Preview and prediction for Uriah Hall vs. Sean Strickland at UFC Vegas 33.
At UFC Vegas 33, two middleweights who have been making successful returns to rise in the ranks, Uriah Hall and Sean Strickland, will do battle as they each look to continue the momentum toward a noteworthy contender’s position.
Despite a rough patch between late 2015 and mid-2018 where he lost four of five, Uriah Hall has rebounded with four straight victories, three of them coming by way of a KO/TKO finish. Hall was the opponent Chris Weidman faced at UFC 261 where he broke his leg. Prior to that, Hall sent Anderson Silva out of the UFC with a fourth-round TKO.
Strickland also comes into this fight off four straight victories, but he has a lot more momentum with five wins in his last six and eight in his last 10. Since returning from a two-year layoff due to a devastating motorcycle accident, Strickland has impressed with a decision over Jack Marshman, a TKO of Brendan Allen and a decision over Krzysztof Jotko.
Checking out the Tale of the Tape, Strickland will have a one-inch height edge, but Hall enters with a three-inch reach advantage. Looking at FightMetrics, Strickland has a better average of significant strikes landed per minute — and it gives him the better striking differential in spite of the fact the two aren’t too far off by the numbers in striking defense. Hall, who has a kickboxing background, however, is the more accurate striker.
Strickland averages over a takedown per fight, but he’ll have to be able to get around the 69 percent takedown defense of Hall.
Who will win at UFC Vegas 33: Uriah Hall or Sean Strickland?
For a while, Hall had been seen as a gatekeeper at middleweight. Hall seemed to have all the potential but could never capitalize on it. He may be getting up there in age, and that hurts his prospects of ever being a legitimate title contender. And yet, it seems Hall has gotten better thanks to his training these days at Fortis MMA. Strickland, meanwhile, has been quite active since coming back from a motorcycle accident and has looked decent, if not impressive, in his victories.
Hall has lost to a number of notable names like Robert Whittaker, Gegard Mousasi and Paulo Costa; meanwhile, Strickland has yet to be finished at middleweight. But has Strickland ever dealt with the power of someone like the power Hall possesses? That could be his undoing if he takes too much damage. Strickland’s best chance is for the fight to get to the ground most likely, but Hall has decent jiu-jitsu himself.
This fight feels like a coin flip, and it’s a test for both men. For Hall, it’s to see if he really is on a path towards one last shot at the top of the rankings (because Silva wasn’t exactly the best opponent in terms of that, and Hall didn’t need to throw a strike in the Weidman fight). For Strickland, it’s a matter of is he ready to break into the top-10 of 185.
It’s a close call, but Hall might have more tools in his arsenal — and if his power is on point, it could be too much for Strickland.
Prediction: Hall via third-round KO/TKO