Uriah Hall to Box NFL Running Back Le’Veon Bell on Paul vs. Silva Undercard
Chalk up one more retired Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter switching over to the sweet science.
Per a press release from Showtime and Most Valuable Promotions on Thursday, Uriah Hall (17-11 MMA, 0-0 Box) will be toeing the line against Le'Veon Bell (0-0 Box) in a 195-pound cruiserweight battle on Oct. 29. The former UFC contender and star NFL running back will throw down across four rounds in a professional boxing match. The two will be placed on the pay-per-view portion of the Jake Paul vs. Anderson Silva-helmed fight card. Hall will be making his pro boxing debut, as will Bell, but Bell recently clocked fellow football player Adrian Peterson in an exhibition boxing contest in California.
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Bell was much more confident in his remarks, saying, “As soon as Most Valuable Promotions approached me about joining the Paul-Silva pay-per-view, I told them, ‘I want in,’ and didn’t care who the opponent was. Uriah Hall is going to feel my punching power and tap out like he’s getting submitted. He is not built like me.”
The lone appearance for Bell in a combat environment came against fellow boxing neophyte Peterson in September. After four tentative rounds of their five-round exhibition boxing affair, Hall floored Peterson with a right hand in Round 5. “AP” returned to his feet, but the referee called a halt to the contest due to Peterson’s condition. The longtime Pittsburgh Steeler, one who held out during contract negotiations to ultimately leave the team in 2019, bounced around a few other teams the next few years before his signing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2021. The following year, instead of returning to play football, the 6-foot-1 225-pound Bell declared that he would be transitioning to boxing full-time, and his first pro match will come against an MMA ex-pat.
Paul vs. Silva, a pay-per-view boxing event held on Showtime, will be going down at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Ariz., on Oct. 29. The main attraction will see 5-0 YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul take on legendary MMA fighter Anderson Silva (3-1 Box) at 187 pounds across eight rounds. Other boxing matches lower on the card include an eight-round 133-pound contest between Ashton Sylva and Braulio Rodriguez, and a four-round 185-pound scrap pitting Chris Avila against “Doctor Mike” Mikhail Varshavski.
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