The UFC has finalized a fun middleweight matchup for their August PPV. ESPN’s Brett Okamoto was the first to report today that the promotion had finalized a matchup between Uriah “Primetime” Hall (17-9) and Sean Strickland (23-3).
The matchup between top fifteen contenders will take place at UFC 265 on August 7th. For Sean Strickland, he’s going to be searching for his fifth consecutive victory inside the octagon.
Strickland made his UFC debut back in 2014 and originally fought at welterweight. In fact, one of his three losses in his career came against the current UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman.
However, Strickland has looked like a different fighter since moving up to 185 pounds. He’s won three straight at 185 and his performances have led to the UFC giving him this shot against Hall in August. If Strickland can pull off a victory in August, he will jump into the top ten and be inching his way closer to the top.
UFC 265: Can Uriah Hall reach his potential?
When Uriah Hall was on the Ultimate Fighter, everyone believed that he would be a future UFC champion. The guy had the skill and the talent. Hall seemed like the total package. However, he just couldn’t quite put everything together.
Every time he would get close to the top, he would stumble. However, he now appears to be coming into his own and he’s currently riding the biggest winning streak of his UFC career at four straight.
The last time we saw Hall was at UFC 261. Hall became the first man to win by TKO without having landed a single strike. Chris Weidman of course threw a brutal leg kick that was checked perfectly by Hall. Weidman’s leg snapped and Hall got the victory.
That win comes on the heels of Hall’s TKO win over Anderson Silva. While he’s ranked higher than Strickland, this is going to be a very tough test for Hall. If he wins, he might just be another win away from a UFC title shot.