Jamahal Hill spoiled the party as he beat 43-year-old Glover Teixeira in his home country to win the vacant UFC light-heavyweight title.
Hill and Teixeira were fighting for the 205lb belt after no champion was crowned when Jan Blachowicz and Magomed Ankalaev fought to a draw in their vacant light heavy-title clash last month. Former champion Jiri Prochazka opted to vacate his undisputed title in November when he pulled out of a rematch against Teixeira after suffering "the worse shoulder injury in history".
The fight was briefly halted in the opening round, which was largely uneventful, when Hill was accidentally poked in the eye by his rival. The action started to heat up in the second round when Hill landed a series of head kicks that stunned Teixeira, but the Brazilian bit down on his mouthpiece and fired back with some big punches of his own. Teixeira turned the tide by landing his first takedown of the fight and both men were bloodied and bruised heading into the third stanza.
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Hill landed the first knockdown of the fight as he dropped Teixeira with a head kick and the Brazilian was desperately trying to fight off Hill's follow-up shots. Both men were starting to breathe heavy but Teixeira was also troubled by his left eye, which was extremely swollen. Teixeira somehow made it to the end of the third round but he looked defeated on his stool as the cutman tended to his bloodied-up face.
Referee Marc Goddard was taking a close look at Teixeira as the fourth round played out, with Hill continuing to beat up the 43-year-old on the feet. Hill found a home for his head kick again and Texeira was covered in blood as he absorbed a barrage of knees and punches from Hill.
Teixeira somehow landed a takedown in the final round and even had Hill in full mount, but the American did an excellent job of reversing the position to find himself on top of Teixeira. Hill was in tears at the final bell before the decision was read that crowned him the new champion, with the scorecards all reading 50-44 in the American's favour.
"Hard work, dedication, accountability, don't let anybody tell you nothing. Too many people told me it was impossible, that I could only win in one round and I couldn't to go five. I had to fight for everything, I had to fight to just live and have a chance. You can do anything if you're willing to fight for it," Hill said in his post-fight interview.
