Chalk up one more retired Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter
switching over to the sweet science.
Per a press release from Showtime and Most Valuable Promotions on
Thursday, Uriah Hall
(17-11 MMA, 0-0 Box) will be toeing the line against Le’Veon Bell
(0-0 Box) in a 195-pound cruiserweight battle on Oct. 29. The
former UFC contender and star NFL running back will throw down
across four rounds in a professional boxing match. The two will be
placed on the pay-per-view portion of the Jake Paul vs.
Anderson
Silva-helmed fight card. Hall will be making his pro boxing
debut, as will Bell, but Bell recently clocked fellow football
player Adrian
Peterson in an exhibition boxing contest in California.
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Hall did not share many words about this upcoming bout, saying
“Le’Veon Bell, I hope you bring your best. I know I will.” The
Fortis MMA product said farewell to the sport of MMA following a
decision loss to Andre Muniz,
one that put him on a losing streak of two. “Primetime” last had
his hand raised in April 2021, where he did not need to throw a
single strike to record a win when Chris
Weidman broke his leg in their rematch. That victory over
Weidman was the fourth in a career-long streak that saw him knock
out Bevon Lewis
in 2018, top Antonio
Carlos Jr. on the scorecards in 2019, put Silva away in 2020
and watch Weidman’s leg shatter in 2021. While his most well-known
highlight a spinning hook kick of Adam Cella on
the 17th season of “The Ultimate Fighter,” Hall has put eight foes
away as a pro strictly with punches.
Bell was much more confident in his remarks, saying, “As soon as
Most Valuable Promotions approached me about joining the Paul-Silva
pay-per-view, I told them, ‘I want in,’ and didn’t care who the
opponent was. Uriah Hall is
going to feel my punching power and tap out like he’s getting
submitted. He is not built like me.”
The lone appearance for Bell in a combat environment came against
fellow boxing neophyte Peterson in September. After four tentative
rounds of their five-round exhibition boxing affair, Hall floored
Peterson with a right hand in Round 5. “AP” returned to his feet,
but the referee called a halt to the contest due to Peterson’s
condition. The longtime Pittsburgh Steeler, one who held out during
contract negotiations to ultimately leave the team in 2019, bounced
around a few other teams the next few years before his signing with
the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2021. The following year, instead of
returning to play football, the 6-foot-1 225-pound Bell
declared that he would be transitioning to boxing full-time,
and his first pro match will come against an MMA ex-pat.
Paul vs. Silva, a pay-per-view boxing event held on Showtime, will
be going down at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Ariz., on
Oct. 29. The main attraction will see 5-0 YouTuber-turned-boxer
Jake
Paul take on legendary MMA fighter Anderson
Silva (3-1 Box) at 187 pounds across eight rounds. Other boxing
matches lower on the card include an eight-round 133-pound contest
between Ashton Sylva and Braulio Rodriguez, and a four-round
185-pound scrap pitting Chris Avila
against “Doctor Mike” Mikhail Varshavski.