Uriah Hall proved that he could deliver on the big stage with a win against Anderson Silva at UFC Vegas 12. Prime Time was looked at as a great talent, but inconsistent by many observers. With a big dub here, he’s positioned himself to climb back up the ranks of the UFC’s best. In the lead-up to his bout with a living legend in Silva, he made no mistake in talking about his aspirations in the company. During the virtual media day for the event, Hall absolutely called out UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya. He argued that the champ was taking easy fights instead of facing off against the best (credit MMA Mania for their account). “Adesanya’s picking his fights,” Hall sneered. “He sees what I see, he sees a hole in all these guys. He’s already picking [Jared] Cannonier, he’s looking for easy fights. Yeah, I said it.” So, now, things are wide open for Prime Time and he wouldn’t have it any other way. Maybe one day he sees himself as a part of that GOAT debate that raged in the lead-up to this fight. For The Spider, the GOAT of the MMA world is former lightweight and welterweight champion B.J. Penn.
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“You have the best momentarily,” Silva said. “(The moment) will pass and someone else will come, and someone else. I think this (debate) of best in the world or greatest of all times is very premature and kind of meaningless. Someone good comes from time to time, a new talent, someone ahead of the curve. There’s no ‘The’ best in the world.”
Even with some continued success, the UFC legend absolutely knows that these social media debates ebb and flow with the news cycle. It revs up any of the likely contenders for that title does anything and will repeat over time. He gave his take on UFC’s online media day call with Brazilian media. (Credit to MMA Fighting for the transcription.)
“To me, this discussion doesn’t exist,” he began. “There are moments, people that were better in certain times. (Georges) St-Pierre had his moment when he was the best, Royce (Gracie) was the best, Jon Jones, Khabib and other athletes… Matt Serra, Pedro Rizzo, Vitor Belfort, B.J. Penn… Damn, so many people were good, the best in their moments. This pound-for-pound thing doesn’t exist.”
Never one to not let his opinions be heard, Jon Jones also weighed in on the GOAT conversation via his social media accounts. It comes as no shock, he’s taking himself in that spot.
Bones said, “The only person that could possibly come back and challenge my record and what I’ve done in the UFC is possibly Georges St-Pierre. He would have to come back and win two championship fights to tie me, and I’m not even retired yet. I’m 33 years old. I’ve got a whole nother chapter to go through.”
“You guys are nuts – I love you guys so much,” he added. “I hope you guys all have a great day. Fifteen world championships to four… And all you guys who are going with this he’s more dominant argument, the just recently started fighting elite-level competition. Could you imagine me against the No. 10 ranked guy?”
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