‘Ruthless’ – Fans react as Alex Pereira supporters interrupt Jamahal Hill answer with ‘Chama’ chant
Jamahal Hill cupped his ear as fans inside California’s Intuit Dome made their opinions known about the UFC 311 star. Hill takes on Jiri Prochazka this weekend on the main card of UFC 311, and welcomed a host of boos at the event’s pre-fight press conference on Thursday night. Hill vs Prochazka is set to be a blockbuster light heavyweight clashGetty Interestingly, for both Hill and Prochazka, this is the first time both men will step foot inside the octagon since being knocked out by fav-favourite Alex Pereira. Pereira is the current UFC light heavyweight champion and knocked out Hill last April in between two victories via the same method over Prochazka. The Brazilian star is arguably the UFC’s hottest property at the minute, and this was confirmed after Pereira topped the organisation’s list of their top five best-selling fighters in 2024. Hill, 33, was asked his first question at the hostile press conference, but a chorus of yelling and howling interrupted ‘Sweet Dreams’ from making any sort of attempt to answer. “They know who I am,” he said, when asked about the crowd’s initial reaction. “They know exactly who I am.” The Los Angeles crowd then embarked in a series of chanting, uttering the word ‘chama’ over and over again, which is Pereira’s trademark response he often uses when speaking in public. Pereira, who’s first language is Portuguese, has been known to frequently use the word ‘chama’, which translates to ‘let’s go’ or ‘come on’ when being used as slang. MMA fans were quick with their reaction to the response Hill received at UFC 311’s press-conference. One took to X and said: “Jamahal Hill might be the most hated fighter in the UFC now.” Hill seemed to enjoy the fan’s reactionGetty While another simply stated:: “Ruthless.” Others responded in support of the American, as another said: “Pathetic and disrespectful. New MMA fans got no respect.” A fourth added: “Poor hill lol. I really think he’s going to end up sleeping Jiri.” In December, tensions rose between Hill and Pereira when the former approached the latter with trash talk at the UFC Performance Institute. Both men nearly got involved in an unofficial title match after Pereira threw gloves at Hill as if to say he wanted to fight him there and then. Speaking of the meeting at the time, Hill said: “Initially when I went up to him it was smooth. It was like don’t run to heavyweight, we need to run this back. Pereira KO’d Hill at UFC 300GETTY To retain his UFC light heavyweight title “He said something to his translator. His translator said: ‘Oh are you still sleeping. Have you woken up?’ “I’m wide awake now, you can get put to sleep for real. Then it went to a fake ass, yeah come get the gloves and go in the cage. “Which I replied, ‘what the f*** we need gloves for, we are not getting paid right now? I get paid to fight, to put on gloves. We can just throw hands right now.’” Merab Dvalishvili was sat to the right of Hill, supporting the American throughout the chants, while offering him words of advice. Dvalishvili is the UFC bantamweight champion, and his co-main event bout with Umar Nurmagomedov is part of two title fights to take place at UFC 311. In the headline act, Islam Makhachev defends his lightweight belt for the fourth time when he takes on Arman Tsarukyan in a rematch of their 2019 encounter.
Jamahal Hill cupped his ear as fans inside California’s Intuit Dome made their opinions known about the UFC 311 star.
Hill takes on Jiri Prochazka this weekend on the main card of UFC 311, and welcomed a host of boos at the event’s pre-fight press conference on Thursday night.
Interestingly, for both Hill and Prochazka, this is the first time both men will step foot inside the octagon since being knocked out by fav-favourite Alex Pereira.
Pereira is the current UFC light heavyweight champion and knocked out Hill last April in between two victories via the same method over Prochazka.
The Brazilian star is arguably the UFC’s hottest property at the minute, and this was confirmed after Pereira topped the organisation’s list of their top five best-selling fighters in 2024.
Hill, 33, was asked his first question at the hostile press conference, but a chorus of yelling and howling interrupted ‘Sweet Dreams’ from making any sort of attempt to answer.
“They know who I am,” he said, when asked about the crowd’s initial reaction.
“They know exactly who I am.”
The Los Angeles crowd then embarked in a series of chanting, uttering the word ‘chama’ over and over again, which is Pereira’s trademark response he often uses when speaking in public.
Pereira, who’s first language is Portuguese, has been known to frequently use the word ‘chama’, which translates to ‘let’s go’ or ‘come on’ when being used as slang.
MMA fans were quick with their reaction to the response Hill received at UFC 311’s press-conference.
One took to X and said: “Jamahal Hill might be the most hated fighter in the UFC now.”
While another simply stated:: “Ruthless.”
Others responded in support of the American, as another said: “Pathetic and disrespectful. New MMA fans got no respect.”
A fourth added: “Poor hill lol. I really think he’s going to end up sleeping Jiri.”
In December, tensions rose between Hill and Pereira when the former approached the latter with trash talk at the UFC Performance Institute.
Both men nearly got involved in an unofficial title match after Pereira threw gloves at Hill as if to say he wanted to fight him there and then.
Speaking of the meeting at the time, Hill said: “Initially when I went up to him it was smooth. It was like don’t run to heavyweight, we need to run this back.
“He said something to his translator. His translator said: ‘Oh are you still sleeping. Have you woken up?’
“I’m wide awake now, you can get put to sleep for real. Then it went to a fake ass, yeah come get the gloves and go in the cage.
“Which I replied, ‘what the f*** we need gloves for, we are not getting paid right now? I get paid to fight, to put on gloves. We can just throw hands right now.’”
Merab Dvalishvili was sat to the right of Hill, supporting the American throughout the chants, while offering him words of advice.
Dvalishvili is the UFC bantamweight champion, and his co-main event bout with Umar Nurmagomedov is part of two title fights to take place at UFC 311.
In the headline act, Islam Makhachev defends his lightweight belt for the fourth time when he takes on Arman Tsarukyan in a rematch of their 2019 encounter.
