The China Mail - Aliens and fine art for 'weird kid' who became top MMA fighter

UFC fighter Angela Hill has packed plenty into her 41 years, but the veteran trailblazer from the United States is not done yet.

Speaking to AFP ahead of her latest bout, on Saturday in the Chinese casino hub of Macau, Hill described her colourful journey to the top of one of the most brutal sports.

Named after the activist and academic Angela Davis, an anti-racism icon, Hill studied fine arts at a college in New York.

But her passion was for animation and she launched a career in that field. When recession hit, she "made ends meet" by working in a bar, then eventually took on a new job -- as a fighter.

"I always say that my mum was my biggest motivator," said Hill, speaking ahead of her strawweight bout against China's Xiong Jingnan.

"Because no matter what weird thing I said I wanted to do -- because she always says I was a weird kid -- when I wanted to go to art school, she was like, 'Alright, cool, you love art and you're good at it, I believe in you.'

"And then after I graduated from college and I was like, 'Hey mum, I want to be a professional fighter.'"

Fine art and pounding an opponent in the Octagon may not seem obvious companions, but the affable Hill sees similarities.

"You're creating beautiful work on someone's face," she says with a good-natured laugh.

Hill made her debut in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in 2014.

She was the first African American woman signed to the UFC, the top MMA promoter, and also became the first Black woman to headline a UFC event.

She is now the oldest woman on the UFC roster, her longevity in the punishing sport making her one of its best-known names.

"I don't think when I was 30 I thought I'd still be here 11 years later," she said, asked when she might call it a day.

"So I'm just kind of playing it by ear."

That said, she still has "some juice left to squeeze", and fighting in China will be another first for her.

"I feel like if I'm still improving and if I'm still looking good in the gym, there's no reason why I shouldn't go out there and make a paycheck," added Hill, whose professional MMA win-loss record stands at 18-16.

- Link to UFO folklore -

A particularly intriguing chapter in Hill's back story is her link to one of the most famous episodes in UFO folklore.

On a September night in 1961, Hill's grandfather Barney and his wife Betty believed they were abducted by aliens as they returned home from vacation.

Their story inspired news articles, books, television programmes and films.

It is part of the family history that Hill embraces.

"Betty was very insistent on talking about it and figuring out what happened, so that's when they got hypnotised and the story came out that something did happen to them where they lost half a day driving back home from New Hampshire," she said.

"It was kind of funny because my dad was supposed to go but his dog got sick or something so he had to stay home.

"So they went without him and they had this abduction experience happen."

So what does Hill believe: is there something out there?

"It's one of those things where we just always believed, and even if we don't know it was aliens, we think something unexplainable happened to them," she said.

"I think it's cool to not know everything and it's cool to just kind of have an open mind about things.

"For something like that to happen so close to my family, it's hard to deny that there's something out there."

K.Leung--ThChM