UFC 283: Jamahal Hill brutalizes Glover Teixeira to win vacant light heavyweight title, Teixeira retires
Jamahal Hill puts on a fairly dominant performance over five rounds to beat Glover Teixeira and win the UFC light heavyweight championship in the main event of UFC 283
In just one night, Jamahal Hill went from being ranked outside of the light heavyweight top-five to having UFC gold wrapped around his waist.
Hill defeated Glover Teixeira in the main event of UFC 283 to win the vacant UFC light heavyweight championship. This makes Hill the first alumnus of Dana White’s Contender Series to become a UFC champion.
Teixeira, meanwhile, announced his retirement following the bout.
The two fought in the clinch early, with Hill stopping takedown attempts by Teixeira early with his underhooks and a couple of knees. When the two weren’t in the clinch and trading, Hill was getting off the better shots.
Hill worked Teixeira over with low kicks to start the second round and then troubled Teixeira with a couple of high kicks. Those kicks wobbled Teixeira, and Hill looked to take advantage and fire several combinations. Teixeira, however, answered and backed Hill up and threw a combination of his own that busted Hill open.
Teixeira finally scored a takedown on Hill halfway through the second round and had top position for around a minute before the fight returned to its feet. Teixeira held his own on his feet still, though Hill was definitely up on significant strikes by this point.
UFC 283: Jamahal Hill wins light heavyweight gold, Glover Teixeira retires
Teixeira pressed Hill up against the cage in a takedown attempt to start the third, but Hill was able to reverse it before breaking the clinch. About a minute later, Hill rocked Teixeira with another head kick, causing Teixeira to stumble and fall.
Hill looked for the finish with some strikes from top for about a minute or so before letting Teixeira back to his feet, seemingly a little gassed. Teixeira , busted completely open around both eyes, tried to press forward, but Hill wasn’t slowing down with punches to the head.
Hill focused on body kicks to start the fourth, as Teixeira again tried to push forward and throw jabs to stay in it. Teixeira landed a couple of hard shots, but a couple of late flurries from Hill stumbled Teixeira and nearly brought the fight to an end more than once.
Teixeira made things a bit more interesting by scoring a takedown in the first minute of round five. But Hill got out of Teixeira’s grasp and scored a takedown of his own in the round. Hill then stayed away from Teixeira’s grasp for the last minute or so until the horn, putting a cap on his dominant performance.
All three judges scored the bout for Hill 50-44.