By Joseph Staszewski
Uriah Hall is torn over how he views his actions as a teenager. The up-and-coming mixed-martial arts fighter believes he might not be about to step into the octagon as a member of Ultimate Fighting Championship for the first time if he had not fought back in response to being bullied growing up.
The 29-year-old Hall was born on the island of Jamaica before moving to Queens and attending Richmond Hill High School. There he dealt with adapting to a new environment and culture. He was picked on when he immediately didn’t fit in. His answer was to fight back. Now that he knows better, Hall expresses some doubt about his decision to do so, but understands it was necessary to lead him to where he is today.
“It was just learning how to handle it,” he said. “I guess I made some mistakes, but I don’t even know if it’s mistakes now. People were just trying to hurt me. My defense was to fight back even though I didn’t know how to fight. I guess that was the part of me telling me, ‘Hey, man, you should be a fighter.’”
That experience pushed Hall to learn to defend himself properly by taking up martial arts at Tiger Schulmann’s. He learned self-discipline, gained courage and discovered a career path in MMA. He turned pro in 2005 and was recently the runner-up on the UFC’s “Ultimate Fighter” reality show, where the tournament winner gets a six-figure contract with the company.
UFC was impressed enough to sign him despite his loss in the final. Hall is now set to take on veteran John Howard in a middleweight bout to launch the Fox Sports 1 network Saturday at 7 p.m. in Boston. He wants to get back into the win column.
“I’m going to try to hurt him,” he said. “That’s what I’m planning on doing. After that we can shake and hug.”
Hall feels he is coming into the bout with high expectations from the sport’s fans. He established himself as a competitor with highlight-reel knockout potential on “The Ultimate Fighter,” sending multiple opponents to the hospital.
That included a ridiculous spinning heel kick that UFC President Dana White called “one of the nastiest knockouts” he’s ever seen. Hall knows it has added to the attention he gets, but also heightens the anticipation around his fights.
“I don’t want to feel like I am not living up to anyone’s expectations, but in a weird way I am kind of stuck,” he said. “So it’s like, ‘Well, you got to do it.’”
Hall knows he needs to continue to improve as a fighter to have long-term success in the UFC. A win over Howard is the next step. Wanting to grow from bullying was the first.
“I think it paved the way for me to be a fighter because every day was like a fight, even going to school and dealing with all that stuff and not being able to handle it,” he said.
Now it is his opponents who have to worry about handling him.
