Jamahal Hill says viral Alex Pereira UFC PI clash was staged
Jamahal Hill says the heated confrontation with Alex Pereira at the UFC Performance Institute in December 2024 was staged to manufacture interest in a fight between the two.
Hill told Home of Fight that he and Pereira orchestrated the viral moment, which showed the pair nearly coming to blows before being separated by gym staff. "We planned that," Hill said, per MMA Mania. "That was for us to try to hype up a fight between the two of us."
Hill's motivation to jump the line ahead of Ankalaev
The former heavyweight/" class="internal-link text-bone underline decoration-ash/30 hover:decoration-gold underline-offset-2">light heavyweight champion admitted he wanted to leapfrog Magomed Ankalaev in the title picture before Pereira eventually defended against the Dagestani contender. "Before, for Magomed, I was trying to jump the line over Magomed because I didn't want Ankalaev to fight him because I knew, I called it," Hill said, according to the report.
Hill insisted there is no genuine animosity between him and Pereira, despite the footage of their near-scrap at the PI. "We're cool, bro," he said. "We don't have any — there's never been any beef. There's never been like any animosity." Hill added that he speaks to Pereira's family regularly and maintains a cordial relationship with the Brazilian's team, including coach Glover Teixeira.
Pereira and Hill headlined UFC 300 in April 2025 after two months of public sparring that followed the gym incident. Pereira had previously stalled his fight with Ankalaev, citing a lack of respect from the challenger. Whether the Hill feud served partly to delay that matchup remains unclear, but Ankalaev eventually received his shot and won the belt from Pereira at UFC 327 in February.
Photo: MMAnytt / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0
Original reporting:
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