It was mission accomplished for Uriah Hall on the Jake Paul-Anderson Silva undercard on Saturday night.
Fighting on the same card as the man he retired from MMA (at least for now), Silva, “Prime Time” Hall was rather curiously paired up with former NFL star Le’Veon Bell as part of the Pay-Per-View card.
While it was Hall’s boxing debut, decades of combat sports experience and a 17-11 record in mixed martial arts made the match-up rather lopsided, and it played out that way. Hall continually pressed forward, and while he lacked traditional boxing footwork, his punches found their mark, while nothing Bell landed — and he did land a number of blows of his own — seemed to phase Hall.
At least not on the surface. Following a unanimous decision victory with a trio of 40-36 scores, Hall admitted that Bell had hurt him once or twice. He offered supportive words for the 30-year old running back, suggesting he had a future in the sport if he chose to pursue it.
Hall, meanwhile, signaled his intent to carry on in the sweet science for the time being, and called out the night’s biggest star, Jake Paul. “I want Jake Paul. I want his frosty ass,” Hall exclaimed, before adding that “If Anderson don’t do it, I’m gonna be the one to f*ck you up.”
Paul has become a sizeable cash cow for would-be boxers, and his history of selecting past-their-prime mixed martial artists makes the opportunity an alluring one for a fighter like Hall — who at 38 would be among the younger of the Youtube star’s opponents.
Of course, even should Paul get past Anderson Silva on Saturday night, there’s also a sizeable payday against Nate Diaz waiting in the wings. Diaz, another former UFC star, is vastly undersized in comparison to Hall, and a far bigger draw in the end.
