Jamahal Hill fell to his knees and weeped in the middle of the Octagon.
He should have "Sweet Dreams" on Saturday night. That's because all three judges scored it 50-44 in his favor inside the Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil as he defeated Glover Teixeira by unanimous decision to claim the light heavyweight championship at UFC 283.
"Where I came from to get to this," Hill told Daniel Cormier, "it's unreal."
Although Teixeira proved to once again be too tough for his own good in refusing to be stopped, Hill certainly came close to finishing the veteran behind a buffet of head kicks, relentless, crisp boxing and piercing knees.
Hill's head kicks first took effect in the second round where "Sweet Dreams" wobbled Teixeira with one badly. Another thunderous head kick in the third crumpled Teixeira who was nearly finished with hammerfists that followed. During the fourth, Hill blasted a battered, bloody Teixeira to the point where one had to wonder what it would take for the ref to stop the bout. For five rounds, Hill produced sharp boxing that the 43-year-old veteran just didn't have an answer for.
When Hill wasn't dominating on offense, he was stuffing 15 of 17 takedown attempts by Teixeira. Though Teixeira successfully took Hill down in the fight's final frame, Hill managed to wriggle out of the mount and get back to tagging the Brazilian at will en route to the punctuating victory. While the win sparked Hill's title reign, it ended the career of Teixeira who announced his retirement right then and there.
Here's how the entire UFC 283: Teixeira vs. Hill main card went.