Pereira, Hill set for eagerly anticipated championship clash

Alex Pereira and Jamahal Hill will headline a stacked UFC 300 card when they meet for a light heavyweight world championship match at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on the morning of Sunday 14 April 2024.

Pereira (9-2) claimed the vacant light heavyweight title in November last year when he defeated former champion Jiri Prochazka with a second round TKO, while Hill (12-1, 1 NC) will be returning to the Octagon for the first time since he won the division’s belt in early 2023 with a unanimous decision win over Glover Teixeira. Hill was then forced to relinquish the championship when he ruptured his Achilles tendon in July.

“This No 1 ranked light heavyweight just don't seem right to me," Hill said. "True champ. [I'm] the true champ. [I] just had to have a steward sit on the throne for a little bit. I wasn't well. I believe there's a policy, right? Whenever the president gets sick or he's dealing with some stuff, vice president takes over for a while. Although he is acting as the president, he is not such.”

The co-main event sees Zhang Weili (24-3) defend her women’s strawweight championship against compatriot Yan Xiaonan (17-3, 1 NC) in the first all-Chinese title fight in UFC history, while the symbolic ‘BMF’ [Baddest Mother F***er] title will be on the line when belt holder Justin Gaethje (25-4) faces Max Holloway (25-7) in a match which has MMA fans salivating.

“If that’s not the definition of a BMF, then I don’t know what is,” Holloway noted. “At the end of the day, somebody who has the BMF belt, there’s only a few that come to mind — and the few that actually live up to it, Justin Gaethje is it.”

He added, “This generation, I’ve been saying it all the way coming up to The Korean Zombie [fight], fighting guys like Korean Zombie, fighting guys like Justin Gaethje, we’re the last of a dying breed.

“We don’t need the s*** talking. The way people are going, the way people are handling themselves on social media, or in the media period, you don’t need none of that. Let your fighting talk for yourself. I understand about trying to hype a fight and sell pay-per-views, but some people are crossing the line lately. It’s just not cool.”

The rest of the main card features a lightweight ‘title eliminator’ between Charles Oliveira and Arman Tsarukyan, as well as a middleweight match pitting Cody Brundage against Bo Nickal.

UFC 300 – MAIN CARD

- Main event: Light heavyweight championship: Alex Pereira v Jamahal Hill

- Co-main:Women’s strawweight championship: Zhang Weili v Yan Xiaonan

- Lightweight: ‘BMF title’: Justin Gaethje v Max Holloway

- Middleweight: Cody Brundage v Bo Nickal

- Lightweight: Charles Oliveira v Arman Tsarukyan