I’ll admit, I’m very biased here. I fell in love with MMA watching Chris Weidman land a flurry of punches on the seemingly invincible Anderson Silva. Since then he had the 2^nd most dominant middleweight championship run in UFC history. The fact that his run gets forgotten so often is a testament to his position after the loss to Rockhold. He was lost in the shuffle of the antics of Bisping, GSP and two stunning Romero Whittaker wars. After a short sojourn up to light heavy to fuel the Reyes hype train, Weidman finds himself in a strange spot. A razor thin win over Akhmedov puts him in place to fight Uriah Hall, a man as uninspiring as Kamaru Usman, without being a top 5 pound for pound fighter. 

Weidman is in a must win position, probably not to keep his job but definitely to have a chance of making a run at the title. Fundamentally he can reach those heights again, his grinding style is tailor made for many of the top ten, indeed Vettori is very reminiscent of a young Weidman and he has found great success in the grinding brawler style built on check hooks and heavy hands. It’s this style that saw him break Akhmedov down and indeed has won him the most significant fights of his career. It’s essentially a meme now that Weidman loves wheel kicks after it cost him the title against Rockhold, but attached to the joke is a serious point. Flashiness is costly, especially when Weidman is so dominant as a slower more methodical fighter. He proved against Akhmedov that he’s aware of this and he will need to remain aware this coming weekend. 

Talking of fighters in a weird spot Uriah Hall is on a three fight win streak, yet also seems to be flirting with being cut from the UFC. His most recent bout against a man pretending to be Anderson Silva was one of the more phoned-in match ups in UFC history. The lack of enthusiasm was not without reason, the fight itself was simply a stronger, faster and younger man, throwing simple strong techniques against a fighter who should have retired some 10 years ago. The 3 fight win streak rather than inspiring confidence in Hall instead makes me question the matchmaking. Hall has excellent power and legitimate speed in the striking realms, especially the longer ranges where he can launch head kicks as well as the rush attacks he favours, particularly the flying knee. 

All this leads to the first two entries in the MMA phrasebook: ‘styles make fights’ and ‘a classic striker/wrestler match up’. This fight is those two phrases taken to their extreme. Weidman is a methodical wrestler who will exchange at close range and will utilise short hooks and dirty boxing to open up takedown opportunities. Uriah hall wants to circle the cage and keep Weidman at the end of his leg reach, rather than just regular jabbing range. It’s an old school battle of ranges and despite many seeing it as a bit of a nothing fight the way it plays out could be a technical masterclass. 

For Weidman then it’s about control, and pace. Hall is a slow starter and rather than approaching the fight like Bevon Lewis did throwing everything at him in the first round and hoping to make an early night of it, Weidman needs to be methodical. His approach should be wrestling centric, he needs to take advantage of the slow start of hall to bx in on him work him to the fence. Hall is fairly passive as a fighter and loves spinning techniques. Weidman needs to take advantage of the low early output from hall and get him on the ground early, and keep him there. The Blachowicz, Adesanya fight showed the value that taking and holding down a striker can have especially on the judges’ scorecards which in a three round fight will be a factor. Weidman needs to use top control to drain Hall and take the venom out of his explosive shots, he will be safe in that top position not least because the guard has become less and less dangerous in MMA. Even more so is the fact that the current meta has moved rapidly toward standing up, fuelled in part by the power of the wall walk which as a technique is so effective it leads grappling exchanges taking place almost exclusively on the fence. This is significant not least because Weidman is one of the few men, especially in the middleweight division who is exceptional at keeping the wrestling exchanges in the centre of the cage. The Askren style of control and ground and pound will be the biggest element of Weidman’s game if he is to come away with the win. If Weidman is able to angle Hall away from the fence with some low outside singles, or alternatively or potentially force a sprawl from an old school low between the leg doubles, he might well be able to make it count in terms of draining Hall. 

Range for Weidman is also important, whilst Hall is by no means a weak boxer he favours long open ranges for kicking. Weidman can’t afford to spend much time at long range, his strikes need to come in the pocket and the clinch. If there is a finish for Weidman it will come from dirty boxing or close range hooks as Hall retreats. If he can hang in the pocket he will be able to make Uriah very uncomfortable. However the buzzword for Weidman needs to be patience, not looking for a finish early, rather using the slow start of Hall to really take the energy out of him which will pay particular dividends in those longer ranges Uriah prefers. 

For Hall, one word should be the only thing he has heard all camp ‘volume’. Hall needs to let his hands go early and often, there’s a reason that the big strikes he ended people with on the Ultimate fighter don’t work against higher competition. Its Hall’s failure to set u these larger strikes that cost him. These techniques work, just ask Terry Etim, but fighters like Barbosa and ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson set up their spinning attacks. Thompson’s hands low style draws in opponents and gets them moving forward which he then attacks with spinning counters. Barbosa throws out a volume of leg a body kicks forcing the lowering of his opponents hands. Uriah Hall needs to throw punches, he needs work behind his jab to force Weidman to hesitate in the area between the pocket and disengaged. The teep kick should be a significant weapon for Hall to keep Weidman at a range where he will be forced to explode to launch any combinations or a shot. For Hall this fight is about keeping Chris right on the end of his jab constantly and force Chris to do more to close the gap on him.

If he’s able to establish distance with the teep and the jab he can then start to work his power kicks, particularly those to the body with the height and looseness that Weidman holds his hand with. If hall is to win he will most likely do it by finish in the last round. 

So which style wins? Weidman does seem to be quietly building momentum, and it really is a major turning point in his career, it could well define his future in the sport as well as the promotion. Ultimately Weidman should be able to establish and push a pace on Hall, it’s a familiar task for a man who has throughout his career given his best performances against long range strikers. 

Weidman by unanimous decision