TUF 25 Finale winner Angela Hill hopes UFC can be lax on its costume policy

LAS VEGAS – UFC women’s strawweight Angela Hill isn’t giving up yet on wearing costumes to ceremonial weigh-ins.

After officials nixed her idea to rep Marvel comic Black Panther for a face-off at The Ultimate Fighter 25 Finale, she is hopeful she’ll get to show her nerdy side in future fights.

“It would be nice if they could lax on it a little bit so the fighters could try to build some hype for it,” Hill (7-3 MMA, 1-3 UFC) told MMAjunkie backstage after outpointing Ashley Yoder (5-3 MMA, 0-2 UFC) Friday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. “I feel like doing something interesting like that is going to reach more people than just trying to mean mug and push your opponent and hit them before you’re actually fighting the next day. Or at least different fans from that.”

According to Hill, UFC officials were antsy before the ceremonial weigh-ins on Thursday afternoon, asking if she’d be wearing a costume. Hill had done so in her previous bout against Jessica Andrade, tickling fans with a spot-on rendition of the “Street Fighter” video game character Sagat.

The costume didn’t have magical powers – although she put in a spirited effort against Andrade, she wound up losing a decision.

Hill thought about springing her Black Panther costume onstage Friday without asking. But she instead opted to reveal her intentions. Unfortunately for her, officials told her she wouldn’t be able to wear the costume because of the promotion’s exclusive deal with Reebok, which requires fighters to wear branded apparel to all official UFC events.

Hill posted a Twitter picture of her getup as a small consolation.

But just because she got shut down this time out, she played coy when asked whether she’ll try again to create her own brand with a unique costume.

“You’ve got to play the game and do what you’re told and all that fun boring stuff,” he said. “I guess we’ll have to wait and see.”

Check out Hill’s interview in the video above.

And for complete coverage of The Ultimate Fighter 25 Finale, check out the UFC Events section of the site.