Alex Pereira went into his UFC 300 bout against Jamahal Hill in their UFC 300 main event bout with a broken toe. This staggering revelation came only after the bout was over when the UFC boss Dana White sat for the customary post-fight presser. Hill was knocked out by ‘Poatan’ in the first round with the help of a solid left that connected, at a glance, with Sweet Dreams’s chin, sending him crashing to the canvas, while rolling his eyes.

The current champion pursued the downed former champion with ground-and-pound until the referee stepped in and stopped the bout. Notably, Pereira also took a hit to his groin just before that. When Herb Dean came to intervene, Poatan, under the rush of being amid the fight, dismissed his intervention. And all this, right before he threw his devastating punch. With this coming to light, the UFC CEO’s revelation added another layer of context on how formidable of a fighter Poatan really is!

“I just found out when I went up into the octagon, because I saw him messing with his foot, he broke his toe two weeks before and fought tonight with a broken toe,” White told reporters in the press conference. Later, Poatan also affirmed the same when reporters asked him about roadblocks Pereira faced before going to the bout.

While it was expected that someone would get knocked out on the UFC 300 main event, given both men’s dangerous and dynamic striking abilities, Hill’s underwhelming first-round loss has disappointed many, least of all ‘Sweet Dreams’ himself.

Nevertheless, with the anniversary mega-card in the rearview mirror, the question on everybody’s mind is: what next for Hill and Pereira?

‘Poatan’ calls for HW Brazil clash while Hill’s future uncertain

Alex Pereira’s speedrun in the UFC continues. Not only did the first and former Glory FC two-division concurrent champion manage to win titles in two separate weight classes (albeit not concurrently) in only his seventh fight in the promotion, but he may be on the path to becoming the UFC’s only three-division champion. In his post-fight octagon interview, ‘Poatan’ called for a heavyweight bout in Brazil in a month. It seems the former UFC middleweight and reigning light heavyweight champion wants the heavyweight title next.

However, Jamahal Hill has suffered a significant setback as the first-round defeat means he will have to make his way up the light heavyweight division again for another title shot. His best bet currently seems to be Aleksandar Rakic, who lost to former champion Jiri Prochazka on the same card. While a bout with Prochazka also makes a lot of sense, it is unlikely to be next since both former champions are coming off of losses to Alex Pereira.

And the winner of a possible Prochazka-Pereira bout would logically be expected to fight for the title next given there is no other fighter in the 205-pound division who will have a better claim to a title shot over the winner of their bout. This is why it seems likely that a clash with Rakic is most likely next for ‘Sweet Dreams’. Who do you think should be Jamahal Hill’s next opponent?