RALEIGH, N.C. – The rate at which Angela Hill has been accepting short-notice fights recently is starting to prove her nickname of “Overkill.”
But there’s a reason why Hill (10-7 MMA, 5-7 UFC) is doing everything she can to stay active. It’s clear the former Invicta FC strawweight champion, who began the first of her two UFC stints when she had only one professional fight, is just now coming into her own in the octagon, and she wants to take advantage of every opportunity to improve and grow.
So when Hill, who fights out of San Diego’s Alliance MMA, was given the call and asked to replace Brianna Van Buren against Hannah Cifers (10-3 MMA, 2-1 UFC) on Saturday at UFC on ESPN+ 24, she didn’t hesitate.
The bout marks the third time since April that Hill has accepted a replacement fight offer.
“I feel like it’s the only way I get fights nowadays,” Hill joked to MMA Junkie on Wednesday. “But I’m not mad at it. I’m not mad it at for sure, you now? I train all year round, I’ve never been the type of person to just disappear from the gym, I’m always there learning and stuff, so yeah, I’m glad they finally came through. It’s been about, I think before I got the call, about three months since my last fight? So I was already itching to get back in there.”
In addition to being her third straight short-notice bout, this is also Hill’s fourth fight overall in less than a year. She’s 2-1 in that span and sees this fight as her opportunity to begin making statements in the division.
“For someone like me, you know, I started in the UFC with only one fight took, and it took me a while to gain popularity,” Hill said. “Just because I didn’t come in with any hype train, and then I had a few setbacks early on in my career. So I felt like people are finally getting on board, people are finally recognizing my potential and how good I am, and how hard I train and how hard I fight.”
In her last fight, Hill scored the first finish of her UFC career, a third-round TKO of Ariane Carnelossi at UFC Mexico City. Hill says getting that finish earned her some long-overdue props, something she hopes to build on Saturday.
“It was really great for my popularity,” Hill said. “I felt like, just because it was, some people would say it was an early stoppage, I didn’t get as much recognition as I would have if I had gotten a clean KO, or if I like had her skull hanging out of her face. That’s what I wanted to do, but they stopped me. But this time I’m going to try to do the same thing: go for blood, try to get the finish, push my cardio.”
UFC on ESPN+ 24 takes place Saturday at PNC Arena in Raleigh, N.C. The card streams on ESPN+.
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