2024)

Jamahal Hill has given his side of the story after being seen shaking hands with heated rival Alex Pereira at the UFC Performance Institute.

The former light-heavyweight champion has been aggressively calling for a rematch with Pereira after being stopped in their initial meeting at UFC 300. He feels that a brief misunderstanding after he landed a low blow on the Brazilian led to him being knocked out, and as such he is owed a rematch.

However, when Hill came face-to-face with his rival, he quietly shook his hand in the gym before the pair went about their days. Many fans who saw the footage felt that he should have pressed his rival in person the way he has online.

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Jamahal Hill feels he is owed rematch with Alex Pereira

The crux of Jamahal Hill’s argument for a rematch with Alex Pereira is a low blow that he landed on the light-heavyweight champion seconds before the end of their fight. Referee Herb Dean had called a stop to the action, but Pereira insisted on continuing.

Hill argues that he didn’t hit Pereira low, and that the distraction of being told to stop only to continue on in a split second caused him to shut off for a moment. In that time, the champion’s elite striking and movement allowed him into a perfect angle to land the knockout.

“At this point it’s run it back,” Hill told Inside Fighting after the fight when asked if he sees their relationship as a rivalry. “It’s run it back, I don’t care, those are fan terms to me, I don’t give a f*** about that, I just know that me and him? We got business.”

He has also insisted that he is uninterested in whether or not Pereira still has the belt by the time they get back in the octagon.

Jamahal Hill explains why he didn’t press Alex Pereira in viral clip

Speaking on his YouTube channel after a video of he and Pereira meeting at the UFC Performance Institute, Hill detailed why he didn’t opt to be aggressive to his rival. Due to having his team and family around, he felt it wasn’t necessary to cause a scene, and didn’t want to jeopardise a future fight.

He denied ever claiming that it was “on sight” between the pair, saying: “It’s strictly a professional thing, I made quite a lot of money fighting Alex the first time, I’m going to make quite a bit of money fighting Alex again.

“Why would I risk that for a little scuffle at the PI? Secondly, one of the things I am a fan of the most about Alex and respect is the fatherhood and his sons… His sons were with him at the PI, so I was supposed to approach this man while he’s with his children and create a potentially dangerous situation?

“I love the fact that he takes his sons, his sons are there, they get to experience this and they’re into it. At the fighter hotel when Anthony Smith was working out doing his weight cut, they had the same room, his sons came in with Glover [Texeira] and I was doing the same work as them.

“They were hitting mitts, throwing punches trying to look like their dad, all those things, I respect the hell out of that and I love to see that. I would never put him in a position where he would feel he would have to cut experiences like that because of fear of there being a dangerous situation.

“Even them feeling uncomfortable or anything like that? I would never do that, that is not the type of man I am. That’s not what I stand for at all, whatsoever.”

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