Black Women in Sports
Black Girl Magic: UFC First Black Female Signed
Angela Hill aka “Overkill” is making history as the first African American woman to sign with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Hill born in Maryland and fighting out of California is currently ranked #8 among females in MMA strawweight in the world. She is not only deadly as you see her nickname is “Overkill”, but she is very artistic from graduating with an arts degree at Cooper Union and becoming an animator. Hill never forgets her creative roots if you ever saw her walkout before a fight like dressing up in cosplay and playing video games during training.
Hill was actually cut from the UFC after switching from kickboxing to MMA, but luckily she got a call to appear on Season 20 The Ultimate Fighter, the UFC reality show. “I feel like in the UFC, you can’t figure out who you are there. You just have to be you. It’s kind of like a end-of-career type of move,” says Hill.
There is a lack of diversity in the MMA, but it’s even more less representation of black women fighters overall. “I feel like we don’t have many role models when it comes to that. Whenever I see a young black girl come into the gym, I look so creepy, because I’m like, ‘Hey, you want me to hold pads for you?! You have to turn your hips more.’ I really get excited because I’ll see them come in, see they have potential, but it’s so easy to get turned off from fighting, because there’s all sorts of other distractions. There’s so much else to get into that’s a lot …