Angela “Overkill” Hill makes her Invicta debut this Saturday against Alida Gray. The former Ultimate Fighter contestant went 1-2 in the UFC, losing to Tecia Torres and Rose Namajunas. Given that both these fighters are in the thick of title contention in the UFC’s strawweight division, Hill feels her release from the world’s biggest MMA promotion was premature.
“I definitely feel like I deserve to be in the UFC,” Hill told Bloody Elbow. “There’s a lot of people who are in there, a lot of strawweights who are in there, I mean even guys who are in there, who performed way worse than me against lesser competition and they’re still fighting for the UFC.”
Losing to two of the best strawweights on the planet was a humbling experience for Hill. “This time last year I was a lot more optimistic about being ready to compete at the top level,” she said. “Now I’m like, ok, I have these number of things to work on, let me work on these things against lesser competition and then bring it back up to where I have this confidence that I had before I got on [The Ultimate Fighter].”
Along with her striking, which Hill thinks will give Gray problems on Saturday, Hill believes her work rate is what will get her to the top of the heap in an ever-improving division. “I feel like I’m a much harder worker than most other people, [including] most of the girls in the UFC – in my weight class. And I definitely feel like I can catch up to them eventually, even though I wasn’t groomed to be one of [the UFC’s] superstars, I still think I can be one, if not for them for Invicta, or whoever has me in the future.”
Regarding her upcoming opponent, Hill’s scouting report is a little light on details. “I tried to Google her,” admitted Hill.
However, she’s not too worried. According to Hill, knowing less about an opponent reminds her of her Muay Thai days, where she would adjust to the opponent within the fight itself. One thing Hill does know of Gray is her judo background (Gray was an alternate for the 1996 US Olympic squad).
“I see maybe her having an advantage when it comes to the throwing stuff,” said Hill. “She’s gonna be good at that head and arm throw that all the girls like to do.”
To win the fight Hill states – with a chuckle – that she needs to stay away from Gray’s hips and, “Just trying to punch her in the face.”
Hill switched camps to Alliance MMA in the summer. She believes the move has had a profound effect on her fighting and the biggest reason for this is the glut of female training partners Alliance offers. “I’ve only had male training partners [in the past], and their good you know, but you don’t get that realistic feel, if they’re better than you they have to tone it down, so they don’t knock you out, but if they’re not as good as you, they can still be strong and just muscle out of things, you kinda lose your confidence when it comes to how well you can beat someone up.
“At Alliance we have a handful of skilled girls who are there with you, pushing you, no one patronizing you, so you just get to go after each other and you can actually see what’s working and what isn’t, what will work in a fight and what won’t.”
At Alliance, Hill has also benefited from getting to spend time with Dominick Cruz, who faces T.J. Dillashaw on Sunday for the UFC bantamweight crown. “I was terrified of him at first,” said Hill. “I still kinda am, he’s such an intense person, but he’s actually really cool and really funny. I’ve been trying to get my extra points with him, every now and then I’ll try and say something kinda witty and funny and every once in a while he’ll give me a little half smile.”
Cruz isn’t just sharing his humour with Hill though. “Every now and again he’ll give me a little technical advice and I’m like, “Wow, that’s awesome, that works!”
While sharing training camps with Cruz, Hill has also gotten a front seat to the relentless smack talk her teammate has employed against his forthcoming opponent. “That’s the main thing I want to steal from him. His trash talk is insane laughs I don’t know how he can do it and keep a straight face, whenever I’m watching him call Dillashaw a dummy, I’m just dying.”
Hill hopes to entertain fight fans in the future with similar diatribes, but not with Alida Gray – of whom Hill says, “seems like a nice person.” In the meantime fans will have to settle for what Hill has planned for the weigh-ins on Friday evening.
“I have a pretty cool costume planned out, you know how some girls like to dress up and do cosplay and stuff as like sexy Chun-Li and dumb s**t like that? I have a really cool one.”
You can follow Angela Hill on twitter @AngieOverkill