Will We Ever See Weidman vs Hall?
Will we ever see Weidman versus Hall was one of the most commonly asked questions when it came to the scheduling of UFC cards. It would be a second meeting for the pair, so excitement was naturally running high when it was confirmed. Unfortunately, the fight ended incredibly severely within the first minute with what can only be described as Weidman’s leg snapping out from under him. A visibly shocked stadium looked on in horror as paramedics removed the injured fighter, who later underwent surgery for broken bones.
Hall Left Upset
Whether we will ever see the pair fight again, only time will tell. Still, Hall was visibly shocked and upset by what was a check kick to a right leg kick from his opponent. This is an event that happens all the time and amazingly has only resulted in such an injury three times in the history of MMA. In a peculiar twist of fate, Weidman himself delivered the blocked kick to Anderson Silva in 2013, breaking both the tibia and fibula of his opponent.
Hall immediately spoke out, paying tribute to his opponent and wishing him a very rapid recovery. Despite the nature of MMA fighting, serious incidents like this are thankfully rare. In recent days the injured fighter has taken to social media to reassure fans that he is recovering, even a little ahead of schedule initially given to him by doctors. Although it is likely he will be out of competition for the rest of 2021, he has spoken of his determination to return to the ring and is undoubtedly not retiring at this stage.
Chris Weidman
Known in the fighting ring as the All-American, Weidman has been a feature of UFC since 2011. He had just five bouts in his time at the Octagon before competing for a title in his 10th professional MMA outing. He successfully won against Demian Maia and Mark Munoz, both times against the odds. This led to him facing Anderson Silva, who at the time was on a stunning unbeaten streak of 16 wins and had defended his mid-weight crown an astonishing ten times. He was thought to be completely unbeatable. The crowd looked on as the second round started, and just one minute in, Chris sent Anderson crashing to the mats with a TKO.
Perhaps they should have left things there because their next meeting ended with the leg injury that now mirrors what Weidman himself is going through. He then defended his title against Lyoto Machida and Vitor Belfort, winning both games, one as a unanimous decision and the other as a total knockout.
However, things didn’t go well after that when he squared up against Luke Rockhold in what would be his fourth title defence. Sadly, he lost this one and fell somewhat from grace as a once undefeated champion. It certainly seemed to knock his confidence because, after this, he lost to Yoel Romero and Gegard Mousasi, who is the current ballot or mid-weight champion. He was KO/TKO both times.
However, determined not to stay down forever, he took a submission win against opponent Kelvin Gastelum, giving him back some much-needed spirit. Unfortunately, in what seemed to be a rollercoaster of a career, he once more dropped back to his losing ways, being knocked out against both Jacare Souza and Dominik Reyes. For about a year, he was laid off but returned in August of 2020, taking on Omari Akhmedov. It wasn’t a particularly special meeting, but he did notch up a win. He was the bookies’ favourite to win but clearly that was not meant to be.
Uriah Hall
Known as Prime Time, he earned his nickname by competing on The Ultimate Fighter, the reality TV series where he had what will be forever remembered as one of the most impressive runs. He wasn’t actually the winner, as he did lose in the final stage to Kelvin Gastelum, but it was such a close fight he was signed up 
quickly. His contract looked a little under threat when on his first outing, he managed to lose, and people started questioning whether he was in fact a one-hit-wonder.
It took until his third fight before he was able to win, and he went on to make this a string of three wins. He quickly took out more prominent names like Chris Leben and Thiago Santos, becoming the fighter everyone thought he was. But no one can win all the time and he lost but managed to maintain an overall winning streak reasonably easily in his next bout. After this, his trajectory reversed once more. He went on a bit of a downward spiral losing to Robert Whittaker, Derek Brunson, and Gegard Mousasi, who he had previously beaten.
Although he was headed to UFC 261 as the favourite to lose, it was on the back of winning four out of five games. How much his confidence will be knocked by seeing such a gruesome injury remains to be seen. To be fair, some of his wins have been against very high-ranking players, and he has even managed to chalk up a TKO against Anderson Silva. Nevertheless, it’s a shame that the match ended so quickly and with such a poor result because a win would have given him the ability to challenge for a world title.
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