UFC 300 finally has its big, highly anticipated headliner bout.

It’s fairly poetic that the UFC’s most cursed division of the past four years — the once “golden” division of light heavyweight — has wound up as the cherry atop the historic UFC 300 sundae. The divisional title will close the show in the spotlight on April 13 in Las Vegas. The rapid rise of championship collector and current titleholder Alex Pereira will continue with his first defense against the champion before him in Jamahal Hill.

Pereira, 36, was rumored as the wild card of all wild-card options for UFC 300 in an absurd fantasy matchup with interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall. Nothing ever appeared to be too serious when it came to the fight actually getting put together, but both men teased it on a few occasions. For several reasons, it’s probably for the best that it didn’t happen. As developments continued, the expected next 205-pound title fight of Pereira vs. Hill came out of the blue for as early of a date as UFC 300.

According to “Sweet Dreams,” things weren’t official until this past weekend.

“I found out ‘for sure for sure’ that it was locked in since I been in this, since I got to the [UFC 298] venue,” Hill told Aaron Bronsteter on Saturday. “We talked about it and I agreed to it yesterday.

“I’m looking forward to the challenge. The challenge of Alex has become huge, you know? He’s done incredible things, two-division champion in the UFC in seven fights, quickest to ever do it. I just wanna get in there and see how I match up with him.”

The light heavyweight title has been a hot potato since vacated by the all-time great champion Jon Jones in February 2020. Since then, the belt has changed hands five times, and only been defended once, which came in Jan Blachowicz’s champion vs. champion title defense against middleweight’s Israel Adesanya in March 2021.

Injuries and decisions have been the primary culprits of the juggling after Jiri Prochazka snatched the strap from Pereira’s mentor Glover Teixeira in June 2022. Hill went on to capture it in a vacant bid opposite Teixeira seven months later before he ruptured his achilles and dropped the crown with the need for a lengthy recovery.

As the first Dana White’s Contender Series alum to win UFC gold, Hill is honored to have accomplished what he has thus far along with being able to add UFC 300 to his list.

“It means a lot, even just being considered for it and them asking me to do it is huge,” Hill said of UFC 300. “It’s putting a lot of trust in my abilities and how I’m able to show up to put me at the helm of a card like that, and I appreciate that.

“Everybody wants to be on UFC 300, but realistically it didn’t really come on my radar and didn’t really happen until like yesterday. I’m not even gonna lie. Like, yesterday. When he called me, and he let me know the situation ... well, basically the situation was they needed a main event. They had some things lined up but they preferred it be me and Alex.

“It was the first option, it’s what they really wanted,” he concluded. “The people definitely wanted it, that’s what they’ve been asking me for months now, all week. Yeah, it made sense.”

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TOP STORIES

Fallout. UFC 298: 7 biggest takeaways from a historic night in Anaheim

BTS. Dana White explains UFC 300 main event, reveals Leon Edwards accepted 3 different opponents

Class. Alexander Volkanovski makes no excuses for UFC 298 knockout loss to Ilia Topuria: ‘That was a clean right hand’

Analysis. Sean O’Malley on Merab Dvalishvili vs. Henry Cejudo: ‘Decent little fight from a couple little dudes’

Next. Ian Machado Garry: Colby Covington doesn’t have choice to fight me

Wild. Ilia Topuria scores brutal knockout over Alexander Volkanovski to win featherweight title in UFC 298 main event

Response. ‘Volk came back wayyy too fast‘: Fighters react to Ilia Topuria’s UFC 298 knockout of Alexander Volkanovski

Reflection. WWE star CM Punk has no regrets on UFC run: ‘I would be kicking myself to this day if I said no’

Legend. Wanderlei Silva announced for 2024 UFC Hall of Fame

Moment. Merab Dvalishvili: Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg distracted him from choke at UFC 298: ‘I got too excited’

$$$. UFC 298 post-fight bonuses: Amanda Lemos vs. Mackenzie Dern wins Fight of the Night

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VIDEO STEW

UFC 298 Post Show.

On To the Next One.

UFC 298 Post-Fight Scrums.

Free fight.

UFC 100.

RIZIN Confessions 143.

PFL vs. Bellator: Fight Camp Confidential.

ONE Highlights from Friday.

Aldana throwback violence.

Personal update from Volk.

Bo’s UFC 300 fight camp.

The KO.

Arnold at work.

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MORNING MUSIC

These guys go great with your toasty, energized morning breakfast.

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SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

Finishes.

Whoops.

Sure does.

Perfect.

Congrats!

Badass.

Gangsters.

Goal achieved.

Going for a ride.

Praise.

Oh.

Juicy.

Heal up, legend.

When in Thailand.

Saga.

Selfie time.

Time flies.

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FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Stephanie Luciano (5-1-1) vs. Julia Polastri (12-3); UFC Vegas 89, March 23

Alex Pereira (9-2) vs. Jamahal Hill (12-1, 1 NC); UFC 300, April 13

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FINAL THOUGHTS

If we’re to go off of how UFC 200 and UFC 300 turned out compared to the roads to each, everything all lined up as perfectly MMA as you’d have thought. If you know what I mean, you know what I mean.

Thanks for reading!

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POLL POSITION

Last Week’s Results:

Friday: 41% of 341 total votes answered “1” when asked, “How many PFL fights will Francis Ngannou have?”

Thursday: 54% of 529 total votes answered “Robert Whittaker and Merab Dvalishvili” when asked, “Who wins this weekend?” Whittaker and Dvalishvili defeated Paulo Costa and Henry Cejudo via unanimous decisions.

Wednesday: 65% of 518 total votes answered “No” when asked, “Does Conor McGregor fight in 2024?”

Tuesday: 72% of 495 total votes answered “Sean Strickland” when asked, “Who would win in a boxing match?”

Monday: 78% of 337 total votes answered “Alexander Volkanovski” when asked, “Who wins this weekend?” Ilia Topuria defeated Volkanovski via second-round knockout (punch) at 3:32.

Today’s exit poll:

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