Middleweight KO artists Uriah Hall, Thiago Santos meet at UFC 175
Uriah Hall will try to get a winning streak started on Fourth of July weekend.
The Ultimate Fighter 17 finalist has verbally agreed to meet Thiago "Marretta" Santos in a middleweight bout at UFC 175 in Las Vegas on July 5, the UFC announced Tuesday.
Hall (8-4), one of the top knockout artists to ever emerge from TUF, is coming off a TKO of Chris Leben at UFC 168 in December. That was the 29-year-old's first UFC win following losses to Kelvin Gastelum in the TUF 17 Finale and then John Howard last August. The Jamaica native and New York City resident has been criticized for being too passive, but he didn’t look that way against Leben, flashing that precision and KO power he was known for on The Ultimate Fighter.
Santos (9-2) is very similar to Hall -- long, lanky and extremely athletic. The 30-year-old just knocked out Ronny Markes with a liver kick at UFC Fight Night in Brazil last week. The finish came in just 53 seconds, which sounds like a Hall fight from TUF. The Brazilian is 1-1 in his UFC career with a loss to Cezar Ferreira in his debut last August.
UFC 175 is headlined by a middleweight title fight between champion Chris Weidman and Lyoto Machida. The bout was moved from UFC 173 due to a Weidman knee injury.
