Uriah Hall vs. Sean Strickland Shifts to July 31 UFC Fight Night Card Headliner

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A pair of streaking middleweights will now serve in a Ultimate Fighting Championship headliner instead of on the main card of a pay-per-view.

In May, the 185-pound matchup between Uriah Hall (17-9) and Sean Strickland (23-3) came to light. The ranked contender pairing was set to take place at UFC 265 on Aug. 7, but instead, per ESPN on Thursday night, it has been moved to sit atop the July 31 UFC Fight Night event. This event will most likely be held in the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

Both Hall and Strickland are coming into their battle on four-fight win streaks. In his own stretch, Hall knocked out Bevon Lewis and Anderson Silva before facing Chris Weidman. Against the former champ, Hall checked a leg kick and Weidman’s leg broke, which earned Hall a knockout without needing to throw a strike. A finish rate of 82 percent accompanies “Primetime” into this high-stakes middleweight tilt.

The victorious four-fight stretch for the rejuvenated Strickland has seen him knock out Nordine Taleb and Brendan Allen in the last two and a half years. A motorcycle accident knocked him out action for a time, but since his recovery, he has rattled off a trio of wins over Jack Marshman, the aforementioned Allen, and most recently, Krzysztof Jotko in May. Two of those three bouts for the ex-welterweight did take place in catchweights, as Marshman came in heavy and his match with Allen was held at 195 pounds.

The unnumbered UFC Fight Night card on July 31 is expected to take place inside the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The Hall-Strickland headliner is the first bout on the card that currently contains 10 fights that has a ranked competitor. Other interesting tilts include a featherweight scrap between Doo Ho Choi and Danny Chavez, as well as a welterweight clash pitting Bryan Barberena against Jason Witt.