With just one fight in his MMA career, former World’s Strongest Man Eddie Hall is already itching to get back inside the cage.
Making his mixed martial arts debut under the World Freak Fight League banner in Blackburn, England, Hall found himself in an unusual 2v1 fight against TikTok stars the Neffati Brothers. After two relatively uneventful rounds, the brothers decided to try their luck in the third. With 30 seconds on the clock, Hall lifted one of the brothers and powerbombed him back to the mat. Surprisingly, the brother popped back up but was immediately met with a crushing right hand that immediately ended things.
And this all happened while Hall was actively fending off the other brother.
— Neo Vale Tudo (@NeoValeTudo) June 7, 2024
“The powerbomb was something that I’d been training hard, just picking up and throwing,” Hall said in an interview with Oscar Willis of TheMACLife. “What I had to do, because it’s an exhibition at the end of the day, we had to drill and drill was picking up, but not slamming if that makes sense because that slam would have literally killed him. So we did a lot of practicing just picking up and letting go and that’ what I basically did because I didn’t want to execute one of them.
“I thought that would buckle him for a few seconds, but he jumped straight back up and he just kinda walked right into it. I just saw a right hook and put it through and it was so accurately placed—right on the chin. And because he’s such a small guy, it just sort of went through his face. Usually when you hit someone your arm slows down or your arm jolts a little bit and it just didn’t. It just went through his head.”
Though it was Hall’s first time competing inside a cage, he is no stranger to the world of combat sports, in 2022, he went six-rounds with Thor Bjornsson, better known by Game of Thrones fans as ‘The Mountain.’ Hall came up short, suffering a unanimous decision loss.
Offering some insight into why he didn’t jump back into boxing, Hall revealed:
“I did the boxing route and that was real tough for me. I had a lot of things go wrong in the lead-up. Detaching my bicep was the main one and going into that fight with one arm was an absolute mind-f*ck, but I had to man up. I had to put my bollocks on the line and just go for it. Obviously, I lost the fight and that was tough for me. Not because it was Thor, but just losing is a hard thing for me to take.
“Straight after that, I got to training about a week later, and after about two weeks I said to my coach, ‘F*ck this.’ That fight was so unenjoyable for me. You want fights to be enjoyable and everything about it was doom and gloom. Six to eight months later, I had a contact in Qatar offer me a stupid amount of money. Signed the contract and I got sucked straight in. Found an MMA coach, one of the best in my area, and just went full-time for six months.”
Eddie Hall Sets His Sights on MMA Fight with Another Former World’s Strongest Man
Unfortunately, the bout he was scheduled for “went to sh*t” leaving him with six months of training and little to show for it. But unlike his experience in boxing, Hall thoroughly enjoyed his experience in MMA.
“This is a completely different ballgame to boxing and that excited me,” Hall said. “It was like learning the craft of keeping my guard up a lot more, looking out for kicks. The route and experience of learning MMA has just been so much more fun for me.”
As for who could be next, Hall appears to have set his sights on former five-time World’s Strongest Man Mariusz Pudzianowski.
Mariusz Pudzianowski is a hard bastad,” Hall said. “He is a hard motherf*cker. You can’t deny that. He may have lost some fights. Internet commentors and trolls might say, ‘Oh, he’s sh*t,’ but he’s f*cking up some world champions and done very well in the sport. You can’t mock him. He won the World’s Strongest Man five times so he’s got the strength and he’s been doing MMA for 15 years.
“His name came up and I thought, ‘F*ck it.’ He’s getting old. He’s 46. He might have all the experience, but I just feel like I’m in a good prime position in my life and I can learn the MMA game pretty quick.
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Aside from his strongman accolades, Pudzianowski is an accomplished MMA fighter. Competing exclusively for KSW out of his native Polan, ‘Pudzian’ has amassed a 17-9 record with nine of his victories coming by way of knockout and another three via submission. He holds W’s over Butterbean, Bob Sapp, and former UFC standout Sean McCorkle.
Of course, Pudzianowski isn’t the only potential fight out there for Hall. He’s also looking at potential bouts with the likes of combat sports icon Bobb Sapp and British bodybuilder Martyn Ford.
“We’ve got people like Bob Sapp,” Hall added. “We’ve got Martyn Ford. We’ve got people who are quite keep to cross over and do these things.”
