Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com
After spending a month at its Fight Island facility in Abu Dhabi capped by last Saturday’s terrific UFC 254 event, the UFC returns to its Las Vegas Apex facility this Saturday for a Fight Night card headlined by a non-title middleweight bout between Uriah Hall and Anderson Silva. The main card is set to begin at 7 p.m. ET and is available on ESPN+ in the United States.
Hall and Silva were to meet way back in May 2014, but Silva had to pull out with something called acute cholecystitis. Silva had to have his gallbladder removed.
Israel Adesanya is the middleweight champion and neither of these guys is getting a title shot again. The 36-year-old Hall, who was born in Jamaica but now calls New York home, is 15-9 and ranked No. 10 in the division. He was a former Ring of Combat champion who joined the UFC in 2013.
Hall has lost four of his past seven in the Octagon but also enters on a two-fight winning streak to stay relevant. “Primetime” comes off a split decision victory over Antonio Carlos Jr. in September 2019. Hall has been scheduled to fight a few times since, but they fell through for injury/COVID-19 reasons, etc. A total of 11 of Hall’s wins are by KO/TKO. He has never lost by submission, but five times by decision and four by KO/TKO.
On the short list of greatest MMA fighters of all time is the 45-year-old Brazilian Silva (34-10), who claims this is the final fight of his Hall of Fame career. Let’s just say all fighters have a tough time retiring or staying retired so we shall see.
“The Spider” held the UFC’s 185-pound middleweight title from 2006-13. However, it’s clearly time for him to walk away as Silva has just one win in his past eight bouts. He certainly hasn’t ducked the top talent in that stretch, losing to Chris Weidman (twice), Michael Bisping, Daniel Cormier and, last time out, current No. 2-ranked middleweight Jared Cannonier by first-round TKO (leg kick).
Silva wins 68 percent of his fights by KO/TKO and just nine percent by submission. Forty percent of his defeats are by decision.
Hall is a -235 favorite for Saturday with Silva at +185. It’s the first time Hall has been favored since an August 2015 win over Oluwale Bamgbose. Hall was +165 vs. Carlos Jr. It’s the fourth straight fight Silva is an underdog. He was a slight one (-115) vs. Cannonier.
