Ryan Hall recently went on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show and was frank and honest about the fact that he’s still struggling to find someone willing to fight him. This comes after he took to Instagram last month and, going against his nature, he called out both Jose Aldo and Frankie Edgar. He previously explained that he chose those two fighters specifically for their reputation of not turning down fights and being happy to fight anyone they can.
When he was on the show, Ryan Hall clarified that he isn’t matched up as of yet and has no fight booked. Helwani pointed out, rather astutely, that the UFC has visited Hall’s local area recently and is set to do so in the near-future as well but has still failed to book him on either card. Hall even clarified that every UFC Featherweight ranked between 6th and 12th has either directly turned down a fight with him or advised they were unavailable.
He goes onto specify that Josh Emmett and Renato Moicano both turned down fights with him for whatever reason. Ryan Hall has also offered himself up as an alternate for a fight that’s apparently currently in the works, Zabit Magomedsharipov v Brian Ortega. Seeing Hall get to test his ever-improving striking game against a legitimate world-class striker like Magomedsharipov is equally as exciting as him and Ortega battling it out on the ground to determine the best Featherweight grappler in the UFC.
Certain UFC fighters avoiding Hall does make sense from a self-preservation point of view. The man is without doubt the best leglocker in the UFC right now and aside from maybe Garry Tonon, the best in MMA as a whole. Add to this the drastic improvements in his striking and an eight fight winning streak, that gives you a serious threat to any Featherweight in the business.
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