It’s been two-and-a-half years since Ultimate Fighter 17 finalist Uriah Hall suffered his first loss in MMA, but it still haunts him to this day.
The fight took place in New Jersey’s Ring of Combat promotion, where Hall was defeated by future UFC middleweight contender Chris Weidman in the first round by TKO. It stands as one of the only two losses Hall has suffered in his career, and, like most fighters, he would love to avenge that defeat.
It’s part of the reason why Hall was so confused when reports recently surfaced that he was being called in to help Weidman prepare for his upcoming bout at UFC 162 against Anderson Silva.
“I don’t know where the hell that came from; I didn’t agree to anything about working with Chris Weidman,” Hall told Bleacher Report’s Great Debate radio show. “I read something about that—that he’s calling me in, and I was like, ‘What? I didn’t agree to any of this. This is news to me.'”
In reality, while the stories got somewhat misconstrued, what actually happened was Weidman commented during an interview with the Chokes and Jokes podcast that he was thinking of calling in Hall to help him with his striking ahead of the fight with Silva.
Hall heard about the offer through the grapevine, but he still feels the sting of that defeat from Weidman. It’s nothing personal at all according to Hall, but right now Weidman has one up on him and they do compete in the same division in the UFC, so a rematch isn’t out of the realm of possibility.
“It was mentioned to me that ‘he should work with you for his striking’—it’s something I’m actually thinking about. On the flipside of it, he’s a great wrestler and I have some great attributes that we can both benefit from. But at the same time, being a young fighter at my age, my ego would not allow it. Because he did beat me, and it’s something that I haven’t fully let go of,” Hall admitted.
“So, I’m looking for a potential fight here in the future. Not to call him out or say anything bad about him, but it’s where I’m at right now. When I heard all this, I’m like, ‘What? This is news to me.'”
Hall hasn’t trained with Weidman in the past and he’s not ruling it out completely for the future. Like many situations that have come up in the past in the UFC, however, where teammate facing teammate can cause a major rift, Hall would rather keep Weidman as a potential opponent and not as a training partner for the time being.
“When I heard this, I was like, ‘Why would this even happen? Who’s agreeing to this?’ My coach kind of thought it was a great idea, but I was like, ‘I don’t know,'” Hall stated. “You look at the (Jon) Jones/Rashad (Evans) thing; they were best buddies who trained together and had to fight each other. I don’t want that s—t to happen.”
Hall’s main focus right now isn’t Weidman, however. He’s just days away from facing Kelvin Gastelum at the Ultimate Fighter 17 finale in Las Vegas to crown the latest winner.
If he’s successful, given his run through the show and past accomplishments, it’s not unfair to believe Hall could jump right into the deep end of the middleweight division in the UFC.
Damon Martin is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report and all quotes were obtained first-hand unless otherwise noted.
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