November 2, 2009, at 11:30 pm
Anyone else besides me remember Hill? He was the guy from the lightweight season of The Ultimate Fighter who was 6′1. That’s right, he was 6′1, 155 lbs. If that’s not a huge advantage, I don’t know what is.
After suffering a possible career ending leg injury on December 10th, 2008, when he went to check a leg kick from Dale Hartt, he broke his leg. After a long road back, he is getting ready to fight again. MMA Weekly did a nice long piece talking about his recovery, and he says that he wants to be fighting again by January-ish.
If you were wondering about the leg, he said that was the easiest part of getting back in the groove.
“I’m a modest guy, but my friends say I’m a little overconfident,” he said. “For me, realizing the injury, and realizing that someone may grab that leg, it was easy for me to start throwing kicks with it. That way, I could remove doubt in my mind, and the guys I’m sparring with know that ‘he’s not afraid of the leg kick.’
“I don’t just throw it out there willy nilly anymore. I’m looking for a specific spot on your body and I’m really trying to connect, versus, when the injury happened, just reacting.”
When Hill overdoes it – and he still does, according to Kahn – teammates remind him of the value of training hard versus training smart.
“Once I get warm, it’s the same old Corey,” he said.
Hill is itching to get inside the cage again, but he wants to be smart about his return. He knows the high level of UFC fighters and doesn’t want to rush into a situation he’s not prepared for. On the other hand, he and his family have gone almost a whole year on one income (his wife works has a hairdresser).
“Fifty percent of me wants to get back out there because I’m going to be a great fighter, and the other 50 percent is financially,” he said. “We went from two vehicles to one vehicle. But we’re not doing anything that no one else in this economy is doing.”
In a best-case scenario, he hopes to be fighting “January-ish.”
“I want to not just return, I want to return as a better fighter.”
Hill is not Stefan Struve. He has some wrestling skill and freak athleticism. If nothing else, he’s another interesting fighter in a stacked lightweight division.
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