The middleweight dedicated his victory to his sister with a touching address.
The big news coming out of Saturday night’s UFC 232 pay per view spectacular was that Jon Jones overcame all of the negative media attention to emerge as the new UFC light heavyweight champion.
Jones soundly defeated Alexander Gustafsson to reclaim the belt that Daniel Cormier previously vacated. Jones then issued a challenge to his fierce rival, even if it felt half-hearted enough.
The new champion has been the subject of much criticism over the past week as UFC 232 was moved from Las Vegas to Los Angeles in order to keep two title fights intact on the card.
Jones was found to have trace amounts of a steroid metabolite in his system during a test carried out on 9 December, with the Nevada State Athletic Commission subsequently unwilling to grant the fighter a license.
Thus the card was moved to Los Angeles, where Jones was given clearance.
Not the best look for UFC all told, but at least one man emerged as something of a hero on the night.
Step forward middleweight fighter Uriah Hall, who was looking to turn his fortunes around following several major losses over the past few years.
In the end, Hall would knock out his opponent Bevon Lewis with a devastating punch out of nowhere in the third round during their Fight Pass prelim clash.
ONE shot! @UriahHallMMA closes the show in the 3rd with a beautiful counter right hand! What a comeback win! #UFC232 pic.twitter.com/LY1gt8zUA6
— UFC (@ufc) December 30, 2018
After the fight, he went one better, giving up his moment for someone else who he felt needed it more – his sister.
Taking the microphone from Joe Rogan, Hall explained that his sister is struggling with depression and he wanted to dedicate his performance to her.
“To be honest, I wasn’t fighting for me tonight,” began an emotional Hall.
“I’m actually fighting for my sister. She’s battling depression and it’s been a really rough time for her. She’s such an incredible human being and I know depression is something that’s going on in the world right now.
“And I just want to let you know that I love you and this world would not be the same without you. You’re one of the best to ever do what you do. I’ve failed so many times on the big stage and I know life is hard, but for the same reason you said keep standing, I’m going to keep standing up because tonight was about you.
“I love you so much,” Hall concluded.
"I wasn't fighting for me tonight. I was fighting for my sister."@UriahHallMMA with an emotional Octagon speech. #UFC232 pic.twitter.com/Vuwjd0Fzrl
— UFC (@ufc) December 30, 2018
A really classy move.
Later, he spoke with MMA Fighting and noted that he wasn’t looking for sympathy.
“I knew what I had to do and I used it in motivation. My sister wrote a song called ‘Keep Standing’ and that’s why I walked out to it.
“She said she was inspired to write that song when I broke my toe, but the funny thing is that I’m inspired by that song to fight. It works so perfectly for us.
“She’s accomplished so much in her life; she’s married with kids… and we’ve seen people that go through depression – someone like Robin Williams where you’d never have thought in a million years that someone like that who is so happy and when something like that happens, I’m like, ‘Oh, that sucks’.
“But when it’s happening to someone I care about it’s like, ‘Wow, it’s really real’ and people are really going through this.”
Clip via MMA Fighting
Elsewhere at UFC 232, Ryan Hall submitted BJ Penn with one of the most incredible manoeuvres you’ll ever see, so do check that out below, too:
The first man to EVER submit BJ Penn.
Wow, @RyanHall5050 #UFC232 pic.twitter.com/dCvhlVBP0g
— UFC (@ufc) December 30, 2018
