Missed Fists: Myla Hill, daughter of Hall of Fame NBA star Grant Hill, stays undefeated with wicked choke-out

Welcome to the latest edition of Missed Fists where we shine a light on fights from across the globe that may have been overlooked in these hectic times where it seems like there’s an MMA show every other day.

Few things make you feel older than when you see an athlete competing with a familiar name and realize that it’s the offspring of someone you grew up watching. This is happening more and more in combat sports, with the children of UFC legends Anderson Silva (kickboxer and boxer Kalyl) and Frank Mir (University of Iowa wrestler and undefeated fighter Bella) starting to make their own headlines, not to mention previous standouts like Bellator’s A.J. McKee, Baby Slice, and Ryan Couture.

Heaven help us when the day comes that we see a little Diaz baby slapping fools up and flipping them the bird in the cage someday.

This week, we start off looking at a couple of fighters with fine athletic pedigrees, both of whom could be doing damage in the pro ranks soon enough.

(Big thanks as always to @Barrelelapierna for their weekly lists of the best KOs and submissions, and to @Grabaka_Hitman for uploading many of the clips you see here. Give them a follow and chip in on Patreon if you can.)

Myla Hill vs. Jakeya Keglar

Amateur Myla Hill is a Gracie jiu-jitsu trainee fighting out of The 6 Levels gym just outside of Orlando, Fla., who has had a fine start to her fighting career so far with two submission wins since debuting in 2021. Oh, she also happens to be the daughter of seven-time NBA All-Star and basketball Hall of Fame member Grant Hill (and Tamia, shout-out to Tamia!)

Blessed with those genetics, there was a strong chance that Myla would pursue some form of sporting endeavor and for now she’s dedicated much of her time to the mixing of the martial arts and you can see why: she’s pretty good at it.

At Brendan Allen’s All In Combat 2 event in Mandeville, La., Hill improved to 3-0 with a slick first-round choke-out of Jakeya Keglar. Defending takedowns from the onset, Hill targeted the neck the entire time and eventually Keglar gave up an opening to end the fight. Afterwards, Hill was rewarded with her brown belt.

You can watch the full fight here:

It’s unclear what weight class the 21-year-old Hill plans to compete in going forward (she’s fought at 115, 135, and this past weekend at a 120-pound catchweight), but you can be sure there will be more eyes on her than ever should she decide to go pro soon.

Raja Jackson vs. Hastings McMillan

Now to a lineage that’s just as familiar to MMA fans, here’s Raja Jackson — yup, the son of Quinton “Rampage” Jackson — scoring a first-round finish at United Fight League 2 to push his amateur record to 4-0.

The 23-year-old Jackson clearly has some of the skills and flair of his charismatic father, which will serve him well as he moves into the professional realm. Just check out his Instagram, where he refers to himself as “Cloned in Germany from the Alpha-Wolf DNA strains of Rampage.” Sounds like an MMA star to me!

If that’s not enough, Jackson trains at Team Bodyshop in California alongside the aforementioned A.J. McKee.

Kester Abad vs. Dylan Stockard
Jonathan Winland vs. Khaleel Pearson
Daniel Gualajara vs. David Babakhanyan

Up next, we have more amateur highlights from, uh, Up Next Fighting 8 in Commerce, Calif.

Kester Abad may not have a famous parent, but he’ll be plenty famous himself soon if he keeps pulling off knockouts like this one.

The official time of the stoppage there was eight seconds, which actually seems too long because it feels like he got at least five seconds of hang time on that wild head kick. That’s one of those “you couldn’t time a kick like that better if you rehearsed in practice 1,000 times” kicks. Devastating impact.

Somehow, that wasn’t the craziest knockout at this show as Jonathan Winland made his amateur debut with a disgusting second-round knockout of Khaleel Pearson.

Just beautiful timing on the counter by Winland, who doesn’t look like he even had to put a lot behind that punch. Just placed it perfectly and watched his opponent shut down. That’s your leading candidate for Humpty Dumpty Fall of the Year, folks.

And if you need one more reminder that fighting at any level is no joke, here’s Daniel Gualajara putting David Babakhanyan to sleep with some of the heaviest ground-and-pound you’ll ever see.

Tiriel-Luka Abramovic vs. Marko Pavic

Speaking of some of the heaviest ground-and-pound you’ll ever see…

That’s Tiriel-Luka Abramovic putting the HURT on Marko Pavic at a Fight Night Championship event in Zagreb, Croatia. I don’t know what’s going on in these amateur fights, but there has to be a way to stop these guys from just getting hammered as they fail to defend off of their back.

Richard Muzaan vs. Matthias Okuma

Well then, I guess that’s one way.

At African Knockout Championship 1 in Lagos, Nigeria, Richard Muzaan scored one of the strangest finishes of the year with this delayed upkick knockout.

I had to watch multiple times to figure out what happened, but as you can see Muzaan caught Okuma with a sweep of his heel that rattled him. At first, it looks like Okuma managed to secure side control and was working from there, but it becomes clear to Muzaan and the referee that Okuma is in a bad way and the fight is stopped.

Okuma was eating some hard shots even before this sequence, so I’m guessing this was an accumulation of damage as much as it was the result of a freak strike.

Kadyr Kurstanbek vs. Vladimir Nevolin

Our honorable mention Humpty Dumpty Fall of the Week goes to Kadyr Kurstanbek and Vladimir Nevolin from Open Fighting Championship 30 in Samara, Russia.

Nothing fancy here, just a one-shot bomb from Kurstanbek that turned Nevolin into a Grand Theft Auto physics glitch.

Yemi Oduwole vs. Eddy George

At CES MMA 73 on UFC Fight Pass, Yemi Oduwole put Eddy George out of his misery with this third-round Peruvian Necktie submission.

You can see that George was ready to go from gassed out to passed out at the end there. That’s a huge win for Oduwole, who hands George his first loss and bounces back from a disappointing Titan FC lightweight title fight loss from this past November.

Adrian Luna Martinetti vs. Tagore Kallew

Make it 10 straight for Adrian Luna Martinetti after he needed just 47 seconds to secure this gorgeous triangle armbar on Tagore Kallew at Fusion FC 61 in Guayaquil, Ecuador, yesterday.

Like his brother Andres, who was victorious in Thursday’s main event, expect Adrian to get a shot at the Contender Series sometime soon. Andres fought for a UFC contract last July, losing a split decision to Alessandro Costa.

Gerald Meuse vs. Anthony Vasta
Ian Godin vs. Jacob Sonia

You know we weren’t leaving this edition of Missed Fists without checking in on Gerald Meuse, who once again cut a rug before scoring the second twister submission of his young career.

Meuse showed off some slick dance moves at Cage Titans this past January, and he continued to twist and make his opponents shout in his New England Fights debut. This time, his dance partners joined in on the cosplay, with a Black Widow and Spider-Man accompanying Captain America Meuse.

I know some fans find this stuff corny, but I love dancing in combat sports. The two best entrances ever are Israel Adesanya’s dance crew breakdown at UFC 243 and Akihiro Gono’s drag walkout. This is not up for debate.

Lastly, let’s go to amateur welterweight Ian Godin, who reminds us that it’s not over until the fat lady sings or, in this case, when you land a head kick that has the exact same sound as a Vladdy Guerrero home-run bop.

---

If you know of a recent fight or event that you think may have been overlooked, or a promotion that could use some attention, please let us know on Twitter — @AlexanderKLee — using the hashtag #MissedFists.