Ryan Hall knew he’d fight again
“No. Right before I fought Ilia Topuria in 2021, I got fallen on then, I went 15 years completely bulletproof,” Hall said. “I ended up getting fallen on and tore my hip right before that fight and I didn’t know how much that really affected me. At that point, it was 17 years of combat sports, so you spend all that time competing and training. The same thing that makes you tough can do you in. The big one recently was I had a torn shoulder.
“Getting that all fixed as well has been huge,” Hall added. “It’s been interesting because more than half of the surgeries I have had are ‘Oops, we screwed that one up, let’s do that again.’ I had six elbow surgeries and five knee surgeries. As a patient, you can’t vet doctors and medical staff. There was a period of time when I was in daily pain, but being on the back side, I never lost hope that I’d be back.”
Despite all the injuries, Ryan Hall says he’s getting close to returning. He envisions an early 2025 return. But, he does say the layoff has been frustrating, especially looking at where he could be in the division.
“I had long stretches of time that no one would fight me. I’d get declined. Turns out, your only loss is under difficult circumstances (to the champ). I had a bunch of injuries going into that fight, and he’s a great fighter,” Hall said. “The only fight you have lost is to the current champ. I had just signed on to fight Pat Sabatini and that’s when I tore my ACL. That was the beginning of this saga. It is frustrating because you think of what could be or what could have been.”