LAS VEGAS – Despite fighting someone in the top 10, Angela Hill won’t bank on entering the UFC official rankings if victorious in her return.
The UFC strawweight veteran and former Invicta FC champion has lost faith in the UFC’s official system to rank the top 15 fighters in each respective weight class. Hill (15-12 MMA, 10-12 UFC), who fights Mackenzie Dern in Saturday’s main event of UFC Fight Night 224 at the UFC Apex, is keeping her expectations low when it comes to potentially getting ranked in the promotion.
“The rankings are bullsh*t,” Hill told reporters at Wednesday’s media day. “The rankings have always disrespected me. Every time one of you guys say, ‘Oh, you’re going to be in the rankings. Oh, you’re going to be in the top 10. Oh, you’re going to be in the top 15 after this fight.’ It doesn’t happen.
“If anything, if I fight someone who has a number by their name, they don’t have a number by their name after I beat them. So I’m not expecting much from the rankings.”
Hill enters Saturday’s UFC event on a two-fight winning streak, having beaten Lupita Godinez and Emily Ducote in unanimous decisions in 2022. She now faces easily the most decorated female grappler on the UFC roster with Dern (12-3 MMA, 7-3 UFC) and she’s very much looking foward to the challenge.
“There’s a lot I can do with the way she comes forward, with the way she doesn’t care about her chin being thrown in the air,” Hill explained. “There’s a lot of areas I feel I can capitalize on, and I don’t feel she has as many opportunities to capitalize on my mistakes.
I’ve just been working really hard at fixing them, and I don’t feel like she’s been fixing hers. She’s just been trying to do more jiu-jitsu. So if anything, fight IQ wise and my experience in there and being put up against tough grapplers my entire career has prepared me for this.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 224.
