Digital Social Hour
From Homelessness to UFC: A Fighter’s Rise & Fall | Uriah Hall DSH #1202
Tue, 25 Feb 2025
From homelessness to UFC stardom and everything in between! 🥋💥 In this raw and riveting episode of the Digital Social Hour, Sean Kelly sits down with Uriah Hall to uncover the untold story of his rise from eating out of garbage cans to becoming a UFC sensation. Hear firsthand about his greatest fights, struggles with mental health, the politics of fighting, and his life after stepping out of the octagon. 🥊✨ Uriah gets real about the highs and lows of fame, the fight for authenticity in a world obsessed with influencers, and his journey of self-discovery after retirement. From the brutal realities of weight cuts to training with legends, this episode is packed with valuable insights and unfiltered honesty. 🧠🔥 Don't miss out on this inspiring and eye-opening conversation! 🙌 Watch now and subscribe for more insider secrets. 📺 Hit that subscribe button and stay tuned for more powerful stories on the Digital Social Hour with Sean Kelly! 🚀🔥 CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Training for Life 01:02 - Boxing Corruption and Rigging 06:06 - Struggles with Suicide After Retirement 10:21 - Growing Up in Poverty in Jamaica 15:14 - Experiencing Homelessness in NYC 20:05 - Tom Aspinall's Journey 22:10 - Insights from The Ultimate Fighter 26:59 - Challenges of a Bad Weight Cut 33:05 - UFC 189: Sean Strickland Analysis 34:30 - Decision to Retire from UFC 36:20 - Impact of Technology on Society 41:20 - Addressing Racism in America 44:07 - Future Plans and Next Steps 45:30 - Learning to Fight Through Video Games 47:24 - Finding Uriah: Where to Look APPLY TO BE ON THE PODCAST: https://www.digitalsocialhour.com/application BUSINESS INQUIRIES/SPONSORS: [email protected] GUEST: Uriah Hall https://www.instagram.com/uriahhall/ https://linktr.ee/uriahhall LISTEN ON: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/digital-social-hour/id1676846015 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5Jn7LXarRlI8Hc0GtTn759 Sean Kelly Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanmikekelly/ #mmanews #ufcweighin #wzzm13news #ufc #joerogan
Chapter 1: What challenges did Uriah Hall face in his UFC career?
I remember going, ah, man, I used to train with Sean. I don't even want to fight Sean. Not right now. He's ranked 13. At least give me top five. I'm eight. Something, something, something. You got to do it. UFC doesn't like when you say no. And I'm like, all right, I'll do it. And it's right there. I checked out. Because I didn't want to do it.
Hey, there he is. We got your eye hall here today, fresh off a training session. That's right. Let's go, man. What you training for? For life, bro. Yeah?
I'm fat after I retired a little bit, you know? It's one of those cases where I see a lot of people let themselves go. A bunch of my friends, I'm not going to say who. But I didn't want to fall into that category. And it's so easy to just go down that spiral. You follow a routine. And I'm good with structure. So out here in Vegas, I decided to just go to PI.
A friend just invited me, which is weird because I'm the guest. I used to bring the guests. Now I'm the guest.
Yeah, times have changed. Yeah, I saw you say on another show you were 230 pounds. You had to lose 30 pounds in, what, three weeks for that last boxing match you had?
Oh, yeah, for, what's his name, Julio?
Yeah.
Julio Cesar Savage.
That's nuts.
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Chapter 2: Is boxing rigged according to Uriah Hall?
I take nothing away.
I saw you say about the fight, you felt like boxing's pretty rigged overall, right?
Oh, fuck yes, rigged, dude. I mean, come on, man. so many politics, even with, you know, MMA, man, it's so many politics. It's gone away from the art. There's no more art anymore. It's just, let's get an influencer in there. Let's, I get it. It's like generating money because our attention span is so short. You know, you look at clips now, it's like seven seconds.
You know, I saw a dude slamming a lady the other day. And they were like, oh my God, that dude is, I'm like, well, what the bitch do? I'm just going to pick somebody and slam them. You know, where's the whole video? And our attention span is just so small. So money talks, of course. Yeah, let's get an influencer in there who has no fucking style, but it draws attention. It's just dumb to me.
