Legendary strongman Eddie Hall has announced that he will make his long-awaited MMA debut in a 2v1 ‘freak fight’ next month.
The 2017 World’s Strongest Man winner has been training in the cage for months for his debut after boxing for the first time in 2022. Hall was initially due to compete in a four-man tournament that included fellow strongmen Mitchell Hooper and Brian Shaw this February, but talks broke down.
The massive 362lb Brit is one of the most well-known deadlifters in the world, and is keen to show off his fighting prowess. He will get that chance on June 7 in Blackburn when he faces the Neffati Brothers.
Eddie Hall confirms first MMA fight vs Neffati Brothers
A new fight promotion named World Freak Fight League will make their first outing on June 7 at King Georges Hall in Blackburn. Headlining the bill will be a 2v1 MMA bout between Eddie Hall and the Neffati Brothers Jamil and Jamel.
Hall is 6’2 and tips the scales at super-heavyweight, although he could drop from 362lb to as low as 313 lb like he did for his boxing debut in 2022. Meanwhile, the Neffati Brothers claim to be just 5’3 and 145lb each heading into the bout, meaning their combined weight is likely to be less than Hall.
The brothers previously competed in a Fame MMA event in Poland, where they took on another set of siblings named Warjat and Wozniak. They won their outlandish bout with both brothers landing stoppages, but will face a stern test against Hall.
Eddie Hall wants to prove himself after losing boxing debut
The legendary strongman made his boxing bow in March of 2020 when he took on long-time rival Hafthor Bjornsson in Dubai. He dropped the much bigger Bjornsson, but was floored multiple times himself and lost an unanimous decision.
Since then, Hall has had a number of other focuses but his hunger for fighting couldn’t be satiated and he began training for the cage. However, his first outing that was due for Qatar was cancelled.
Instead, he has opted to sign with the World Freak Fight League in the UK. The trio went head-to-head via satellite at a press conference yesterday, where they confirmed that they will fight over three rounds with an unconfirmed amount of minutes.
The event will feature a series of outlandish matchups including a boxing match with no rounds or time limits. There will also be a bout between two dwarves and fights including an Ed Sheeran lookalike and X-Factor winner Myles Stephenson of Rak-Su.
Eddie Hall breaks Francis Ngannou and Alex Pereira’s punch power record
While the Neffati Brothers have fought before, they will never have been punched by a massive super-heavyweight like Hall. The strongman recently visited the UFC Performance Insitute where he tested out the ‘PowerKube’.
The high tech device measures the force of a punch in units and calculates a score based on a number of factors such as strength and speed. Heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou scored 129,161 which stayed as the record for years until it was broken by middleweight Joe Pyfer who scored 170,218.
Since Pyfer’s hotly-debated record was set, it was then smashed by middleweight and light-heavyweight champion Alex Pereira, who landed a 191,796 score. But that was blown out of the water by Hall, whose big punch ranked at 208,901.