Neo: What are you trying to tell me? That I can dodge bullets? Morpheus: No, Neo. I'm trying to tell you that when you're ready, you won't have to. ---from the film, The Matrix
Corey Hill, all six-foot-four of him, is dodging bullets. Not literally, but in a figurative sense, as he tries to make sense of the matrix known as mixed martial arts.
Every day provides a new challenge, a new obstacle, and that’s not surprising, especially considering that Hill is just two years into a pro career that essentially took off during his stint on The Ultimate Fighter’s fifth season. It was there that viewers saw the raw talent of the West Virginia native, who made it to the season’s quarterfinals before moving to the big show and stopping Joe Veres in the second round in January.
It was a whirlwind ride to say the least, with Hill being seen by many as a future champion once he got his legs under him. Add in the praise from former UFC champ Pat Miletich, and Hill gained even more believers.
Then he lost, getting submitted in the second round by Justin Buchholz at UFC 86 in July. It was a fight Hill should have won, as he controlled the bout from the opening bell. But as Hill kept pressing, Buchholz took his lumps and took his time, eventually taking advantage of his tired opponent to secure the victory. It was a veteran move all the way by Buchholz – and Hill knew it…when it was too late.
“I took experience for granted,” said Hill, now 2-1. “Just because you’re blessed with God-given talent, 6 foot 4 and a national champ in wrestling, if you lack experience, that is huge out there and you have to know how to keep your composure. Before the fight, Justin made a comment, “I’m going to exploit his inexperience.’ I’m like ‘what is he talking about?’ (Laughs) And he did exactly that. When I hit him with everything and the kitchen sink, he was still standing there, looking me in the face, and it was kinda weird – why aren’t you falling? But he exploited my inexperience. I watched that fight a thousand times and all I remember is sitting down after the first round and being absolutely gassed. What happened to all this hard training I did? But he won the fight fair and square and he was the better man on that day, so I give him all the credit in the world.”
Though Hill calls the loss a “humbling experience,” he doesn’t blame his first pro defeat on anyone but the man in the mirror, and he uses it as a reminder that in this game, experience can win a fight, especially at the UFC level. So don’t expect the classy 30-year old to rail at the media or the fans for expecting too much, too soon.
“At the end of the day, win, lose, or draw, it’s up to me,” he said. “I don’t think people put too much pressure on me because I’m still preaching that same story. I’m here for the belt – that’s what I started this. After the fight, I felt like I let some people down, but when I watch the fight, I realize that I made some rookie mistakes. I learned that sometimes, the best thing for you is a loss. It makes you re-focus.”
If there’s one thing Hill has done since the bout, it’s re-focus. And that doesn’t just mean zeroing in on his December 10th opponent, Dale Hartt. What Hill did to move his career and life to the next level was to follow through on his intention to move his family from Iowa to Florida. But even though he planned on commuting between Florida and Iowa to train, he eventually realized that for the sake of his home life, he needed to be in Florida full-time. It wasn’t an easy move to make.
“I cried my eyes out like a 16-year old high school girl who just got dumped,” said Hill of the move from Iowa to Florida. “To have someone like Pat Miletich put so much faith and so much confidence in my ability just makes you so confident as a fighter, and to leave there, I was in tears. But when I weighed the fighting career versus the family, it doesn’t compare. I’m a father first, a husband second, and a fighter third. It was hard, and I doubted myself a bit about making the move, but I sat down with Pat and talked to him about it, and he said ‘at the end of the day, when you’re 50 years old and I’m gonna be long and forgotten about, your family is still gonna be there.’ And once he said that, I just took it and ran with it. I miss those guys like crazy, but my wife’s smiling again, my kids are jumping around, and I’m still getting the proper training. Like I tell people, hard work is hard work, no matter where you put it in at.”
Hill’s work these days comes at the Gracie Tampa gym, with Rob Kahn and a growing group of quality fighters that includes UFC vets Matt Arroyo and Allen Berube, and The Ultimate Fighter 8’s Shane Primm. It feels like home for Hill.
“We have a family here,” he said. “We have Monstah (Berube), Matt Arroyo, Shane Primm, and a host of other guys who are helping each other, and I have the wizard, Rob Kahn, instructing me. I learned how to be tough and put together a great work ethic at Miletich’s gym; now I’m learning about the ground game, and let’s face it, if you’re in the UFC right now and you don’t have a ground game, you’re wasting your time. But now I’m in a smaller place, I get more hands-on instruction, and I feel like I’m really utilizing my time, and everybody in there is instructing me in the proper way to put together a correct gameplan and go out and fight Dale Hartt on December 10th.”
And even though Hill always sounds like he woke up with a truckload of gifts on Christmas morning, he seems even happier in his new digs in the Sunshine State. Maybe it’s because he says that he’s added even more new wrinkles to his game since the Buchholz fight.
“If I said it was like night and day, no one would believe me,” he said of his fighting development. “All we’re waiting on is for me to turn from green to ripe. Every time I go to the gym, every time I spar, and every time I fight, I’m ripening.”
Add that experience to his natural gifts and size, and it could spell trouble for the rest of the lightweight division in the future – and he knows it.
“I’m a humble person, and there are a lot of guys out there that are probably better than me, but I can hang with anybody in the UFC in my weight class,” he said. “Inexperience is still huge for me, but with the 6-4 frame and the wrestling and my standup ability, once I learn how to use my weapons, Corey Hill is gonna be scary in the UFC.”
But the million dollar question is, will he know it when he hits it?
“I’m gonna absolutely know it when I hit it,” he said. “I don’t know if you ever saw the movie ‘The Matrix’ but in it they made a comment to Neo about dodging the bullets – when you’re ready, you won’t have to dodge bullets. That’s how I look at it. When I’m ready I won’t have to worry about a lot of stuff that I worry about now. I’m dodging bullets right now, but when I’m ready, I’m just gonna put my hand up and it’s gonna be an awesome sight.” UFC Fight for The Troops airs on Spike TV on Wednesday, December 10th at 9pm ET / PT.
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