By Joseph Staszewski
Uriah Hall and his broken toe silenced all of his critics.
The toughness of Richmond Hill HS grad and middleweight mixed-martial artist has been questioned since he entered the ranks of the Ultimate Fighting Championship last summer. Even organization President Dana White expressed his misgivings about whether Hall was really a fighter.
He hadn’t shown the same killer instinct and confidence that made him the breakout star of Season 17 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” in which he lost in the final. Hall then lost his next fight as well.
Throw all that out the window now.
Hall turned in the best and most complete performance of his career Saturday night and did so after breaking a toe on his right foot in the first of three rounds during the “UFC 175” pay-per-view at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas.
The bone was visible through the skin and Hall finally dropped in pain following the final horn. That didn’t stop him from securing a 29-28, 29-28, 30-27 unanimous decision over Thiago Santos for his second-straight victory.
“Every moment, I would feel my bone shifting out of my skin,” Hall said in the cage after the fight.
He showed few ill effects from the injury during the fight itself. Hall bounced around, still kicked with the injured foot and even rolled around the cage once or twice. The swagger returned. It was the type of confidence that had led to some of the most vicious knockouts you will ever see during Hall’s time on the “Ultimate Fighter.”
“I like the kid professionally and personally,” White said at the post-fight press conference. “It was good to see him let his hands go tonight and fight through a broken toe.”
During the second round, Hall’s hands were down as he stood directly in front of his opponent. He dared Santos to try to hit him before easily moving his head out of the way, much like former middleweight champion Anderson Silva did during the prime of his hall of fame career.
As Santos missed, Hall was aggressive striking and coming forward. He took the fight to his opponent instead of waiting to counter-punch like he had in the past. That special something may have finally clicked in Hall’s head.
“He’s back,” White said. “I like it.”
Hall’s UFC career may be four fights old, but Saturday night felt like its true start. It was the first glimpse of the fighter that those who followed him believed he could be and one who gives other new viewers a reason to check him out. The pain of a broken toe never took him off his game. Instead, it brought out his best.
“If you are not going after your dreams, you just exist,” Hall said. “You don’t want to just exist. You want to get the most out of life.”
