Hall vs. Minner planned for UFC 269

Hall recently suffered the first knockout loss of his professional career. 

A featherweight fight between two submission specialists is being planned for UFC 269 in December.

Farah Hannoun and Mike Bohn of MMA Junkie have reported that Ryan Hall and Darrick Minner have verbally agreed to fight on the final pay-per-view event of the year. Fight agreements are expected to be signed soon. UFC 269 does not have a location or venue set, but it is likely that it will take place in Las Vegas at the T-Mobile Arena.

Hall was recently defeated for the first time inside of the Octagon after he was knocked out by Ilia Topuria at UFC 264 earlier this year. The ‘Wizard’ previously earned four consecutive wins over Artem Lobov, Gray Maynard, B.J. Penn and Darren Elkins since joining the promotion nearly 6 years ago, but often struggled with remaining active. Injuries led to a lot of fight cancelations over the past several years until he was finally booked against Topuria.

Minner made his promotional debut on short-notice last year and was submitted by Grant Dawson via second-round rear-naked choke at UFC Fight Night: Benavidez vs. Figueiredo. He rebounded from the loss to Dawson with wins over T.J. Laramie and Charles Rosa at UFC Fight Night: Covington vs. Woodley and UFC Fight Night: Blaydes vs. Lewis respectively. His two-fight win streak was recently snapped, however, as Minner was knocked out by Darren Elkins at UFC on ESPN: Sandhagen vs. Dillashaw.

UFC 269 currently has a few fights on its lineup, with championship fights in the women’s bantamweight and flyweight division already confirmed. Amanda Nunes will defend her title against Julianna Peña, while Brandon Moreno meets Deiveson Figueiredo for the third time.