Corey Hill, Not Your Average Lightweight

You can use the term lightweight in a couple of different ways. One look at Corey Hill and none of them seem to apply. You couldn’t get away with using lightweight as a disparaging remark. The 29-year old father of two supported his family stocking shelves at a Wal-Mart in Colorado Springs while he pursued his dream of fighting. He bluffed (and barked) his way onto the cast of The Ultimate Fighter 5 and advanced to the quarterfinals without a true professional fight on his record. And at six-foot, four-inches tall Hill’s frame makes him seem out of place among his fellow competitors in the 155-pound division. See it for yourself when the unlikeliest of lightweights steps into the Octagon on January 23rd to take on Joe Veres live on Spike during UFC Fight Night. Till then read up on how the slopes are more dangerous than the cage and why he needs gentle mindset to kick ass.

Complex: How did you end up getting onto The Ultimate Fighter?
Corey Hill: My wife and I had just moved to Colorado Springs from Florida and I was like “I’m gonna make it in this fight thing.” I wanted to be a small-town fighter. I thought I was going to live in Colorado Springs and be a local boy hero and win all of them toughman competitions, you know [laughs]. That’s all I imagined. Then this guy said, “We’ll pay for it, just go try out [for TUF].” That’s pretty much when my new life started [laughs]. When I look back, it seems like I was naive before when I was at the try-outs. I had two amateur fights and I was nervous. Dana White, I didn’t even know who he was. I didn’t care who he was. Now when I see him in the halls, I’m like “Wow, that’s Dana White. I didn’t even know who that guy was.”

C: Did you go into your two amateur fights thinking “I’m a college wrestler, I’m just gonna smash these guys?”
Corey Hill: Oh yeah. Yeah, that’s just my attitude. None of them went past the first round, it was over. I did well.