Uriah Hall vs. Jacare Souza Preview, Odds and Prediction

The bout between Uriah Hall and Ronald “Jacare” Souza is a must-win situation for both of these fighters. Whoever loses will be removed from the top echelon of the division. Hall won some fights but that didn’t convince the majority of fans and the UFC executives that he deserves a more important match, while on the other side, Souza’s record is pretty disappointing in the last several contests.

Preview

Hall (+100) is a guy who won three of his past four fights. However, in one match where he had a top rival opposite to him, the veteran lost easily. It was a TKO stoppage against Paulo Costa, who would later defeat Yoel Romero and keep his perfect record of 13 wins in a row. Hall (15-9) is a kickboxer whose striking potential is huge, and most of his victories came via KO (11 of them). He defeated Krzystof Jotko and Bevon Lewis after knockouts, and in the latest bout, Antonio Carlos Junior, via split decision. According to many he didn’t deserve to win that one. The Prime Tima as the fans call him, is putting a lot into this event, and if by any chance he manages to win, we might expect to see him in some big battle, maybe even a title-eliminator. It is something he craves for, and if this happens, Dana White could decide to throw him into the fire.

Souza (-130) is coming into this one as a favorite. For many, this is a questionable decision, because of three defeats over the last four battles. But the public needs to know that all three losses came via decision, and that two of them ended in a split decision. The most recent against Jan Blachowicz was more than controversial, with many experts claiming that it was the Brazilian who won the bout. Jacare lost to Kevin Gastelum, then defeated Chris Weidman, losing to Jack Hermansson afterward, via unanimous decision. As we said, his last fight was in November, when he had a clash with Blachowicz, who is now challenging Jon Jones. Arguably one of the best grapplers right now, is on the verge of sinking down to the lower tier of this sport and needs to win here in order to stop his decline.

Prediction

Souza left a much better impression in his fights than Hall did. On top of everything, his rivals were far more serious than Prime Time’s. We truly believe that Jacare has more weapons to hurt Hall, and that even though many doubt his age and physical state, he is in better shape than the Jamaican fighter. We predict to see a slow and cautious fight in the first round and then, as time goes by, to witness Jacare’s grappling skills making an advantage. Hall is an excellent guy in standup, but his battle on the canvas is far less inferior than Souza’s. All this simply forces us to bet on Souza to win and stop his decline in the UFC rankings. He still has enough power to breach very good defenses, and restrain his rivals, and our vote goes to him winning on Saturday.