It's amazing what one can accomplish when a person puts their mind to it and a local man from Wyoming, Michigan, has done it by becoming a UFC Champion.

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Mixed Martial Arts Vs Boxing

Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images
Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images
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After the Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield days of boxing ended many years ago, it seems professional boxing has taken a back seat to mixed martial arts. If you have seen any of the UFC fights, you can see why that mixed martial arts is the new front-runner in fighting sports.

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Bettmann Archive/Getty Images
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Do you remember the old days of knowing who the heavyweight champion of the world was in boxing? Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Joe Frazier, Joe Louis, Mike Tyson, Larry Homes, and I could go on but I think you get it. I couldn't tell you who was the heavyweight boxing champion in the last 20 or more years. I can tell you the names of several MMA champions like  Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture, Royce Gracie, Anderson Silva, and again I could go on.

There is a new champion you are gonna want to remember because he grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and went to high school just down the street in Wyoming.

Jamahal Hill is a Current UFC Champion

Mauro Pimentel/AFP via Getty Images
Mauro Pimentel/AFP via Getty Images
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Jamahal Hill who is now the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Light Heavyweight Champion moved to Grand Rapids at the age of 12. Hill graduated from Rogers High School in Wyoming. Hill is not just a fighter but also a very good basketball player and passed on a basketball career at Davenport Univerisity. In 2017, Hill began competing in professional mixed martial arts.

Chris Unger/DWCS LLC via Getty Images
Chris Unger/DWCS LLC via Getty Images
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Hill did have a rough start to his professional MMA career even though he won his first fight by unanimous decision. In the fight against Klidson Abreu in 2020, Hill won the fight in the first round by technical knockout but he tested positive after the fight for marijuana. The fight wound up getting overturned and Hill got a 6-month suspension and a hefty fine but this may have been the catalyst that got him even more focused and he has been unstoppable except for one fight against Paul Craig after getting his elbow dislocated early in the fight. Hill is currently 12 and 1 with 7 of those wins by knockout.

Buda Mendes/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Buda Mendes/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
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Hill got the call to meet Glover Teixeira on January 21, 2023, to get in the octagon for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship and won the fight by decision. Making Hill the first of Dana White's Contender Series alumni to win a UFC championship.

Mauro Pimentel/AFP via Getty Images
Mauro Pimentel/AFP via Getty Images
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Hill destroyed a very tough Brazilian fighter Teixeira and plans to continue his legacy as a champion, not shying away from anyone who has the courage to face him in the octagon. I look forward to watching many more of his fights and am very glad Dana White and the UFC stuck with him because Hill proved to everyone that he is a UFC Champion.

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