Angela Hill Targets Sean Strickland’s Spot on UFC Record
Angela Hill’s name appeared close to Sean Strickland’s on a significant-strike leaderboard ahead of her February 2025 fight with Ketlen Souza. The comparison made for a dramatic preview, but it was a career-stat race across different weight classes—not a matchup, title challenge, or attempt by Hill to replace Strickland as champion. And the title picture had already changed: Strickland lost a title challenge to Dricus du Plessis at UFC 312; he had lost the belt at UFC 297 in January 2024, one week before Hill fought.
The original hook came from a simple statistic. A contemporaneous report put Hill at 2,036 significant strikes landed and Strickland 161 ahead of her. That placed Hill third on the all-time list at the time, with a chance to narrow the gap against Souza. It did not mean the two were competing in the same division: Hill is a longtime women’s strawweight, while Strickland has competed primarily at middleweight. Significant strikes are a running career total, accumulated over many bouts.
The preview also described Strickland as champion, although that was already out of date by February 14. On February 8, du Plessis retained the middleweight title by defeating Strickland by unanimous decision in the title rematch. The official event results record the decision. Strickland remained a prominent name near the top of the career striking leaderboard, but he was no longer the reigning champion when Hill stepped into the Octagon the following weekend.
Hill’s own assignment was a three-round strawweight bout with Souza at the promotion’s Feb. 15 event, held at its Apex facility in Las Vegas. Hill leaned on the volume and pace that had helped build her standing over a long career. She edged Souza on the judges’ scorecards, winning by split decision. The official results and winner interviews list the verdict, while the post-fight interview with Hill captures her reaction after the close contest.
The fight added to Hill’s total, but it was not enough to pass Strickland. That distinction matters: the original framing suggested a pursuit of “his spot,” while the more accurate story was a statistical milestone and the possibility of a higher position among the promotion’s most prolific strikers. Hill’s consistency, durability, and willingness to work at a high output have kept her among the leaders, even as the list changes with every fight.
The gap has narrowed in the longer view, but not disappeared. In the current official career record book, Max Holloway leads significant strikes landed; Strickland is listed second with 2,430, and Hill third with 2,364. The latest totals leave 66 strikes between them. Those numbers underline Hill’s remarkable position in an all-division statistic, while also showing why one fight could not automatically leapfrog a rival who continued adding to his total.
Hill’s place on the list is meaningful in its own right. She has spent years facing a changing field of strawweight contenders, returning from setbacks, and finding ways to make close fights competitive. The record book measures landed strikes, not wins, titles, or who would prevail in a hypothetical matchup. The best reading of this story is therefore less about Hill taking Strickland’s championship spot and more about two durable veterans building unusually high career totals in separate divisions.
That context makes the Souza bout a useful snapshot of Hill’s career: another tough assignment, another decision that required all three rounds, and another opportunity to add to a statistic she had chased through years of work. The result kept her among the leading strike accumulators, while the historical comparison with Strickland remained a matter of numbers—not a rivalry or a direct contest.
