Jamahal Hill isn’t the least bit surprised at his slot atop one of the biggest fight cards in UFC history.

Hill, the former UFC light heavyweight champion, will seek to regain the championship he never lost in the cage from the man who succeeded him as 205-pound kingpin, Alex Pereira, this Saturday night in the UFC 300 main event in Las Vegas.

But as far as he is concerned, he was always destined for the biggest platforms in the sport.

“If somebody told me [when I debuted] I’d be headlining UFC 300, I’d believe it,” Hill told the media, including TheMacLife, in Las Vegas on Wednesday. “I’d believe it because I know myself, and I know the belief I’ve always held in myself. But it would have gotten me hype. It would have definitely had me excited. I don’t know. I just always planned on being in these moments and being in this situation ever since I was a kid.

“Just from the time I was a kid, I just always believed that whatever I did I was going to be one of the best at it,” he added. “For a time, it was football. For a time, it was basketball. Whenever I set in on fighting, I knew I would be here in moments like this, fighting for championships and able to have an opportunity to put myself up there with the greatest names to ever do it.”

In Pereira, Hill faces a fighter with an emerging reputation as one of his generation’s finest fighters, particularly given the Brazilian’s status as a two-division UFC champion after just seven fights with the organisation.

The two came face-to-face earlier this week in a viral clip in which Hill asked Pereira to sign a hoodie of his; something he said will serve as a memento of a special time in his career.