She was bounced in the opening round of the tournament by Esparza, the top seed and eventual winner, but got a chance to compete on the finale card, where she registered a unanimous decision win over Emily Kagan. But losses to Torres and Namajunas followed, and before she’d even had a chance to get her footing inside the Octagon, Hill was released.
Quickly signed by Invicta FC, the Alliance MMA representative earned back-to-back stoppage wins three months apart to secure a title opportunity, then edged out Livinha Souza two months later to claim the strawweight title. She successfully defended the belt six months later, capping a 4-0 year, before getting called back to the Octagon in early 2017.
A steady diet of tough matchups has led to inconsistent results, but after an active year in 2019, Hill is finally back to believing in herself the way she did heading into the TUF house back when she began her mixed martial arts journey in earnest.
“One thing that’s great for me about the route I took is that I’m super-tough, I have a thick skin, and I can handle a loss; it doesn’t break my confidence in myself,” said Hill, who has shared the cage with a pair of former champions, a several Top 15 fixtures during her 12-fight run inside the Octagon. “I’m not necessarily less confident now, I’m just more realistic and I understand the consequences going in there, but that’s the whole mental thing of getting back to remembering why I wanted to do this.
“I had to force myself to get back to this mindset and now I’m starting to see myself the way my coaches see me, the way my husband sees me, the way my fans see me,” she added. “That was my mentality and I think after the Randa fight, I realized, ‘Hey, you doubted yourself way too much in there’ and I had to get back to being that girl from five years ago who made her debut and was ready to beat a bunch of b****** up and I think I’m finally there.”
The next test of that comes on Saturday night, when she ends her longer-than-normal (for her) four-month layoff by stepping in for Brianna Van Buren opposite Cifers, a rugged 27-year-old from Wake Forest, North Carolina.
After dropping her promotional debut to talented prospect Maycee Barber towards the end of 2018, Cifers picked up back-to-back decision wins in 2019, pushing her record to 10-3 overall.
“She looks like she hits hard, but she kind of wings her punches,” said Hill, offering her thoughts on what Cifers brings to the table this weekend and how the fight will play out. “I feel like I have the speed advantage. She’s fought some tough fights, so I don’t think she’s going to quit right away, but I definitely think I can get her there.
“I’m going to put the pressure on her, put the volume on her, use my speed to my advantage and hit her before she hits me.”
And win or lose, Hill will be back in the gym almost immediately, ready to raise her hand the next time a fighter falls out and the UFC needs a replacement, because the only way she can continue getting better at punching people in the face is by continuing to punch the clock.