Strongman Eddie Hall, winner of the 2017 World’s Strongest Man competition, has abandoned his boxing career after getting stopped by Hafthor “Thor” Bjornsson back in early 2022. Instead, the 36 year-old Englishman will transition to mixed martial arts (MMA), where he’ll compete against Brian Shaw, Martyn Ford, and Mitchell Hooper in a four-man tournament on Feb. 17 at Lusail Stadium in Qatar.
Hall released video of his latest training session and “The Beast” was put down by a head kick from his much-larger sparring partner. UFC interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall was on the scene but did not have an opportunity to watch Hall get planted because he was too busy training for his (eventual) UFC return.
“I was pre-warned that he was a bit of a lethal weapon,” Hall said on YouTube. “I was very cautious with this guy, didn’t want to attack him to be honest, just wanted to feel each other out. And you’ll wait and see, I get a nice little kick to the face in a second. That’s okay. That was a good one. F*** my life, someone could have told me about that back leg!”
Check out the complete segment below:
Hall will fight Hooper, the current World’s Strongest Man, in the opening round.