UFC veteran Uriah Hall pulled off a huge upset on this day 10 years ago.
After his exploits on The Ultimate Fighter, fans waited a while to see Hall begin to live up to his potential on MMA’s biggest stage.
Following some setbacks and disappointing performances, Hall finally showed what he was capable of against top competition at the UFC Fight Night in Saitama, Japan, on September 26, 2015.
Before Josh Barnett defeated Roy Nelson in the heavyweight main event, ‘Prime Time’ made the walk for a short-notice co-main event against a future legend in Gegard Mousasi.
Things went as planned for the Dutch favorite in round one, but the tide soon changed in a major way…
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Uriah Hall blitzed Gegard Mousasi with a spinning back kick and flying knee in Japan
At the time of the fight, Hall was not ranked inside the top 15 and was sharing the cage with the No. 6 contender in the UFC middleweight division. With that in mind, not many were predicting what unfolded 25 seconds into round two.
After an opening frame that saw ‘The Dreamcatcher’ dominate on the ground and ended with a close rear-naked choke attempt, Hall came out of his corner and did the unthinkable.
The Jamaican-American fighter immediately turned the tables with a wild spinning back kick that connected to Mousasi’s head and put the future Bellator champion on shaky legs.
Mousasi got two brutal, athletic moves for the price of one, as Hall charged at him and landed a devastating flying knee to send him down.
An onslaught of ground-and-pound soon followed, setting up a TKO finish that earned Hall a Performance of the Night bonus worth $50,000. The result also marked Mousasi’s very first knockout loss, coming in his 45th professional fight.
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Uriah Hall said he was ‘supposed to lose’ after accepting short-notice Gegard Mousasi fight
Reflecting on that fight nine years later, Hall suggested he was “supposed to lose” after accepting the short-notice fight in Japan against a much higher-ranked contender.
“The first fight happened, two weeks’ notice maybe, in Japan,” Hall said on the JAXXON PODCAST in 2024.
“When I took that fight, I was supposed to lose. I was ranked 24, he was six. I flew out there, this motherf—- had an entourage, and it was just me and two of my coaches.
“But my mindset was different,” Hall continued. “I was like, ‘F— it.’ First round he mauled me on the ground…he’s heavy. So he was just f—ing me up.
“At the end of the round, I remember my coach was like, ‘I don’t know what just happened but don’t do that s— ever again. Jab this motherf—-! Move your feet!’ I was like, ‘Got it.'”
Hall and Mousasi had their rematch just over a year later in Belfast, where ‘Prime Time’ was unable to repeat the feat. Instead, he fell via knockout in round one against ‘The Dreamcatcher’, who would go on to win eight of his next nine fights.