BREAKING: Ryan Hall is back! Multiple
sources have told me that Hall is set to return to the Octagon on
March 13 against Dan Ige. Contracts have already been issued for
the fight. #UFC
https://t.co/NyGnkNce0g— Cole Shelton (@ColeShelton91)
January 14, 2021
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Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight Ryan Hall is
back in action for the first time since 2019. The news first coming from
BJPenn.com on Thursday, Hall (8-1) will be setting foot inside
the Octagon after a lengthy layoff against Dan Ige (14-3).
The two featherweights will collide at the
UFC Fight Night card on March 13, which will presumably take
place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The news has since been
confirmed by
other outlets. Hall previously called out Ige in November on
Instagram,
and he will now be getting his wish, as the two have agreed to face
one another.
The mercurial grappler Hall has struggled to find opponents since
defeating Darren
Elkins on the scorecards in July 2019. Once booked in May 2020
against Ricardo
Lamas, the event fell through due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The two were rescheduled for August of that year, but that too fell
apart after Hall suffered an injury. It has been nearly 15 years
since Hall lost a fight, dropping his debut in the sport in 2006
and taking several years off to hone his skills. “The Wizard” went
on to win Season 22 of “The Ultimate Fighter” at lightweight, and
he has notched three wins over Gray
Maynard, B.J. Penn and
Elkins along the way. Most notably, his submission of Penn was the
first any opponent had ever landed on the former lightweight
kingpin.
Ige has proved the far more active fighter than his foe, competing
more almost as many times in 2020 as Hall has in his entire
four-year UFC tenure. Most recently, Ige saw a six-fight win streak
halted by Calvin
Kattar, when the two headlined UFC on ESPN 13 in July 2020.
Before facing Kattar, Ige rattled off close wins over the likes of
Edson
Barboza, Mirsad
Bektic and Kevin
Aguilar as he continued his streak. Neither Ige nor his
prospective opponent Hall have ever been finished as a pro.
The UFC Fight Night card on March 13 will either take place in the
UFC Apex in Las Vegas or in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Headlining the event is the oft-rescheduled welterweight pairing
between Leon
Edwards and Khamzat
Chimaev. Also appearing on the main card is a heavyweight
battle between Jairzinho
Rozenstruik and Ciryl
Gane.
