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For the second straight week in the UFC, there was the announcement of a retirement.
Well, sort of.
Uriah Hall defeated Anderson Silva by technical knockout in the third round of their middleweight main event Saturday, Oct. 31 from the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Hall nearly finished Silva toward the end of the third round before successfully getting the stoppage early in the fourth round.
Immediately following the finish, Hall knelt before a bloodied Silva as he recovered before the two shared a moment on bending knees.
Before the fight, numerous times Hall quoted the old saying, “Work until your idols become your rivals.”
Furthermore, he admitted this was his “legacy fight.”
In addition, Silva was quoted as saying it was his final UFC fight.
Following the outcome, Silva wouldn’t confirm if it would be his final outing in the octagon.
The mutual respect could be seen when both Hall and Silva used the beginning part of the first round as a feeling out process.
Later in the round, Silva would begin to chase down Hall, firing combos along the way.
There was more of the same in the second round with Silva rifling combinations in Hall’s direction while his opponent delivered strikes one-at-a-time.
Though the pace slowed in the next round, Silva was consistent in walking down Hall
For the first time in the fight, Hall began to respond with combos to the head and body of the former middleweight champion.
Just before the end of the round, Hall clipped Silva with a hook and was gearing up for what looked to be a fight-ending sequence when the bell sounded.
That finish to the third round slowed the start of the fourth for Silva.
However, once he got his feet under him and rushed back in for action, Hall fired a counterpunch that dropped Silva for a second time.
This time with nearly a full four minutes of time to work, Hall was able to get in a dominant position and close the show.
Silva used more volume in the beginning of the fight only to have Hall balance the playing field in the later rounds.
Hall landed 54 percent of his 112 total strikes thrown while Silva landed 50 percent of his 114 strikes thrown.
The output was balanced for Silva attacking the head 30 percent of the time and attacking the body and legs 36 percent of the time respectively.
On the other hand, Hall’s output was top heavy with 68 percent of his strikes going to Silva’s head while 17 percent of the shots went to the body and 15 percent to the legs.
The night was highlighted by the two knockdowns for the man also known as “Primetime.”
Hall improves to 16-9 with the win having won three straight fights dating back to December of 2018.
The loss drops Silva to 34-11 in his career with losses in his last three contests going back to February of 2019.
In a career that began in 1997, Silva has won middleweight championships in the Shooto, Cage Rage and UFC organizations.