Ryan Hall Frustrated At Being ‘Constantly Avoided’, Targeting Korean Zombie Next

UFC featherweight Ryan Hall is fed up of not being able to land a ranked opponent.

Hall has become notorious for being one of the most avoided fighters on the roster. The jiu-jitsu black belt last competed in July last year when he comfortably outpointed Darren Elkins.

He was most recently set to compete against former title challenger Ricardo Lamas in May until the event was called off due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was rescheduled for August only for Hall to pull out due to injury with Lamas retiring after defeating short-notice opponent Bill Algeo.

And since then, the list of fighters turning him down has only increased.

“We came here to fight the best and have been consistently avoided,” Hall told MMA Fighting. “I am unbeaten [in the UFC] and have won each of my fights in one-sided fashion. The narrative that I have or ever would pull out of a fight is false. I signed and trained to fight two times this year, and both fell out at great expense to myself.

“I am not some kind of trained monkey or gimmick who is waiting around to do one-offs against whatever grappling-based fighter people happen to be excited about at a given time. I want the best. Period. I believe that my results justify nothing less.”

Hall had previously called out a number of featherweight contenders who had either turned him down or were unavailable at the time.

That was back in February and the story remains the same for the No. 12-ranked Hall.

“These ‘ranked fighters’ are making Sean Shelby’s job impossible,” Hall said. “It’s at a point where the UFC either needs to force the fighters ahead of me to accept or pay me to retire and leave them in peace. Maybe they can take up a collection.”

Hall’s next target is seemingly The Korean Zombie who is coming off a unanimous decision loss to Brian Ortega last month.

The Korean Zombie is yet to answer the call as of now. But no matter what eventually happens, Hall’s goal is to be active in 2021.

“Ryan is coming after the rankings,” Hall’s manager Nima Safapour said. “Someone either steps up finally or they get called out for running. Their choice but he needs a fight and his goal is to fight three times in 2021. He is focused on getting the title.”

What do you think of Hall’s situation?