Ahead of his featherweight return against Christian Rodriguez at UFC Fight Night 279 in Las Vegas, Hyder Amil said a stomach ulcer and infection disrupted his body during his most recent setbacks—leaving him puking mid-fight and weighing in far lighter than he
LAS VEGAS — Hyder Amil didn’t just lose fights last year. He described a body that couldn’t keep up.
At media day for UFC Fight Night 279. the featherweight walked through what he says was happening in the months when his momentum stalled. He said he was “puking. fighting stomach symptoms during the fight. ” and that doctors later found an ulcer — “a hole in my stomach with acid” — along with an infection. He said the symptoms explained why he was “wincing and burning,” and that he puked after.
“The doctor stuck a camera inside my stomach, and they found an infection I had,” Amil told MMA Junkie and reporters. He added that if the infection had lingered “within a year or two,” he “would have got stomach cancer.”
Amil, currently 11-2 in MMA and 3-2 in the UFC, said he is now fully healthy and ready to return against Christian Rodriguez on Saturday on the main card of UFC Fight Night 279.
The matchup carries its own pressure. Rodriguez enters with a 12-4 MMA record and 5-4 UFC record after dropping his last two fights, and Amil said Rodriguez has made recent changes in his life—though Amil emphasized that Rodriguez “wasn’t dealing with a serious medical issue.”
For Amil, the issue is personal and immediate. He said he is “off the medications,” and tied his last two losses to the infection and the way it affected his ability to recover.
“My last two losses. my last two fights. ” Amil said. “because of my infection I got from Mexico when I ate something.” He described being stressed and said he was “eight pounds light on both my last fights — also my both last losses.” He said he couldn’t rehydrate because “my stomach was compromised.”.
When the doctors identified the problem, he said, the situation changed.
“Just craziness last year,” Amil said. “I cleaned up my life, made it organized, got the infection gone, and I’m looking at this fight as, ‘Did Hyder Amil learn his lessons from last year?’”
He said the medical disruption followed a career that had looked untouchable for much of the year before it flipped. Amil was undefeated until last June, when he was stopped by Jose Delgado at UFC 317. He then dropped a unanimous decision to Jamall Emmers in his next fight. He pointed to his stomach condition as a major factor behind those outcomes.
Before the setbacks, Amil had made his UFC run through Dana White’s Contender Series in 2023. He earned his spot after defeating Emrash Sonmez on the show. then won his first two UFC fights by stopping Fernie Garcia and Jeong Yeong Lee. His most recent win came as a split decision over William Gomis.
That win, Amil said, is where the trouble began.
“I’ve been racing with a broken car for eight months. ” he said. describing a stretch he now links to the combined weight of personal loss and illness. He said his father died. his best friend died. and his dog died during the three fights he had in eight months last year. alongside the stomach infection.
Now, as he prepares to face Rodriguez, Amil framed Saturday as a test of recovery rather than just momentum. “I’ve fixed my car,” he said in effect—saying he is looking forward to what it feels like to compete without the symptoms that hit him mid-fight.
The question hanging over the bout isn’t whether Hyder Amil has talent. It’s whether the version of him that walks into the cage on Saturday is finally the one he describes now—healthy, organized, and able to finish training weeks the way he once did.
Hyder Amil Christian Rodriguez UFC Fight Night 279 UFC Vegas 119 featherweight stomach ulcer stomach infection media day Las Vegas