“I Wasn’t KO’d!” Alex Pereira and Jiri Prochazka Warned as Jamahal Hill Has Bizarre Declaration About Last Two Losses

UFC Baku headliner Jamahal Hill makes bizarre claim that Alex Pereira and Jiri Prochazka did not really 'knock' him out of his senses.

“I Wasn’t KO’d!” Alex Pereira and Jiri Prochazka Warned as Jamahal Hill Has Bizarre Declaration About Last Two Losses

Ahead of UFC Baku, Jamahal Hill claims he’s never been properly knocked out (Source: X)

UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones may be a historian of war with longevity, but light heavyweight Jamahal Hill is willing to play statistician about his KO stats. Hill returns for a Fight Night headliner this weekend, at UFC on ABC 8, in Baku. Ahead of the fight night, his rare admission is something Alex Pereira and Jiri Prochazka might take issue with.

Hill sustained an injury during UFC 290 PPV fight week in a basketball game and had to relinquish the light heavyweight title strap. After his return from injury, Jamahal Hill was brutally knocked out by ‘Poatan’ at the UFC 300 PPV main event. He billed that Pereira banked on a rare referee pause to punctuate his first-round TKO victory.

After that, ‘Samurai’ Prochazka defeated Hill via TKO in the third round of their fight on the UFC 311 PPV card. ‘Sweet Dreams’ has given no excuses and has acclimated to that loss better. However, now, as a first main event in Azerbaijan, Hill wants to game his knockout stats.

No, because I wasn’t KO’d, …I think my definition of a knockout is a lot different than your definition of a knockout. I think the actual definition is being knocked unconscious, like having to be woken up. The Pereira fight it was more so just like — honestly that weird a** moment where Herb kind of stopped the fight and then let Alex continue the fight. That was some weird sh*t—The Jiri fight, …he added some things to his game that turned out to be very beneficial for him.

Jamahal Hill to Kevin Iole in UFC Baku pre-fight media interview (@KevinIole)

Well, now there’s lore behind a ‘knockdown’ stat: UFC 300 saw Max Holloway go unscathed because he did not register linearly along the octagon mat. Association of Boxing Commissions (ABC) recently stated that now, one or two limbs on the mat means “Grounded,” thus even putting the 12-6 elbow effect in select states and commissions. 

After Paul Craig’s UFC Atlanta opponent (allegedly) put on a show trying to game the result, and ended in a no-contest, John McCarthy chimed in that rather than knees/arms, even one leg on the ground could be “grounded.” So, overplaying or not, Rodolfo Bellato has reason to consider it an illegal blow.

Now, does Hill have literature on this to support his claims? Absolutely not. It depends on the Azerbaijan Athletic Commission if they absolutely want to see fighters knocked completely out, convulsive, and/or foaming, to decide it as a KO. Barring the clinical extremity, though, Hill does not consider his UFC Baku opponent all that strong to be able to do that!

Jamahal Hill humbly labeled Khalil Rountree as not on his competition level

Former UFC champion Hill dukes it out against Khalil Rountree Jr. in Saturday’s UFC Baku main event. While on a two-fight losing streak, Jamahal Hill now feels healthy and up to his standards and requirements to be able to get back to a vintage performance.

Jamahal Hill downplays UFC Baku opponent
Jamahal Hill downplays UFC Baku opponent (Source: X)

Rountree, a Muay Thai practitioner, was a recent title challenger at UFC 307 and gave the former champ one of his stiffest standup tests to date. Before that, he was on a four-fight winning streak. Jamahal Hill knows that No. 7-ranked Rountree Jr. has proven his striking prowess and swiftness, and that nothing is given in the cage.

However, the ex-champ has had intermediate injuries and a long way to cope back after back-to-back slumps. Hill is now in a better place overall and thinks ‘War Horse’ won’t be that big of a trouble.

Let’s not disrespect him, but I just don’t see him on my level, …He can hit you with some big shots, and he’s never going to stop, and never going to quit and give up. There ain’t no back down from him. … I haven’t seen anything from anything that makes me think, ‘This dude is on your level.’ Is he dangerous to anybody? It’s a fight. In a fight, anybody can land a shot, and that makes them dangerous and can change the fight. He has my respect in that regard, but to think skill-for-skill he can match with me? I don’t see it that.

Jamahal Hill to MMAJunkie

Hill has an overwhelmingly positive perspective on Rountree, and after studying him multiple times before the actual scrapper, he knows what he needs to do to win. Per the DraftKings Sportsbooks, the money line has opened a -110 even for both, with it swinging slightly towards Hill for Saturday.

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