Gegard Mousasi on Uriah Hall Rematch: ‘It’s Time for Payback’ | MMAWeekly.com

Fifth-ranked middleweight Gegard Mousasi is riding a three-fight winning streak. He’s 5-1 in his last six fights. The lone loss during that stretch was to Uriah Hall in September 2015, but Mousasi has the chance at redemption when he faces Hall for the second time at UFC Fight Night Belfast on Saturday.

“For me, it’s a good fight. I don’t have a lot to gain, but to put something straight. It’s a risky fight for me, but every fight is risky. I’m going to go out and prove that I’m the better fighter,” Mousasi told MMAWeekly.com.

In their first fight, Mousasi won the opening round, but ducked into a spinning back kick in the opening seconds of the second frame. Hall followed with a flying knee and became the first fighter to knock Mousasi out. “The Dreamcatcher” doesn’t plan on making the same mistake in the rematch.

“I’m not going to make the same mistakes that I did the first time. Once you fight a guy, you feel his strengths; you feel the way he fights,” he said.

“In that fight, I wanted to just go to him, just destroy him. I’m not going to make the mistake. It’s going to be a calm and collected fight. I’m going to pick my shots. If it goes five rounds, it goes. If a knockout comes, I’ll finish him. I’m going to fight smarter this fight.”

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Mousasi doesn’t take anything away from Hall’s win over him, but believes that he’s the better fighter and plans on proving that on Saturday.

“He won fair-and-square. I’m just saying that I’m the better fighter,” he said. “Do I believe that something like that is going to happen again? No, I don’t think so. I’ve never been knocked out in my career. I have good reaction. I have a good chin. It’s time for payback.”

The fight with Hall will only be the second rematch in Mousasi’s 48-fight career. It’s a fight that he wanted, asked for, and received.

“This is the fight that I wanted and they gave it to me,” said Mousasi. “I said that I want to rematch Uriah Hall, or fight Anderson Silva. I said, if those fights don’t happen, I’d like to fight Chris Weidman or Luke Rockhold.”

Mousasi plans to fight smart in the rematch and possibly take Hall into the deep waters of the fourth and fifth rounds.

“I’m going to fight smart. If the finish comes, it comes. If not, then it goes five rounds, and I don’t believe that he’s going to look good after five rounds,” he said.

“I don’t believe that he’s going to be able to go five rounds. After four or five, he’s going to be fatigued, and I’m going to be able to do whatever I want.”

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