Jamahal Hill was successful in capturing the UFC light heavyweight championship at UFC 283. He won the belt after defeating MMA veteran Glover Teixeira via a unanimous decision. Hill won the company’s top prize for the first time in his UFC tenure. However, today we will look at the story behind the new light heavyweight champion’s nickname, ‘Sweet Dreams.’

Jamahal Hill made his UFC debut at UFC Fight Night 166 in January 2020. His record in the promotion stands at 12 wins, with only 1 defeat. Hill is the first fighter from Dana White’s Contender Series to win a UFC title. There were many people who doubted his ability to win UFC’s top prize. But he proved everybody wrong with his dominant performance at UFC 283. Post-fight, his opponent, Glover Teixeira, announced his retirement from the sport after an illustrious MMA career.

It was indeed a “sweet dream” for Jamahal Hill to finally get his hands on the gold. But how did he get this nickname? After his recent performance, fans will surely want to know the story behind ‘Sweet Dreams.’

Beyonce inspired the nickname of Jamahal Hill

There is a lot to be said about a fighter’s personality through their nickname. Sometimes, these names are given to them by their family and friends. While sometimes it is inspired by certain events and people in an athlete’s life. Jamahal Hill recently spoke to ESPN where he explained how he arrived at ‘Sweet Dreams.’ “‘Sweet Dreams’ originally came from about 2010.” He added, “I was fighting my first amateur fight, and I didn’t have a nickname. We were sitting, writing down, you know, they have the paperwork.”

Hill mentioned that as soon as the paperwork was done, he was asked for his nickname. He found an unusual inspiration for the nickname. Hill said, “I’m like ‘I don’t have one.’ I’m sitting here trying to think and then this Beyoncé song ‘You can be a sweet dream or a beautiful nightmare’ that came on and one of my teammates was like ‘You should be Sweet Dreams.‘” The newly crowned light heavyweight champ took a liking to that and started using that as his new moniker.

DIVE DEEPER

Jamahal Hill‘s championship victory has not gone unnoticed by other UFC fighters. Former light heavyweight champion Jiří Procházka shared a video on Twitter. He congratulated ‘Sweet Dreams’ and also mentioned that he wants to fight the new light heavyweight champion next.

What are your thoughts? Who should Jamahal Hill fight next? Drop your comments below.

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