Former World's Strongest Man Eddie Hall made waves in his MMA debut by knocking out the Nefaty brothers at Friday night's World Freak Fight League event.
Strongman Eddie Hall made a high-profile mixed martial arts debut on Friday night, defeating two men in a handicap match.
The 36-year-old Hall was returning to combat sports for the first time since being named the World's Strongest Man in 2017 and losing to arch rival Hafthor “The Mountain” Bjornsson in a World Freak Fight League boxing match in Blackburn. Hall faced off in a two-on-one bout against the Nefertiti brothers, Jamil and Jamel. The bout started slowly, with the brothers fending off Hall for the first two rounds, but the British slugger dominated one of his opponents with a knockout to win in style.
Hall suplexed one of the brothers, slammed him into the ground, ducked the other's attack and knocked the first unconscious with a powerful right hand — a result that was an acquittal for Hall, who had grown frustrated with his brothers' reluctance to fight.
Tensions also flared at the pre-fight press conference when Hall was slapped by one of the brothers, and when security intervened, Hall fought back by throwing someone at the brother.
“I'm going to knock both of my brothers out,” Hall vowed before the fight. “The training is pretty intense. You have double the cardio. You have two eyes, four fists. You have to keep moving. It was really hard to find someone as small as them. My 11-year-old son is bigger than them both combined. I'm going to knock one of them out, and then I'm going to pick him up and knock the other one out with me.”
Meanwhile, the Nefertie brothers expressed their disbelief that Hall agreed to face them. They said: “We were surprised he accepted the fight. We thought he was stronger. He says he'll do this and that but he's slow. We train with professional fighters, not teddy bears like me. After 45 seconds I think he'll either call for help or throw in the towel and start crying.”
After the fight, one of the brothers reflected on the knockout, saying, “It must have been a good punch because I don't remember anything. The crowd was yelling at me so I yelled back: Come on and fuck him, see if you can!”
