Uriah Hall was set to meet Sean Strickland in a middleweight tilt at UFC 265, but that fight has been moved up a week so that the bout can headline UFC on ESPN 28, set for Saturday night at the UFC APEX facility in Las Vegas. The co-main event features Kyung Ho Kang and Rani Yahya in a bantamweight showdown.
We have the full fight card for you, as well as our UFC betting suggestions for the two top fights.
UFC on ESPN 28: Hall vs Strickland Preview
Main Card (ESPN / ESPN+)
Uriah Hall vs Sean Strickland (Middleweight)
Kyung Ho Kang vs Rani Yahya (Bantamweight)
Cheyanne Buys vs Gloria de Paula (Women’s Strawweight)
Jared Gooden vs Niklas Stolze (Welterweight)
Zarrukh Adashev vs Ryan Benoit (Flyweight)
Bryan Barberena vs Jason Witt (Welterweight)
Preliminary Card (ESPN / ESPN+)
Wu Yanan vs Nicco Montano (Women’s Bantamweight)
Melsik Baghdasaryan vs Collin Anglin (Featherweight)
Chris Gruetzemacher vs Rafa Garcia (Lightweight)
Danny Chavez vs Kai Kamaka III (Featherweight)
Jihn Yu Frey vs Ashley Yoder (Women’s Strawweight)
Ronnie Lawrence vs Trevin Jones (Bantamweight)
Philip Rowe vs Orion Cosce (Welterweight)
Uriah Hall (17-9, 10-7 UFC, +175) vs Sean Strickland (23-3, 10-3 UFC, -210) pits a gifted striker (Hall) against a versatile jack of all trades (Strickland). Hall has turned a natural gift for striking into a decent MMA resume, although none of his wins have been all that transcendent. When he won his rematch against Chris Weidman at UFC 261, Weidman broke his leg and had to stop. When he beat Anderson Silva, Silva was 45 years old. His most impressive win came in his knockout win against Gegard Mousasi almost five years ago. When his opponents play too far back, leery of his kicks, or when they try to keep things toe to toe, he does well — 13 of his 17 wins have come via knockout.
Strickland started out at welterweight but struggled there, including a loss on the cards to Kamaru Usman. Then he had a terrifying motorcycle accident and returned at 185 pounds. Since then, he has won three in a row, including a knockout of Brendan Allen that remains one of the great UFC highlights. Going into this fight, Strickland has said that he really does not have a game plan other than trying to knock his opponent out — knowing that he risks taking the knockdown himself. Hall does not like to take the fight to the ground; in 10 fights over almost six years, he has not brought anyone to the mat. Strickland is giving up three inches of reach in this fight, so I expect him to press the matter from the beginning, which should set Hall off. After that, Strickland should be able to bring things to a close.
Final Prediction:
Strickland wins via KO/TKO
Kyung Ho Kang (17-8, 8-2 UFC, -140) vs Rani Yahya (27-10-1, 12-4-1 UFC, +120) should make for an entertaining matchup between underrated bantamweights. Kang has done nothing but stack up solid performances during his time at UFC, even though the promotion has largely kept him in the preliminary cards or sent him to cards in Asia, where the U.S. prime-time audience can’t really watch live. Kang has won four of his last five fights, including three in a row. Yahya likes to live and die by the submission finish, although he can get lured into striking by superior opponents. Even so, Yahya has obviously won more than he has lost, and this is a fight that will bring the fun whether the pugilists are upright or on the ground. If Kang can get through the first couple of rounds, he should be able to win on the cards, because Yahya simply can’t last past 15 minutes at this point in his career.
Final Prediction:
Kang wins via decision
UFC Betting Odds
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