Las Vegas, NV — The emotional outpouring from Uriah Hall after he finished Anderson Silva, likely ushering the legend into retirement, was like watching a dam burst.
Both fighters dropped to their knees. A tearful Hall apologized for, essentially, doing his job. Silva provided words of encouragement.
The bout capped off UFC Vegas 12, a card basically built around Silva. Hall was the foil, a creative, unorthodox striker himself. In the days leading up to the fight, however, in terms of promotion, it almost seemed like Hall was an afterthought. Someone had to be Silva’s last opponent, Hall had been assigned the job.
No easy feat, to take on a fighter you idolize. “Leading up to the fight, there was a lot of emotions,” Hall admitted during the UFC Vegas 12 post-fight press conference. “We all know Anderson was a G, and what he’d done for the sport. A guy like me that he had inspired years ago as a kid, or I think I was maybe 22, it was hard. It was hard to kind of separate those emotions. Fighting your idol, beat him up and potentially kill him. It was weird.”
A lot can and will be written about the fight, when it comes to the emotional impact. The fact that the pair were supposed to fight years ago, when Silva was, perhaps, somewhat less compromised by age and the ravages of a lengthy fighting career. And the notion that Hall was once looked upon as the next Anderson Silva, but has never truly lived up to that billing, at least not yet.
But MMA always seems to be about the endless march forward. And the present and future of the middleweight division was cageside on Saturday. Israel Adesanya was seated not far from the cage, taking in all the action in the main event. Earlier in the night, Kevin Holland had words for the champ. After his own win, Hall did not.
“I know [Adesanya] danced with Anderson. I was the guy that finished it. Regardless of what everyone’s going to say, whether it was an age factor, which Anderson never believed — it starts here,” said Hall, indicating his mind. When the current champ and Silva met, just a few years back, they went the distance.
Uriah Hall is no doubt an educated observer of the fight business. And had his theories as to why “The Last Stylebender” was present. “I knew he was out here. My guess is he was trying to see holes in me, or potentially give Anderson a rematch. Either way is fine. I felt like I did a little sloppy out there, my coaches say something else. I’m my own worst critic. But I’ve got nothing bad to say to the champ.”
The win over Silva, meanwhile, is “nothing to boast about,” said Hall. “I don’t see anything to boast about. It was an incredible moment we both shared. Four rounds.”
Talk, of the boastful or trash variety, is something that has never sat well with Hall. The Fortis MMA fighter would no doubt love to see mixed martial arts go back to its roots, in honor, respect, and discipline. But “as great as that sounds, it’s not going to happen,” he said Saturday.
“We make stupid people famous. I can get out there and talk some sh*t, and all of a sudden I’m famous. What’s that ‘Cash me Outside’ Chick? Remember that girl, who disrespected her mom on TV and she became famous from that?” Hall is referring to Danielle Bregoli, who appeared on the Dr. Phil TV show in her youth, and now boasts over 17 million followers on Instagram and raps under the name Bhad Bhabie. “I’m a grown-ass man and my mom would whoop my ass if I said some dumb shit like that. But that’s the day and age we live in.”
It’s something he at least in part seems to blame the media for. Which comes as little surprise: ahead of UFC Vegas 12, Hall admitted that he hated the press. But Hall added a quote he attributed to Denzel Washington: “If you read the news, you’re misinformed, if you don’t read the news, you’re uninformed.”
Interestingly enough, that quote has been misattributed for years, at times to Mark Twain. Washington did repeat it several years ago.It certainly suits the theme of the the age we live in. Hall would go on to say that “I feel like the media owe it to set the record straight with the right news, but nobody cares. For a guy like me that cares, because I’m real, I struggle with it.”
Watch the full UFC Vegas 12 post-fight press conference with Uriah Hall above.
