Ryan Hall’s struggle to find a fight at 145-pounds continues.
Ryan Hall has expressed his frustration after being unable to find any top ranked fighters at featherweight who want to fight him.
It’s not the first time Hall has said he is being avoided at 145-pounds, previously calling for fights with former champions Jose Aldo and Frankie Edgar at the start of this year. Hall almost got his wish against Ricardo Lamas in August, but an injury forced the ‘Wizard’ out of the fight.
“We came here to fight the best and have been consistently avoided,” Hall told MMA Fighting.
“I am unbeaten and have won each of my fights in one-sided fashion. The narrative that I have or ever would pull out of a fight is false. I signed and trained to fight two times this year, and both fell out at great expense to myself. I am not some kind of trained monkey or gimmick who is waiting around to do one-offs against whatever grappling-based fighter people happen to be excited about at a given time. I want the best. Period. I believe that my results justify nothing less.”
Hall (8-1) was awarded a UFC contract in 2015 when he won season 22 of The Ultimate Fighter. The 35-year-old has only fought three times since then, winning decisions against Darren Elkins and Gray Maynard and submitting B.J. Penn.
“These ‘ranked fighters’ are making Sean Shelby’s job impossible,” Hall said. “It’s at a point where the UFC either needs to force the fighters ahead of me to accept or pay me to retire and leave them in peace. Maybe they can take up a collection.”