Uriah Hall (photo via UFC)

By Kelsey Mowatt

Uriah Hall has learned during his UFC run that fan support and critical acclaim can be tenuous, which is why he isn’t paying to the renewed buzz that is following him into UFC 193.

In 2013, Hall was routinely making headlines, due to several, vicious stoppage wins he scored during TUF 17. The middleweight was decisioned by Kelvin Gastelum in the finals, however, and then Hall proceeded to lose to John Howard. Hall proceeded to score three straight wins, but this past May, he lost via split decision to Rafael Natal.

Hall rebounded in impressive fashion, however, and went on to stop Oluwale Bamgbose and Gegard Mousasi. The win over the latter was particularly compelling, since Hall put away the renowned veteran in highlight reel fashion. As a result, many people are talking once again about Hall’s contender potential, as he gets set to face Robert Whittaker at UFC 193.

Recently the dangerous striker spoke to UFC.com, and while discussing his refilled bandwagon, Hall (12-5) stated:

“I ignore the f**k out of it,” Hall said before laughing. “It goes back to the TUF days with the bandwagon, and after I lost, it was ‘oh, he’s not what we thought.’ So it’s back to the bandwagon again, but I don’t pay attention to it. I’ve always tried to be like that, where I don’t care about the fame. For me, it’s more of a personal, individual journey. All this could be taken away just like that. And when you realize that and focus more on you, you focus on what you want to do and the tasks that are ahead of you. And I see different outcomes. I see me inspiring and helping other people. Yeah, you have people out there saying get this money, and the followers, and the media, and great success comes behind it, but I see the craziness behind that. I’m gonna pave my way and I’m gonna be the only dude that’s real and I’m gonna always keep it real. I’m not gonna sell out myself and I’m not selling out my friends, especially my friends, because they’re the ones that have been there for me through thick and thin.”

In Whittaker (14-4), Hall will face a fighter who has won three straight, and is coming off a KO win over Brad Tavares. The Australian has gone 5-2 in the UFC to date.

UFC 193 will be hosted by Melbourne, Australia, and in the main event, bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey will take on Holly Holm.