Angela Hill say she’s ‘going for the kill’ at UFC Lincoln

Top 15 ranked UFC strawweight Angela Hill spoke about her UFC Lincoln showdown with Cortney Casey, and her new show with fellow fighter Jessica Penne.

Angela ‘Overkill’ Hill got back to winning ways in February when she bested Maryna Moroz over three rounds at UFC on FOX 28. The win took Hill’s record to 8-4 and secured 14th place in the UFC’s strawweight rankings. This weekend Hill is hoping to earn her first two-fight win streak in the UFC. Looking to stop her is the 11th ranked Cortney Casey (7-6).

When Bloody Elbow caught up with Hill, she said she was “pretty happy” with her performance over Moroz.

“I felt like I could have done perhaps a little more, but I was coming off a loss. I felt like I played it safe.”

Hill lost to Nina Ansaroff by decision at UFC Fight Night: Poirier vs. Pettis in late 2017. She said that, against Moroz, her coaches thought the finish was there, if only she hadn’t been ‘playing it safe.’

“That’s something I’m working on,” said Hill. “Going for the kill a little more and trying to overwhelm as opposed to landing my shots and kind of admiring them. My coach Eric [Del Fierro], will say that I step back and kind of admire what I did, like, ‘Ooh I popped her head back,’ when I could be going in for the second and third hit and those are the ones that are going to put her down.”

Since beating Moroz, Hill has had to wait six months for her next bout. She said it might have taken long for her to get booked because she’s an unattractive opponent for many fighters in the division.

“Nobody wants to fight a tough fight with a person who is not ranked very high, who is not going to get them closer to a title shot, and I’m that fight,” said Hill. “Anyone who is a tough fight who is either not ranked or ranked pretty low, it’s not a good business decision. So I feel like that’s probably the reason why I have to wait so long.”

Hill said part of the reason why she wishes she got a faster turnaround is because she wants to close the experience gap between her and a lot of the fighters who are ranked with her in the top 15.

“A lot of people forget that I came into the UFC with one fight, so I’m always playing catch up with the girls that I’m fighting and I think Cortney Casey is one of the few people who is actually in the same boat. She has been given the tough fights and has kind of grown up in the UFC as well, so this is going to be a good match-up because we’re both tough and I don’t think she turns down fights. I know I don’t either, so it’s going to be two similar mentalities of fighters going at it.”

Before Hill was matched with the 11th ranked Casey, the TUF alum was due to face the 12th ranked Alexa Grasso, but injury took the Mexican out of commission. Hill admitted that she was a little disappointed not to face the popular Grasso.

“Grasso has a name, she has followers, she has an entire country behind her, so I was really excited about kicking her face in, because it’s a fight that’s been on the table a long time, going back to Invicta.”

After an exciting fight with Mizuki Inoue in 2015, Grasso was set to challenge then-Invicta strawweight champ Livia Renata Souza. However, injury forced her out of that opportunity. Then Hill joined Invicta from the UFC and went on a run that saw her take the belt from Souza. Before Grasso vs. Hill could materialize in Invicta, Grasso was signed to the UFC (Hill was resigned by the UFC a few months later).

“[Grasso’s] always had that hype, that push,” claimed Hill. “She’s always had the UFC behind her watching her every step and I feel like it would be fun to beat on the spoiled kid. You know, if you’re like the middle child and the other sibling gets all the attention, you want to beat them up and that’s how I felt about Grasso.

“I was excited to get that fight. Unfortunately it fell out, she has a history of getting injured. I don’t know if it’s the way she trains or she’s just injury prone. So I was pretty disappointed, but I wasn’t surprised when she pulled out of the fight. But with Casey, she’s just as tough, she’s not a name, but she’s definitely fought some names. So a win over her will definitely be a boost for my career and help me get towards a title shot, which is my end goal, always.”

Between beating Moroz and getting matched with Grasso and then Casey, Hill said she got “antsy” and decided to try something she and close friend/training partner Jessica Penne had joked about doing for years.

In March Hill and Penne dropped the first episode of their show ‘Two Straws’ on their own YouTube channel. The first episode featured the pair breaking down Invicta FC 28. Since then they have released seven more episodes, focused on various Invicta and UFC events.

“That’s been a lot of fun and it’s been a good outlet for me,” said Hill. “Because I feel like I already watch every fight that comes on anyway. I’m one of those fighters that tries to absorb everything and use it for my own game, so it’s been a lot of fun just using that and trying to channel it into something, for myself, but also for fans.”

Hill, who believes the female fighter perspective is woefully absent within the MMA media landscape, said releasing the show with Penne was a “vulnerable” experience and that she was a little embarrassed at first. “When you create things it’s kind of scary to let people see it,” she said. “Like you don’t want people poking over your shoulder when you’re doing a silly sketch, but it actually got a lot of views and a lot of love. From then on we were like, alright, let’s do this!”

The reaction to Two Straws has been both overwhelming and refreshing, said Hill. The fighter remarked that this was different from a lot of reactions she’s used to on social media.

“The reactions from fans have been really positive, it’s been really refreshing for us to see that people like us,” laughed Hill. “It’s like a really weird thing, where you look at YouTube comments and it’s not all horrible, sexist, racist, comments. It’s like, ‘Oh we love this,’ ‘Do more’, ‘We’d love your opinion on this fight’. The worst thing we get is maybe creepers telling Jessica to put her feet on the table. Aside from that, it’s been overwhelmingly positive.”

Hill said she and Penne were hoping Two Straws could continue to develop a following. This, she said, would allow her and Penne to improve their media skills and perhaps open up new opportunities in the future. However, she was clear that her number one focus right now is fighting.

Two Straws is on pause while Hill prepares for Casey. That fight goes down this Saturday on the main card of UFC Fight Night: Gaethje vs. Vick. The action, live from Lincoln, Nebraska, begins on Fox Sports 1 at 10 PM ET.