Uriah Hall vs. Sean Strickland- UFC Vegas 33 Preview

Some bad blood and raw emotions are being had heading into UFC Vegas 33 inside the Apex when Sean Strickland and Uriah Hall step into the cage as the main event. Coming into the fight, these men have a history of having trained together and Strickland has gone as far as to call Hall a “f****** dick” based on previous experiences in training.

The question remains though, will Strickland be able to give some payback to Hall, or will Hall put Strickland in the proverbial locker?

Coming off a weekend with a high-profile main event and a rather decent card, this fight card has been ravaged by COVID and last-minute pull-outs, but to date, the main event for UFC Vegas 33 has remained intact. It is shaping up to be a fun matchup and one critical for a division looking for new challenges for its champion Israel Adesanya, a big finish from either of these electric fights would go a long way.

Uriah Hall

Long before UFC Vegas 33, Uriah Hall was in the tough house and introducing himself to the masses with what is still one of the most insane knockouts in all of combat sports history.

When Hall enters the Octagon on Saturday, though, he enters it with not just an expectation to produce something crazy, but is entering with a record of 17-9 and is riding a four-fight winning streak after the recent tragic ending to his rematch with Chris Weidman. Before the Weidman fight, he was coming off knockout wins over the legend Anderson Silva and Bevon Lewis with a decision victory over Antonio Carlos Junior as well.

In his UFC career, he has earned a record of 10-7, and with that record comes a mix of highs and lows. He lost the finals TUF 17 to future title contender Kelvin Gastelum and would also lose his second UFC fight. After those tough losses, he would rattle off wins in five of his next six fights. He would, unfortunately, follow that up with a run of four losses with one win in the mix before beginning the four-fight win streak he enters UFC Vegas 33 on Saturday.

He has fought a who’s who of MMA veterans and has been battle-tested, on his resume he has wins over contender Thiago Santos, Chris Leben, Krzysztof Jotko, and current Bellator middleweight champion Gegard Mousasi. Mixing in some losses to names like Paulo Costa, Derek Brunson, and former champion Robert Whittaker shows that Hall is a solid fighter that has faced all levels of the current UFC middleweight division.

Sean Strickland

A member of the famed Team Quest and a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Sean Strickland poses a unique problem for Uriah Hall this weekend at UFC Vegas 33. He has a complete skill set that Hall has shown to have issues with, and for the eleventh-ranked middleweight, he hopes that’s the case.

Strickland entered the UFC with a record of 13-0 with 10 finishes to his credit as well as being the long-reigning KOTC middleweight champion before making his debut against TUF 17 cast member Bubba McDaniel. Strickland would defeat McDaniel and the tough Luke Barnett in his first two UFC fights before running into the highly-ranked Santiago Ponzinibbio, who would ruin his perfect record.

After his bout with Ponzinibbio, he would go on a run of eight wins and only two losses, the two losses being to Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos and current welterweight champion Kamaru Usman. Needless to say, Strickland has been in with a who’s who, just like Uriah Hall, except he has proven to be more consistent top to bottom.

Both men have a combined 52 bouts, 26 each, and have only gone to a decision 19 times in total. Both men have 14 finishes each for themselves and it would not be surprising to see either man make it 15 by night’s end.

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