[autotag]Sean Strickland[/autotag] put together a composed and dominant performance to shut down [autotag]Uriah Hall[/autotag] and move to the next level at middleweight.
Strickland (24-3 MMA, 11-3 UFC) outworked Hall (17-10 MMA, 10-8 UFC) for a unanimous decision with scores of 50-44, 50-45 and 49-46. The win was Strickland’s fifth straight and shut down Hall’s four-fight streak.
The middleweight bout was part the UFC on ESPN 28 main event at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. It aired on ESPN and streamed on ESPN+.
Hall pumped a jab early, but Strickland was quick to throw out his own to try to put Hall on his back foot. The jab kept Hall slightly out of his rhythm in the first 90 seconds, though Hall was able to crack Strickland with jabs of his own. Two minutes in. Hall threw a calf kick to mix things up.
Midway through the round, it looked like Strickland started to feel his range. He landed several punches that kept Hall backing up, and Hall appeared to be looking for some kind of an answer.
About a minute into the second round, Strickland put together a big combination that had Hall on the fence. Strickland thought about a level change for a takedown, but stayed on the feet and kept Hall’s back on the cage. Hall worked his way back to the center of the cage midway through the round and looked better in the latter half of the frame in terms of his aggressiveness. After a brief pause for a low blow, Hall seemed to hit another level just before the horn.
Hall came out strong in the third and was busier early than he had been at any time in the first two rounds. But almost out of nowhere, about two minutes into the frame, Strickland took Hall to the canvas after a punch to the back of the ear. Strickland landed punch after punch on the mat, and it looked like he was close to a finish. Hall popped back up, but Strickland dragged him back down again. When they moved back to the feet, Strickland kept him tied up, and another takedown had him in half-guard on top. With 30 seconds left, Strickland took Hall’s back and looked for a rear-naked choke. Hall survived the round, but it was dominance for Strickland.
Hall seemed to have a sense of urgency in the fourth. Strickland, for the most part, stayed largely out of range of Hall’s biggest shots. Hall stayed busy, but didn’t get a lot done in terms of damage. But with a minute left, Strickland took Hall down again and landed some big shots along the way. He opened up a cut over Hall’s left eye for good measure. Hall came back to his feet swinging down the stretch, but it was another round for Strickland.
Strickland looked to be pretty easily the fresher of the two fighters heading into the final frame. He paced in his corner in between rounds and watched as Hall’s team urged him to not be tired. Hall looked exhausted midway through the frame, and while Strickland slowed down a little, too, he had the energy to clinch Hall on the fence and continue to wear him out.
Up-to-the-minute UFC on ESPN 28 results include:
- Sean Strickland def. Uriah Hall via unanimous decision (50-44, 50-45, 49-46)
- Cheyanne Buys def. Gloria de Paula via TKO (head kick, punches) – Round 1, 1:00
- Jared Gooden def. Niklas Stolze via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 1:08
- Melsik Baghdasaryan def. Collin Anglin via TKO (head kick) – Round 2, 1:50
- Jason Witt def. Bryan Barberena via majority decision (28-28, 29-27, 29-28)
- Chris Gruetzemacher def. Rafa Garcia via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Danny Chavez vs. Kai Kamaka declared majority draw (29-27, 28-28, 28-28)
- Jinh Yu Frey def. Ashley Yoder via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Zarrukh Adashev def. Ryan Benoit via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Phil Rowe def. Orion Cosce via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 4:21
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