Eddie Hall has revealed he was originally set to be involved in a huge MMA event alongside Brian Shaw, Martyn Ford and Mitchell Hooper – only for the entire plan to collapse after he had already spent six months training.
The former World’s Strongest Man has thrown himself into the fighting world since stepping away from elite Strongman, most notably facing Hafthor Bjornsson in the boxing ring.
Hall has since moved into MMA, but his first plans for the cage were supposed to look very different.
Speaking to Generation Iron, Hall explained that he initially wanted another fight with Bjornsson following their boxing bout, but eventually decided to look elsewhere.
“I tried to get the rematch pretty quick. Thor didn’t want it, so I sort of moved on,” he said.
That decision eventually led Hall towards an unexpected opportunity to compete in MMA.
“I had an opportunity, it was a very weird opportunity, a couple years ago now, to fight in MMA,” he said.
It wasn’t going to be a straightforward one-on-one event either.
Hall revealed that fellow Strongman giants Shaw and Hooper were involved in the plans, alongside actor and bodybuilder Ford.
“I was going to fight Brian Shaw, Martyn Ford and Mitchell Hooper. Actually, it was a big deal,” he said.
Hall doesn’t specify in the interview exactly how the proposed event would have been structured or who would have fought who, but he was serious enough about the opportunity to commit himself fully to preparing for MMA.
“So, I signed on the dotted line, got training, did six months of MMA training,” he said.
However, after putting half a year into learning a completely different fighting discipline, Hall was dealt a major blow when the event never happened.
“That got cancelled, and I was like, I’ve just done six months. You wasted six months of my life,” he said.
Rather than walking away from MMA altogether, Hall decided he needed to put everything he had learned into practice.
“I was like, I can’t waste this. You know, I’ve learned so much, I need to put it into action,” he said.
That ultimately resulted in Hall targeting another legendary name from the strongman world – five-time World’s Strongest Man Mariusz Pudzianowski.
“So, I picked a fight with Mariusz Pudzianowski, who is five-time World’s Strongest Man and a good fighter as well,” he said.
Hall was under no illusions about the challenge he had taken on, describing Pudzianowski as one of the toughest opponents he could find.
“He was no slouch. He was a hard motherfucker. So, I picked a fight with one of the biggest, hardest motherfuckers I could find, really,” he said.
A year later, Hall finally got the opportunity to put his MMA training to use.
“A year later, I was in an octagon with Mariusz and we were scrapping,” he said.
The contest didn’t last long.
“I actually knocked him out in 28 seconds. So, that was a good bout,” he said.
What began as six months of preparation for an MMA event involving Shaw, Ford and Hooper ultimately sent Hall down an entirely different path – and towards a 28-second finish against one of strongman’s most decorated champions.
Featured image credit: The Good, The Bad & The Beast / YouTube / Eddie Hall / Instagram
