Top ranked UFC middleweight Gegard Mousasi has been on a tear of the UFC middleweight division over the course of 2016. Mousasi kicked off the year by defeating Thales Leites at ‘UFC Fight Night: London’ in February, before making it 2-straight wins as he KO’d Thiago Santos on the UFC Fight Pass prelims of UFC 200 in July.
In his most recent Octagon outing, Mousasi TKOd former UFC champion Vitor Belfort in the co-main event of UFC 204 in Manchester, England, back in October, cementing his place near the top of a stacked UFC middleweight division.
This weekend, Mousasi will have the chance to avenge his most recent loss on his record, a 2015 highlight reel TKO loss to Uriah Hall at ‘UFC Fight Night: Japan’ where he was on the wrong end of a back kick which ultimately resulted in a TKO loss.
Ahead of his rematch with Hall, Mousasi weighed-in on the bout, explaining to Fox Sports:
“He won fair and square. I’m not going to take anything away from him. I respect him for giving me the rematch. It’s a fight, anything can happen. Anything can happen in this fight, but I’m not going to go be too aggressive, over committing, I believe nothing will go wrong this time. I have something to put straight,” Mousasi told FOX Sports. “Not so much against Uriah Hall but you have people who are sitting and just waiting for you to fail so they can have a laugh. So it’s more to set straight something with the idiots who don’t know anything about the sport.
“I’ve got nothing against him. He’s probably a nice guy but I want my revenge. It’s more personal but not against Uriah Hall. It’s against people that thought that he’s the better fighter.”
While Mousasi is on a 3-fight winning streak that has seen him land at #5 on the UFC’s official middleweight rankings, Hall is currently on a 2-fight skid that has seen him drop to #10 on the UFC’s rankings. With that being said, Mousasi understands this is a risky fight:
“It’s something more personal. I’ve got nothing to gain, it’s a risky fight for me actually because I’m fighting Uriah Hall,” Mousasi said. “I could go fight somebody in the top four and go fight for the title right away. So I’m going to take two fights to get to a title shot instead of one guy to get to a title shot. It’s more taking an extra risk just to get even.
“I have to put this right and make everyone know that I’m coming for the title. I’m almost there.”