UFC Fight Night 166: Blaydes vs Dos Santos - Predictions and Picks

#5 Jamahal Hill vs. Darko Stosic

Can Jamahal Hill make some noise at 205lbs?

Light-Heavyweight has been somewhat of a wasteland for a few years now; the old PRIDE veterans are nearly all gone, the UFC legends that fought them are practically gone too, and Jon Jones has beaten back any contender who has stepped up. Thankfully, there seems to be a new generation arriving – Dominick Reyes, Aleksandar Rakic, Magomed Ankalaev and so on – and so the future could be bright for 205lbs.

Are either of these two amongst said new generation? Well, Stosic doesn’t appear to be. The Serbian started well in the UFC with a win over Jeremy Kimball, but then put together a pair of poor showings in 2019, losing to both Devin Clark and Kennedy Nzechukwu. The latter bout was simply diabolical; Stosic should’ve won but had two points deducted for ridiculous groin strikes, and both men gassed out horribly, which just doesn’t bode well going forward.

Hill meanwhile appears to hit hard – half of his wins have come by KO or TKO – and looks to be a pretty decent athlete, but at 6-0 it’s a bit hard to really get a feel for how good he is. He does have a couple of decision wins on his ledger – one being a five-round win over fellow UFC fighter Dequan Townsend – and so that at least bodes well for his cardio.

In all honesty, based on Stosic’s previous fight I’m just not enthused about seeing this fight. The best hope is that Hill somehow gets the Serbian out of there quickly, but it’s tricky to tell considering his lack of experience at this level. I’ll take the risk and go with him by KO.

The Pick: Hill via first-round TKO