When Gegard Mousasi and Uriah Hall first fought at UFC Fight Night 75, few expected the former Strikeforce champion to lose.
However, after dominating the opening stanza, the Dream Catcher found himself in a nightmare scenario when he felt the full force of a devastating spinning back kick to the body that marked the beginning of the end of the fight.
Hall would go on to score a second round TKO win and claim the biggest scalp of his career, but Mousasi kept maintaining that it was a freak result, a fluke.
Beautiful! #UFCJapan @UriahHallMMA pic.twitter.com/2EVta3AhyG
— UFC (@ufc) September 27, 2015
Since that night in Japan, the two warriors have had very different paths in the UFC. Mousasi had found himself just on the periphery of the title picture by racking up three straight wins over Thales Leites, Thiago Santos and Vitor Belfort, while Hall was riding a two-fight skid courtesy of Robert Whittaker and Derek Brunson.
When the two were matched up for UFC Belfast, Mousasi was still a considerable favourite, but there was always that feeling that if Hall could catch him with one of his thunderous strikes gain, his fortunes could change.
Hall did threaten with his spinning shit, but Mousasi remained calm and composed until he seized an opening and secured the takedown.
Mousasi didn’t make any mistake once he got a favourable position this time as he forced Hall over to the fence were he began pummeling him with ground and pound until the referee stepped in and awarded him the first round knockout win.
He now looks set for a title shot in the near future, while Hall may just have had his last fight in the UFC after losing three on the bounce.
REVENGE! @mousasi_mma settles the score with a first-round TKO! 👏👏 #UFCBelfast https://t.co/8nGXwAKOo3
— UFC on TNT Sports (@ufcontnt) November 19, 2016
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