The worst news has just broken for fans of elite BJJ in MMA, the wait to see Ryan Hall back in action is going to be even longer than we’d imagined. The bout between Hall and Ricardo Lamas was originally scheduled for May of this year but was postponed when the entire card was one of many to be scrapped due to the reaction to COVID-19. UFC brass wasted no time in rescheduling the fight for August 29th and things seemed to be going smoothly right up until the 11th hour. With only 10 days remaining until the event, MMAJunkie has revealed that Hall has withdrawn from the fight due to undisclosed reasons and Lamas is eager to be given a new opponent.
The UFC’s premier leglock specialist is not a frequent fighter by any stretch of the imagination and he’s previously made comments about the top-tier of the Featherweight division avoiding him due to his unique style. Whether this is true or not remains to be seen, but it does make sense for fighters to potentially avoid a match with Hall seeing as he has a lethal ground game and unusual ways of getting there. Couple that with the fact that he’s been developing solid striking that revolves around front and side kicks to maintain distance until he wants to engage, and that makes him almost impossible to prepare for.
The only thing holding Hall back is that he has only competed four times since winning The Ultimate Fighter 22 back in December 2015. Despite his inactivity, Hall is still one of the more popular fighters among hardcore UFC fans, particularly those that do Jiu-Jitsu. After his incredible “Submission of the Year” performance against BJ Penn, he started to become more well-known to the general MMA fanbase and his destruction of Darren Elkins pushed him further into the limelight. Hopefully, Ryan Hall will get over whatever issues have forced him out of the Lamas fight and we get to see him back in the octagon sooner rather than later.
Practise what you preach.