Momentum can be a fickle mistress in the
Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight division—a
reality to which
Jamahal
Hill has already been introduced.
Now two outings removed from a disastrous encounter with
Paul Craig,
“Sweet Dreams” will put a modest two-fight winning streak on the
line against
Thiago
Santos in the
UFC on ESPN 40 headliner this Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las
Vegas. Hill last competed at UFC Fight Night 201, where he punched
out
Johnny
Walker a little less than three minutes into their Feb. 19
pairing. Santos, meanwhile, has lost four of his past five bouts.
He last appeared on March 12, when he dropped a unanimous decision
to
Magomed
Ankalaev at UFC Fight Night 203.
As Hill and Santos inch ever closer to their upcoming battle at 205
pounds, a look at some of the numbers that have accompanied them to
this point:
38: Years of age for Santos, who was born on Jan. 7, 1984 in Rio de
Janeiro.
15: Santos wins by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for
68% of his career total (22). His list of UFC victims:
Jan
Blachowicz,
Jimi Manuwa,
Eryk
Anders,
Anthony
Smith,
Jack
Hermansson,
Gerald
Meerschaert,
Jack
Marshman,
Nate
Marquardt,
Steve Bosse,
Andy
Enz and
Ronny
Markes. Santos owns one other win by submission (5%)—he put
away
Eneas Souza
with a rear-naked choke under the Watch Out Combat Show flag in
2011—and six more by decision (27%).
14: Knockdowns landed by Santos as a member of the UFC roster,
tying
Mauricio Rua
and
Edson
Barboza for most on the promotion’s active list. They rank
ahead of
Dustin
Poirier (13) and
Conor
McGregor (13).
Donald
Cerrone set the all-time record with 20.
13: Consecutive calendar years in which Santos has fought at least
once. In addition to his 0-1 mark in 2022, he went 1-0 in 2010, 5-0
in 2011, 2-1 in 2012, 0-1 in 2013, 1-1 in 2014, 3-0 in 2015, 1-2 in
2016, 3-0 in 2017, 4-1 in 2018, 1-1 in 2019, 0-1 in 2020 and 1-1 in
2021.
225: Combined victories between the 10 opponents—Ankalaev,
Aleksandar
Rakic,
Glover
Teixeira,
Jon Jones,
David
Branch,
Eric
Spicely,
Gegard
Mousasi,
Uriah Hall,
Cezar
Ferreira and
Vicente
Luque—who have defeated Santos. They carry a .768 cumulative
winning percentage (225-65-3).
31: Years of age for Hill, who was born in Chicago on May 19,
1991.
6: Hill victories by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for
60% of his career total (10). His list of UFC victims: Walker,
Jimmy
Crute and
Ovince St.
Preux. Hill holds four other victories by decision (40%).
48: Seconds needed for Hill to bury Crute with punches in the first
round of their Dec. 4, 2021 encounter at UFC on ESPN 31. It remains
his fastest finish to date.
4: Organizations for which Hill has plied his mixed martial arts
trade. He has gone 4-1 with one no contest in the UFC, 4-0 in
KnockOut Promotions, 1-0 in Lights Out Championship and 1-0 in
Dana White’s Contender Series.
.699: Cumulative winning percentage between the four
opponents—Walker, Crute, St. Preux and
Darko
Stosic—Hill has beaten since he joined the UFC roster in 2020.
They sport a combined record of 72-31.