UFC fighter Jamahal Hill has his van attacked by pro-Palestine protestors in Times Square ahead of Saturday night’s UFC 295 in New York City

• The windows of the van carrying Hill and his entourage were smashed 
• Hill will watch to see who takes the belt he gave up after an Achilles tear 
• DailyMail.com provides all the latest international sports news 

Jamahal Hill, a former UFC light heavyweight champion, was traveling in a van through Times Square – and into the heart of a pro-Palestine protest.

Hill is in New York City to attend UFC 295 at Madison Square Garden on Saturday evening – but the night before, he found himself in trouble.

While in a van with his management team and a few others, the vehicle was surrounded by protesters marching to demand a ceasefire in Gaza amidst the heightened conflict between Palestine and Israel.

The van became boxed in on all sides by angry protestors who appeared to open the door and started to break the van’s windows.

The driver of the van eventually got the door shut, but the gathered crowd continued to hit the vehicle and shout profanities.

A van carrying UFC fighter Jamahal Hill was attacked by pro-Palestinian protesters Friday

Hill showed images from inside the van showing that a window had been broken

Hill later posted his account of the events on Instagram, saying, ‘We trying to leave downtown. Our bus is being attacked right now by something, some protest or something that’s going on.

‘They’re throwing, they’re breaking our windows, and all this and that… If any of my people down here downtown and you really got me… come get these people up off our bus. 

Hill also said that he was hit in the face with something when a protestor hit the glass.

He was very visibly upset by the incident and people in the van tried calming him down. 

Hill’s manager, Brian Butler, wrote on Instagram: ‘This could have escalated very badly. This was a sliver of a hair away from being catastrophic.’

‘People were saying, “Go, step on the gas. Step on the gas.” People started trickling over because we were at the very front,’ Butler told MMA Junkie. 

‘I think they were curious because it was a big Sprinter van, so they started coming up and putting their signs and stuff up on the window. 

‘Then they got a look inside and they could see it was UFC security in there, and they were like, “Oh, UFC people.” Then they started saying stuff like, you know, just mob mentality stuff. 

WARNING: VIDEO BELOW CONTAINS OBSCENITIES. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CzfH9VFp-Cf/

A post shared by Jamahal Hill (@sweet_dreams_jhill)

Hill is in New York to watch UFC 295 after tearing his Achilles to see who will take his belt

‘Nothing other than that sheer energy that was going on. It was like, “UFC people are bitches,” UFC people are this and that.’

The comments infuriated Hill, according to Butler.

‘Jamahal started seeing red, so it was an issue trying to get him calmed down,’ Butler said. ‘But it started escalating pretty quickly. … It went from zero to having the whole vehicle surrounded and banging on it. 

‘The windows started breaking, and then Jamahal said he saw someone pull out a knife and they slashed all our tires. It could have been a very bad situation, but it ended well.’

Eventually, Hill and his entourage were able to escape the crowd and got back safe.

He’ll be watching on at UFC 295 with some interest – as Jiri Prochazka and Alex Pereira fight for the belt that Hill vacated.

After a ruptured Achilles tendon, Hill had to give up the light heavyweight title – which will now be given to the winner of that fight. 

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