Ryan Hall made his return to the Octagon at UFC 264 and it did not go as planned for the jiu-jitsu ace.
Hall fought on the preliminary portion of the event and met Ilia Topuria, an undefeated featherweight prospect with a propensity for finishing fights quickly. And he did exactly that after thwarting much of the awkward attacks from Hall, who tried his absolute best to get the fight to the ground where he is most comfortable.
Topuria remained calm and ended up taking full advantage of an off-balance Hall who just uncorked a spinning kick aimed at his opponent’s head during the closing seconds of the opening round. Hall was knocked to the ground and Topuria immediately followed him to the canvas, where he started unloading some heavy ground-and-pound until Hall was completely out.
Hall saw his four-fight win streak come to an abrupt end, but his formerly pristine UFC record was not the only thing that suffered on Saturday night. Hall addressed the loss to Topuria on social media and revealed he sustained an injury not long after the fight started.
“Well, that was going reasonably well until it wasn’t,” wrote Hall. “Headlock [with] 20 seconds left was a little ballsier than necessary…Thanks so much to all the people whose help, guidance, and support allowed me to have the opportunity to get back to doing what I love. Without them, I could never have made it to the ring.
“Broke my hand on the first punch landed, but cant wait to heal up, adjust, and be back again soon,” continued Hall.
An update on the status of his hand has not been provided at the time of this writing, but it is likely that Hall could be on the sidelines for some time as he recuperates from the unfortunate injury. Hall now holds an overall professional record of 8-2.
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