Athletes
Hyder Amil Is Making All His Dreams Come True
Dana White's Contender Series And College Graduate Hyder Amil Hopes To Prove He Deserves Big Fights Quickly
While Hyder Amil is a heck of a prizefighter, the Californian’s real talent might be in keeping a secret.
But on May 24, he let the cat out of the bag with an Instagram post letting the world know that he was a college graduate. That’s a good thing, and something to be proud of. So why so quiet as he hit the books after hitting the bags in the gym?
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“I didn't want anyone to question how hard I was going to work in MMA and train and all that,” Amil said. “I told some of my teammates, and they're like, ‘What the f**k?’ They were giving me a hard time about it and I didn't want to hear it, so I was just like, you know what? I'm just going to not tell no one about it.”
So as he piled up the wins, he used his fight purses to pay for his classes, and roughly six years after he began, he had his degree in construction management.
“Not too shabby for someone who gets punched in the face,” laughs Amil, who might have had an easier time doing this while fighting on the lower end of the regional scene, but when you get to the bigger regional shows and then to the UFC, the pressure is higher, the competition is tougher, and passing a test isn’t as important as dodging a punch or kick from someone who is trained to land those shots.
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“I don't even know how I did it sometimes because I train twice a day, five or six days a week,” he said. “I train a lot, and, in fact, the coaches and everyone begged me to go chill and recover. And there was a whole bunch of other stuff in my personal life that I can't even talk about that I still dealt with and managed to do everything. I also managed to open a gym at the same time. I did the architecture for it, a 3-D model for it, created it. I hired the people, managed everyone to do it, trained and fought. I don't even know how I did everything, but I did it.”
Hyder Amil Scores A TKO In His Debut | UFC Fight Night: Hermansson vs Pyfer
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Hyder Amil Scores A TKO In His Debut | UFC Fight Night: Hermansson vs Pyfer
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He did, and now he can focus on fighting. That’s not to say he hasn’t been focused before, as the 34-year-old sports a 9-0 pro record that includes a second-round stoppage of Fernie Garcia in his UFC debut in February. On Saturday, Amil will face JeongYeong Lee. It’s his third fight in the UFC APEX, and he doesn’t mind it, but he hopes to put on the kind of performance that may make it his last before he takes his show on the road for some arena action.
“I'm looking at this fight as my ticket out of the APEX,” he said. “I'm way too exciting. I want to bring that energy in front of a crowd and I'm hoping this fight is going to get (UFC CEO) Dana (White) and (UFC matchmaker) Sean Shelby like, ‘Hey man, I got to see this guy in an arena.’”
Hear What Hyder Amil Had To Say After His Debut Victory
Amil wouldn’t be opposed to a matchup with featherweight action hero Nate Landwehr, and though he knows he has business to take care of first against Lee, he doesn’t hide his ambition. It’s what fighters do, and no one knows that better than Amil’s coach and mentor, Gilbert Melendez, one of the best lightweights of his era. And now that “El Nino” is on the other side of the Octagon, he still gets to relive his glory days through his charge.
“You know what he told me?” said Amil. “He said he’s proud of me and that I gave hope to everyone on the team that they can make it to the UFC, too. And people also hit me up here in the Bay Area; they're like, man, you really inspired me to do my own thing and to just go for it. That’s what made me feel really happy. And I did realize I'd have this impact on people, but it feels great. It's just that icing on the cake.”
Not as much as having his mom proud of him, though.
“My mom's been waiting my whole life for me to get this degree,” said Amil. “She’s said, ‘I'm proud of you’ twice. One was when I went to the Contender Series; the second is when I got this degree.”
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And the third?
“I become champ.”
UFC Fight Night: Lemos vs Jandiroba took place live from UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada. See the Final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC Fight Pass!
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