Former world’s strongest man Eddie Hall marked his return to combat sports with a brutal and bizarre win against two people in one fight at Blackburn’s King George’s Hall.
Hall, standing at 6ft 3in and weighing 23.5 stone took on social media superstars the Neffati Brothers in an MMA fight organised by the World Freak Fight League.
It marked the 36-year-old’s return to combat sports after his defeat to strongman rival Hafthor ‘The Mountain’ Bjornsson in a boxing match two years ago.
Hall, who was born in Staffordshire, squared off to Jamil and Jamel Neffati, who have 19 million followers on TikTok.
The Polish-born brothers were hugely outweighed by their giant opponent – Hall weighed in at 26.2 stone while the brothers’ combined weight was just 20.7 stone in comparison.
A slow start to the fight saw the first two rounds go by without much happening, with the brothers largely refusing to engage and Hall not able to catch them.
In round three though, the brothers went for it, which became a problem when Hall picked one of them up and slammed him into the floor.
The fight was briefly stopped so the Neffati on the floor could be checked and carried out of the cage before the fight continued.
Hall then dropped the other brother and a takedown and a ground strike later, the referee put a stop to the fight and declared Hall the winner.
Among the other bouts on the evening was Ed Sheeran lookalike Ty Jones, aka ‘Sheeranator’, taking on Stormzy lookalike Papa Snow.
Ben Hatchett and Megan Olivia faced Whitney and Joel Ainscough in a couple's fight, while Salim Chiboub and Radoslaw Wolan also fought.
In the ‘No Time Limit’ category, Kamil Jagielski came up against Myles Raksu, the ‘OG Freak Fight’ saw Jakub Szymanski battle Tadeas Vesely, and ‘Mixed Rules’ featured pro boxer Jack Fay vs MMA pro Chris Fishgold.
Prior to the showdown, Blackburn with Darwen councillor Zamir Khan said: “I think it’s great. I’d love to see more of these events come to Blackburn.
“I remember when I was a kid, I went to watch Giant Haystacks fight Big Daddy, so it’s nice to have something to bring back these events with national coverage.
“Of course, I’d love to see more of these fights because why not?”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel