Jamahal Hill planning time off after UFC Baku loss: ‘I haven’t been on my level’

Jamahal Hill is going back to the drawing board.

The former light heavyweight champion suffered his third straight loss at UFC Baku, prolonging a career-worst slump dating back to April 2024. Hill headlined the event in Azerbaijan opposite Khalil Rountree and lost a spiritless decision to his fellow contender.

On his YouTube channel, Hill addressed the loss, admitting he hasn’t been at his best and that changes need to be made to return to his former glory.

“I know there was a lot made and said of the things before the fight, me saying the comments of Khalil’s not on my level and said the same my last few fights, but to be honest, I haven’t been on my level,” Hill said. “I haven’t been on my level now for quite some time. I think that people severely underestimate the injuries that I’ve dealt with and the things and the challenges that I’ve had to overcome with that.

“An Achilles tear to an athlete is a career-ender, is a career-ender in a lot of cases to many, many people. Then you compile that with the injuries that I’ve also dealt with. The tears to the knees from trying to come back and force my way back in the timing that I did. I’ve gone against a lot of advice that I was given by my team and people close to me in taking my time, building back on my injuries, and those things, and I feel that’s something that I’m not going to be able to escape and sort of say.”

Hill, 34, captured a vacant UFC light heavyweight title at UFC 283 with a strong bell-to-bell performance against Glover Teixeira. He had to forfeit the title six months later after rupturing his Achilles during a game of pickup basketball. In his comeback fight at UFC 300, Hill was knocked out by champion Alex Pereira, and is yet to return to the win column.

Though Hill gave no timetable for when he expects to book his next fight, he indicated he plans to take some time off to properly heal his injuries and make changes to his training.

“For now, I’m going to take the time that I need to make sure that I can focus on my injuries, give them the time that they need to get them back to strength and back to feeling like me again,” Hill said. “I haven’t felt like myself in quite some time now. I haven’t been able to do the things I like. I haven’t run since the injury, just a feeling of maybe I can’t, things like that, just the strength not being there to my legs. That’s something that has to change. I have to change the amount of work that I’m willing to do, the amount of push that I give in my preparation. I’m fighting the best in the world right now and I’m at a championship level and I must live like a champion.”

“I’m going to take time out, take a little bit of time to get back to where I know I can be and get back to that exciting fighter and that dominant champion that I know that I am,” he added.”

When the scorecards were read at the end of his fight with Rountree, Hill looked somewhat surprised, though he explained he was mostly bothered by a pair of 50-45 scores that he doesn’t feel reflected how competitive the bout was. He also appeared to have words with Rountree after regarding the lack of action in the fight, though the two appeared to settle that disagreement without further incident.

Evaluating the contest, Hill wants to make sure Rountree gets the credit for his performance.

“Congratulations to Khalil Rountree getting the victory, entering the top 5,” Hill said. “He’s been hungry. He’s been working his ass off. He wanted to knock on the door for another title shot and now he’s going to be able to do that with this victory. He had a game plan to attack my legs. He stuck to his game plan, didn’t move outside of the game plan.

“Fight was a little more boring than I would have liked. I expected a little bit more of an engage and him to actually come after me we were going to get after it and put more of a fight, a show, a performance together, but the onus is on me to go in and make fighters fight the fight that I want them to fight. That didn’t happen in this one.”