Corey Cornelius Hill (October 3, 1978 – May 15, 2015) was an American mixed martial artist. He was a high school state champion wrestler on multiple occasions in Florida, and a two-time National Finalist college wrestler.
Hill competed as a lightweight on The Ultimate Fighter 5 television series. During tryouts and production for the show, he told the UFC that he was 4–0, but he was actually 2–0, both wins from amateur bouts. His first professional fight (albeit technically an exhibition) was on the show, a victory against Rob Emerson which he won by a very controversial unanimous decision after three rounds. After defeating Rob Emerson by decision in the preliminaries of TUF 5, Hill went on to lose in the quarterfinals via triangle choke in the first round to fellow Team Pulver teammate, and future TUF 5 champion, Nate Diaz. Although he lost, Hill's performance validated the comments made several weeks prior by guest coach Jeremy Horn, who suggested Hill had the potential to be a dominating force in the UFC Lightweight division—even going so far as to offer to train Hill after his run on the show. In his UFC debut at UFC Fight Night 12, Corey Hill defeated Joe Veres with a second round TKO. Hill followed up with an appearance at UFC 86 against former ICON Sport Lightweight champion Justin Buchholz, who submitted him via rear-naked choke in the second round.
During the UFC: Fight for the Troops event in December 2008, Hill broke his right leg while throwing a kick that was checked by Dale Hartt in what is widely considered one of the most gruesome injuries in mixed martial arts history. Recovery for the injury was expected to take 12–18 months. With regard to organizational support, Hill told Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports, "The UFC was awesome throughout this whole thing and was so good to me, I feel indebted to them." An XFC event helped to raise money for the injured UFC fighter. On January 23, 2010, Hill picked up a unanimous decision victory in his comeback fight against Jason Trzewieczynski just 13 months after his career threatening leg injury.
On March 20, 2010, Hill lost to Canadian Mark Holst via kimura submission at XKL: Evolution 1, On July 17, 2010, Hill defeated WEC Veteran Kit Cope at Raging Wolf 8: Cage Supremacy via triangle choke submission and on September 9, 2010, Hill lost to former WEC lightweight champion Rob McCullough at Tachi Palace Fights 6 via unanimous decision.
On July 14, 2012, Hill defeated Darryl Madison at Complete Devastation 5 via anaconda choke submission.
In November 2011 Hill signed a long term multi-fight contract with XFC.
On December 2, 2011, Hill made his XFC Debut getting a first round submission win over Ultimate Fighter Alumni Charlie Rader at XFC 15: Tribute.
On December 7, 2012, Hill lost to UFC & Bellator Vet Ryan Thomas at XFC 21: Night of Champions 2 via armbar submission.
Hill attended Springstead High School in Spring Hill, Florida. He and his wife Lauran have three children, daughter Seytia and sons Keynan and Corey, Jr. Hill lived in Spring Hill, FL. Hill also attended Colby Community College in Colby, Kansas, where he was a National champ on a National Championship wrestling team, alongside Daniel Cormier, under coach Steve Lampe.
Hill died on May 15, 2015, at the age of 36, after suffering a collapsed lung and a heart attack.
