Alex Pereira Expects Jamahal Hill’s Heart to Make Up for Lack of Experience

Alex Pereira believes Jamahal Hill’s heart could make him a more dangerous opponent than fighters with more experience or better technique.

Pereira is scheduled to defend his strap against Hill in the main event of UFC 300 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturay. The clash with mark the Brazilian’s fourth Ultimate Fighting Championship title fight within a year and a half and just his 12th professional mixed martial arts bout.

However, while Pereira might be relatively new to MMA, he has amassed plenty of experience in combat sports over a career spanning more than a decade. According to Glory Kickboxing records, Pereira had a 25-3 amateur kickboxing career with all of his wins coming via knockout. “Poatan,” which translates to “Stone Hands,” made his professional kickboxing debut in 2012 and went on to finish 21 of his 33 wins via knockout in a 40-fight career. Pereira also became the first fighter in Glory history to hold two titles at the same time.

In comparison, Jamahal Hill’s 13 MMA bouts since 2017 might appear lacking to some. However, Pereira isn’t taking “Sweet Dreams” lightly, as the Brazilian believes experience and technique don’t always win fights. As Pereira has observed in his extensive kickboxing career, some of his hardest fights were against opponents with grit and will coupled with relentless cardio — even if they might not have been the most experienced or technically sound. And from his observations regarding Hill, Pereira expects a display of heart from his opponent on Saturday.

“I respect him a lot because even kickboxing [I] fought guys that were not that experienced but had a lot of heart. A lot of eager[ness] to fight, so they gave [me] a hard fight. Sometimes it doesn’t matter if you’re the most technical, most experienced guy, but if you don’t have enough cardio, you don’t have enough heart. Jamahal has shown everybody he has a lot of heart in his fights," the 36-year-old said in an interview with ESPN.

"[I] study his fights, I saw a lot of that. So, [I] definitely respect that because sometimes, like I said, sometimes the guy can be the most technical but don’t have heart, don’t have cardio, he’s not gonna be as good as the guy that don’t have the same mileage but put[s] the heart out.”

While Hill made his MMA debut in 2017, he began training MMA in 2010 after turning down an NCAA basketball career. Hill kicked off his MMA record with five consecutive wins, including one over future UFC fighter Dequan Townsend, who was competing in his 27th career outing.

A knockout win over Alexander Poppeck on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2019 earned him a UFC contract where he racked up a 5-1-1 record to speed his way to a title shot. Hill dethroned Pereira’s teammate and mentor, Glover Texeira, via a unanimous decision after five rounds of war at UFC 283 in January 2023. However, he had to vacate the belt soon after due to an Achilles tendon tear suffered while playing a game of pickup basketball.