I agree though. You see people get arrested on social media, but you don't see what leads up to that arrest.
Nothing. But that's how I personally feel we're just dumbing down if we're not careful. And God forbid you speak the truth. Oh, shut up. Oh, you're not with us. Like, bro, it's called freedom of speech. This is America, man. This shit is built on that. You can't even be yourself anymore. So I try to separate myself and just step away from all of this.
Did you feel pretty censored when you were fighting professionally of what you could say publicly?
Not too much, but I knew that a lot of fighters get certain type of treatments. You know, before I left the UFC, I was trying to fight this guy named Darren Till. Yeah. And they were protecting the fuck out of him. I mean, he was in Abu Dhabi training. I'm trying to get the fight. He was ranked six. I was ranked eight. He lost four in a row. I won four in a row.
I'm like, how the fuck is he ahead of me? Don't get me started on the ranking system. I don't even know who's in charge of that. But I'm trying to fight him. You know, he has a big name, big following in Britain or whatever. And I'm like, I can take him out because I'm trying to get the title contingency.
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Chapter 3: How did Uriah Hall overcome struggles after retirement?
I'm getting paid. So your father stayed back when you came to New York?
Yeah. I mean, you know, I don't talk to him as much, but he's still down there. It's changed, man. All my friends are literally dead. Whoa. I'm pretty sure if I was there, I'd be dead too.
In Jamaica, they're dead?
In Jamaica. Wow. Almost everybody I grew up with, you know, the culture is a little different. Again, it's home. I can't sit here and be like, fuck, I can't, you know, it's my home. It's my heritage, but it's changed so much. You know, guys, let me go on down there. I don't see myself playing a hero of respect, you know, because it's such a high level poverty.
It's not everywhere, of course, because there's some rich areas, not just wealthy in money, but just wealthy in a cultural perspective. But it's just changed. And I left when I was 13, so I don't remember shit. My mom, she goes there all the time. She's a badass. She's the sweetest lady in the world. She's like, I'm going down there.
I think women have it a little easier, right?
Yeah, but I don't know, man. Media, bro. You know, you see some things... from a different perspective, at least here to have rights where you can't just, you know, be doing me too stuff. You know, I've never done any stuff like that, so. But I just know stuff like that happened. I've had friends that talk to me and say they've been harassed. I'm like, what?
And it sucks, you know, to be violated and not being able to have the courage to speak up. You know, it sucks. I know if something like that happened to my mom, my sister, I'm going to jail. It's not even a conversation. Like, who did it? Okay, I'm going to jail. But it sucks a lot of women can't even speak about stuff like that. They got to kind of live with it.
Yeah, there's always going to be that human abuse of power, right?
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Chapter 4: What was Uriah Hall's experience growing up in Jamaica?
Yeah, I'm like, and then it doesn't intrigue me anymore and then I don't show up. So now it's like, oh, you're right, it has a mental problem. Now you can say, well, that is a mental, no, it's not, motherfucker. Do you fight? Do you see other fighters saying that? No other fighters say that. It's just dumb idiots that don't fight say that. Or jujitsu dorks.
But it's, you know, those fights that I didn't want to take, I lost. You know, you argue with the matchmaker. I don't want to do this fight, man. This makes no sense. Because in my mind, I'm like, I'm trying to get to the title of contingency. Oh, we got to give you this grappler. I don't know. but he's going to try to hold me. I'm not scared of him, but I know their game.
Ain't no grappler going to fight me. They're going to try to hug me and shit. It's a boring fight to watch. It's a boring fight. It's a fight, but it's a, come on, bro. We're here to fight. We're going to hug. And nothing against jiu-jitsu because, you know, I have a jiu-jitsu coach, but I just know that style. It's not there to fight. It's there to win. Yeah.
And right before the last two fights in the UFC, that's when I was trying to get Darren Till. And they were protecting him. They didn't want to give him to them. And I was ranked eight. And I knew, I knew if I beat him, I would get, I would be top, I would be five. And if you're top five, that's automatic title contingency. You either fight one, two, three, four.
