"Should have been a little more worried" - Ben Askren discusses how Jamahal Hill was "too confident" against Alex Pereira at UFC 300
Alex Pereira closed the show early at UFC 300 as he knocked out Jamahal Hill in the opening round with a thunderous left hook. Now in hindsight, MMA legend Ben Askren believes 'Sweet Dreams' should have been more wary of the Brazilian's nuclear power going into the fight.
In the lead-up to the fight, Hill was very vocal about his intention to beat Pereira at his own game, striking. In a recent interview with Daniel Cormier, 'Funky opined that standing up with 'Poatan' was perhaps a bit too overconfident of Hill.
As Askren sees it, the former light heavyweight champion should have been more respectful of his opponent's power, seeing as 'Poatan' had already broken Francis Ngannou's punching power figures on the PowerKube before their fight:
"I thought Jamahal Hill was a little too confident, you know, saying he was going to stand with him. I think science should study Pereira, because how does this man hit that hard. You saw the clip all week, where he is hitting the punching device that Ngannou hit and he breaks his record by 30 percent or something."
Askren added:
"When he hits people they fall down and that's what Hill should have been a little bit more worried about. I fee like he was too confident. I feel like he disregarded how hard Pereira hits."
Catch Ben Askren's comments on Hill vs. Pereira below (4:45):
With the win at UFC 300, 'Poatan' has marked his first successful title defense in the UFC. Following the bout, the light heavyweight champion tested his plans to move up to heavyweight.
Jamahal Hill vows to "come right back" following loss to Alex Pereira
Suffering a crushing first-round knockout loss to Alex Pereira hasn't broken Jamahal Hill's fighting spirit. In an Instagram post following the loss, 'Sweet Dreams' congratulated 'Poatan' for the win while also vowing to make a comeback himself:
"Oh well, it's a game of play, got caught. For anybody that cares, I'm good, I'm well. We are still doing our thing... Heck man, we just build and come right back."
Catch Jamahal Hill's comments below:
The statement video, however doesn't seem to have hit it big with MMA fans, as many flooded the Michigan native's comments section. They called him out for his pre-fight prediction of knocking Pereira out standing up.
