A ranked UFC featherweight says he’s being avoided, an MMA champ is trying his hand at boxing commentary, and we’re getting mixed signals on the future of one of the sport’s legends. Huh?
Finding the proper response to much of the news finding its way into our social media feeds is becoming a tougher task every day. Nothing is surprising anymore, and there’s always more to the story. Leaving us with one reply: “huh?”
Last week, Ryan Hall continued to call-out ranked UFC featherweights, Israel Adesanya was announced as a commentator for the Mike Tyson-Roy Jones Jr. boxing bout this weekend, and Dana White and Khabib Nurmagomedov are on different pages when it comes to “The Eagle’s” future. Huh.
The reason “huh?”, in its various forms, is such a quality reply is simple. The word is as versatile as a response gets, and while it may require some explanation, “huh?” is sometimes the only way to react to the news of today. Defined by Merriam-Webster as an interjection that’s “used to express surprise, disbelief, or confusion, or as an inquiry inviting affirmative reply”, “huh” or “huh?” can mean a lot of different things.
Despite some of the follies of evolution (see: Rudy Giuliani), the development and growth of “huh” is something we should embrace. To be the change we want to see in the world, here are a few MMA stories last week that made us go “huh?”
Ryan Hall is being constantly avoided
Currently the 13th ranked featherweight in the UFC, Ryan Hall is having trouble getting a fight, and says he’s being constantly avoided. Huh?
“I am unbeaten and have won each of my fights in one-sided fashion. The narrative that I have or ever would pull out of a fight is false. I signed and trained to fight two times this year, and both fell out at great expense to myself. I am not some kind of trained monkey or gimmick who is waiting around to do one-offs against whatever grappling-based fighter people happen to be excited about at a given time. I want the best. Period. I believe that my results justify nothing less.” – via MMA Fighting
Hall has a point. While he’s not a gimmick, his fights can be goofy as hell. Just ask Gray Maynard. It’s easy to see why guys who have worked their way into the featherweight rankings wouldn’t want to risk their standing in a matchup with Hall. Maybe a high-profile guy coming off of a loss would be?
“Here we go again…again…
So, who’s got the stones to step up to the plate? @KoreanZombieMMA? I know you won’t ignore a meaningful challenge.” pic.twitter.com/PpWUeB1Tgq
— Ryan Hall (@ryanhall5050) November 17, 2020
Chan Sung Jung, “The Korean Zombie”, sounds like a fun matchup. Basically any fight with TKZ sounds fun. It’s a solid callout from Hall, who hasn’t fought since July of 2019, and had a couple of fights get cancelled this year.
Jung is 6-3 since joining the UFC, and has featured in the main event in each of his last seven fights. He was most recently defeated by Brian Ortega last month. From Hall’s point of view, it’s a no-brainer. Whether or not Jung and the promotion are interested remains to be seen.
