Uriah Hall vs. Sean Strickland Added To UFC 265
We’ve got a very exciting bout added to UFC 265, going down August 7, 2021, as middleweight contenders Uriah Hall (8) and Sean Strickland (12) go to battle, most likely a main card-slotted encounter.
This match up is so intriguing for so many reasons. If their spots in the rankings aren’t similar enough, they have two common opponents, and they’re both on four-fight win streaks. In fact, they’re both on their first UFC win streak exceeding three-straight.
Uriah Hall (17-9) vs. Sean Strickland (23-3)
Let’s start off with Uriah Hall..
We first got notice of this Jamaican assassin in 2013 on the set of The Ultimate Fighter 17 when he was just 7-2 as a professional, a show he made it to the finals on.
Though Hall lost his finale bout to season winner Kelvin Gastelum via split decision, as well as his next to John Howard via split decision, he went 4-0 on the show with three vicious knockouts.
After losing his first two UFC bouts, to all of our surprise, he went 5-1 over his next six, only losing a split decision to Rafael Natal. At this point, his only three UFC defeats came via split decision, and his most recent victory was coming over multiple-time world champion Gegard Mousasi via TKO.
Hall would lose his next three however to the likes of future champion, and now former champion Robert Whittaker (UD), Derek Brunson (TKO), which was an early stoppage, but he was hurt and finished nonetheless, and then Gegard Mousasi (TKO) in their rematch.
Hall then KO’d Krzysztof Jotko, before being KO’d by future title challenger Paulo Costa. Following his defeat to Costa, Hall has won his last four-straight over the likes of Bevon Lewis (KO), Antonio Carlos Junior (UD), Anderson Silva (TKO), and now Chris Weidman (TKO), avenging his first professional defeat.
As you see, he defeated UFC champions in his last two outings, finishing them both. At nearly 37 years old, it certainly took longer than anticipated for him to put this type of win streak together.
Now we talk about Sean Strickland..
Strickland came to the UFC eleven months later than Hall, following his six-time middleweight championship reign at KOTC.
After winning his first two UFC bouts against TUF veterans Bubba McDaniel (RNC) and Luke Barnatt (SD), he’d lose his next bout to Santiago Ponzinibbio via UD, before winning his next three-straight over the likes of Igor Araujo (UD), Alex Garcia (KO), and Tom Breese (UD).
Strickland then went 1-2 over his next three, losing to future champion and The Ultimate Fighter 21 winner Kamaru Usman (UD), and Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos (KO), while defeating The Ultimate Fighter 11 winner Court McGee.
However, as mentioned above, Strickland, like Hall, has really found his groove lately, winning his last four over the likes of Nordine Taleb (TKO), Jack Marshman (UD), Brendan Allen (TKO), and Krzysztof Jotko (UD).
Their two common opponents are Bubba McDaniel, who they both finished off in the first round; Hall doing so in just eight seconds via KO, and Strickland submitting him at 4:33 of the round. The other is Jotko, who Hall of course KO’d, but not after going through some real adversity in round one.
Strickland looked better against Jotko, but couldn’t finish him. Isn’t it weird how things like that work?
Who walks away the victor of this epic middleweight showdown at UFC 265?
