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“You’re in for a beating here.”

Posted on by angelo

NEWARK, NJ – UFC light heavyweight champion Jamahal Hill warned Alex Pereira that challenging him would be a rude awakening.

Former middleweight champion Pereira (7-2 MMA, 4-1 UFC) has announced his move to light heavyweight and Hill (12-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) welcomes the challenge.

Hill believes Pereira should at least get one win in the division before getting a title shot, but if they do end up fighting, “Sweet Dreams” plans to dominate him.

“If I look at it as fair to everybody else in the division, yeah I would say he has to win a fight to get a title shot,” Hill told MMA Junkie. “But his name has some value, so there’s that factor. I’m not stupid about that playing a role in somebody getting a fight. I don’t care, man. I really don’t care. When you get to that fight, it’s not going to be what you think it’s going to be. It’s a beating that’s coming at you. So when you decide to go for it, that’s the way it goes.”

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However, Hill isn’t even sure Pereira will be able to handle the stylistic clashes in the top five to earn a title shot.

“I personally think he has to win one (at light heavyweight),” Hill said. “I don’t know who he’s going to beat because he’s going to have to beat somebody in the top five. I know a lot of those top five guys are tough. He’s going to have to wrestle them too, and I know that’s not his strong suit. But they can hold their own and wrestle too. So we’ll see. I’m excited. I think it’s an exciting time for the division. I think it’s great for the division.”

Hill won the vacant 205-pound belt with a landslide victory over Glover Teixeira at UFC 283 in January. He hopes Jiri Prochazka (29-3-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) will be back from shoulder surgery in time to compete at UFC 292 on Aug. 19 in Boston.

The story originally appeared on MMA Junkie