December 5 was a busy day for the UFC’s light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira in the fight capital of the world. “Poatan” was in attendance for the 16th annual World MMA Awards where he picked up the Fighter of the Year Award for the four wins that he achieved in the space of one calendar year.
Before the ceremony got underway, a training session of his at the UFC Performance Institute nearly ended in him and his former opponent, Jamahal Hill, coming to blows. A video of the interaction was posted by Full Send MMA, showing Hill walking over to Pereira and his coach, Plinio Cruz.
After the two men start talking, the Brazilian throws a pair of gloves towards Hill, seemingly beckoning him to engage in a rematch of their meeting at UFC 300 in April which Pereira won via a knockout in the first round. With Cruz doing his best to diffuse the situation, the two men never actually touch each other but it was clear from the video that the 205-pound champion wasn’t going to back down.
“Poatan” and “Sweet Dreams” have had a rocky relationship both before and after their main event clash in Las Vegas. The way that Hill acted on fight week clearly bothered the current titleholder as after stopping the former champion, he taunted him with an instantly iconic post-fight celebration.
Hill’s complaints about referee Herb Dean’s calls in that fight have only prolonged the feud between them and with him returning at UFC 311 to face Jiří Procházka in Los Angeles, we may see the two men meet again inside the Octagon in the near future.
Pereira himself posted the video of their exchange on X, adding a four-word caption which when translated from Portuguese to English, comes out as “the atmosphere became tense”.