And, you know, to me, that's like right there. So I'm trying to just do it from a business standpoint. Didn't want to give me him. And that's when they gave me Sean Strickland. And I remember going, ah, man, I used to train with Sean. I don't even want to fight Sean. Not right now. He's ranked 13. At least give me top five. I'm eight. Something, something, something. You got to do it.
UFC doesn't like when you say no. And I'm like, all right, I'll do it. And it's right there. I checked out because I didn't want to do it. Now, the worst thing that happened that night was I was in the hospital because I had a bad weight cut. which we kept on the wraps. Cause you don't want to lose the money. Yeah. Cause if you don't fight, you don't get paid. Right. So I was in ICU.
I, I, I had a, I did salt bath the week before. And if you know, salt bath, you pull out the water. Yeah. And you know, my, my coach helped me realize this. He was like, yeah, you shouldn't have done that because if you're going to cut the weight that week, you did this before you took out more water than you should have. But I was doing it for recovery. And yeah,
Fight week, I'm cutting the weight, and around 187, 188, I was like, oh, man, I'm feeling so well. It's got to be 185. And I'm like, shit, I know this feeling. But I toughed it out. You don't fight. And after the weigh-ins, I mean, I remember looking at Sean going, oh shit, man, I'm about to collab. But I'm not showing it. Wow. You were that weak? I was so weak. I was faking it.
I mean, I was faking it. I deserve an Oscar for that. I was faking it. And then we got back to the hotel and my coach was like, you know, just take a nap. I'm like, coach, I don't feel good. He's like, just, just take a sleep, blah, blah, blah. I'm like, nah, man, I know this feeling. I don't feel good. He's like, all right, let me check back with you in 10, 20 minutes. Came back.
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Chapter 5: How did homelessness in NYC shape Uriah Hall?
Okay.
It's going to be interesting to see how the UFC pivots with a lot of guys in your era retiring now.
It is what it is, man. It took me a long time to...
really understand it but it's a chapter and your life is just a story and I think the moment you realize that it has no power over you and for a long time I was ruled by that because when you're in the world like a lot of UFC athletes like oh this is it no it's not it's a part of your story I'm not going to bash them there are great people that I still talk to in UFC I just understand how it works it's a business if you don't look at it like a business if you try to bring that compassion all that bullshit
It's not about that anymore. Maybe back in the 90s and all that, but now it's just straight business. How much money can we get? Can you bring money in? What's good about you that make people want to watch you?
That's it. That's it. Yeah, your expectations will be let down.
But I tell you what, they do treat, when it comes to like everything organized wise, that's what they're really good at because other promotions, Night and day, bro. Yeah. Just to like do stuff behind the scenes or interviews and all that. They're very orchestrated when it comes to stuff like that. That's why I love them.
They put on great events.
Oh, they do. But just like lining everything up to making sure you get everything that you need as an athlete. But all the promotions, like what the fuck am I doing?
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Chapter 6: What is Uriah Hall's view on the politics of fighting?
We don't have time to be racist. We got shit to do. Motherfuckers in Texas got no time, bro. Some of these folks haven't left the state. They is just Texas.
And they're like 10th generation too.
Yeah. Now, Texas is, you know, I got some good stuff. But it's like, bro, have you left the state? You don't get out much, do you? And, you know, I deal with some racist stuff. There's a place called Holland Park. which is five minutes away from me, I can't walk around that neighborhood. I mean, you just feel it. If I, I mean, it's very white, but if I walk around that neighborhood, bro,
They'd be like, all right, this dude's up to something. Damn. I got to dress a certain way. It's so fucked up. I went for a run one time and I had to change my outfit just to look like an athlete. Yeah, because it was around the time somebody got killed. This gentleman that was jogging and he got killed by his dad and son. And I had to rethink that.
It's just some people just so, again, I understand, but it's like, bro, what fucking century do you live in? Yeah. To think you're the only thing that matters. How big this fucking planet is, bro? I just don't understand racism. That's nuts. I know how to deal with them though. Cause fuck them up. It's just, it's sad to me.
Yeah. That's crazy.
I'm a grown man. I'm still dealing with racism. So that's why I say, yeah, I always just be a black man.
Yeah. That's crazy.
Even on the plane, bro. I was on first class and this motherfucker was like, I don't, I don't want to get on that no fight list. So yeah.
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