Former NBA All-Star and Hall of Famer Grant Hill comes from a family of athletes and entertainers, and one more has been added to that great legacy. Myla Hill recently made her amateur MMA debut, impressively defeating Jenna Loza via submission in the first round.
You can hear Grant in the video cheering Myla on like the proud papa he is. Hill says he was left in awe after watching Myla do her thing in the octagon in her first bout. It’s tough to leave someone in awe who played professional sports at the highest level and grew up in a household by another pro athlete. Grant’s father, Myla’s grandfather, Calvin Hill, played 12 years in the NFL for the Dallas Cowboys, Washington (you know), and Cleveland Browns. And Myla’s mother is singer-songwriter Tamia. So entertainment is in Myla’s blood.
The career path Myla’s chosen is vastly different from either parent, but so far shows a promising future for the 19-year-old. I’m sure it had to be nerve-wracking leading up to this fight for all three. For Myla, the anxiety of her first real fight, not knowing what to expect since she’d only trained and sparred to that point. While Grant and Tamia watched in angst, hoping their child had made the right career choice. Thus far, it seems like Myla could have herself a bright future in the octagon.
And if MMA doesn’t work out for Myla, Vince McMahon is always looking for mainstream pro athletes to make the transition over to the WWE. And over the past decade or so, WWE seems to be in love with former MMA fighters turned pro wrestlers. This infatuation of McMahon’s started in the mid-1990s with Ken Shamrock and Dan Severn. Even rival AEW has gotten into the MMA game, with former UFC champ Junior dos Santos making his in-ring debut for the promotion last month. So that is always an option for Myla as well, and to be honest, she’d likely make more money in the long run as a pro wrestler.
Whatever path Myla chooses for the long term, she seems to have the toughness and tenacity to make her mark as an entertainer in the fight game.