After three fights in three months, middleweight contender Uriah Hall has not been in the Octagon since his short notice, unanimous decision loss to Robert Whittaker at UFC 193 last November.

The 32-year-old will make his return to UFC action on Saturday when he faces Derek Brunson in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night Hidalgo.

Despite the long layoff, Hall has not been on the sidelines getting rusty.

"Staying ready, it’s just something I do," Hall told TSN.ca. "You have to fight to the card and I’ve just been fine tuning my skills, the game plan is simple, just go out there and do work."

If doing work is the idea, this will not be any ordinary day at the office.  Standing across from Hall on his return to action will be Brunson who just happens to be on an impressive four fight winning streak, including two consecutive first round TKO victories over Roan Carneiro and Sam Alvey.

Hall feels as though he's got the measure of his opponent.

"The guy is one dimensional, he throws punches, he grabs you and takes you down and lays on you, something like that you just know to be prepared for," said Hall.  "At the same time, you don’t want to take it too lightly.  I’ve just been staying ready."

While Brunson has shown impressive punching power, especially in his last two fights, Hall does not think the Wilmington, North Carolina native wants any part of an exchange of fists and might even have a little surprise in store for his opponent.

"He won’t stand and trade with me, I’m too fast for him," said Hall.  "His best  bet is to try and take me down.  He does not want to stand with me, I guarantee you that."

"I’m ready for wherever he takes the fight, I’m confident in my wrestling defence I’ll probably take him down and beat him at his own game, that’s my initial game plan but we’ll see what happens."

Since his last bout in the very crowded UFC middleweight division, the title has changed hands twice arranging and rearranging the balance of power in one of the promotions toughest classes.  With a victory in Hidalgo, Hall sees himself right near the top with the elite fighters at 185 pounds.

"It definitely puts me in title contention, maybe I’ll fight one more time after this depending on who is in front," said Hall.  "Maybe the winner of the Chris (Weidman) and Yoel (Romero) fight, maybe if Machida comes back."

"I’m just playing the game and apparently since they put numbers on you, you just have to go through the numbers, but it will definitely put me up there and if the big boys want to come at me again, I don’t mind."

Hall was scheduled to face the biggest of the big boys at UFC 198 where he was supposed to meet Anderson Silva before gallbladder surgery forced the UFC legend off the card.  While he understands the business matters surrounding the fight, he would love to eventually reschedule his date with one of the best of all-time.

"If it happens it happens, I know Anderson is in a different place right now, they’re more looking at big fights like GSP or big names and I get it, it’s more like let’s have fun and test my abilities," said Hall.

"It pays, it’s politics and you have to play the game and I know that because I’ve offered to go there and all I hear is that they want to fight big names.  I mean he fought Cormier and how much time did he prepare for that? Three days?"

One regret Hall has is that loss to Whittaker in Australia, after taking the short notice fight his health began to unravel, which led to a lack luster performance and the reason he took a little extended time outside of the cage.

"I did not want to take that fight to be honest, my manager kept pushing it," said Hall.   "After fighting Gegard (Mousasi) it was three weeks after, I trained for seven camps that year and my body was  like ‘no way’ but as a fighter you have pride so I said let’s just get it over with.  It couldn’t have gone any worse, when I walked into Australia I caught a staph infection in my toe and I kept it on the hush because I don’t complain, I’ve fought with many injuries before."

"I was never at my best, I would love to go up against Whittaker again.  I’m not going to hate on the kid he had a good game plan and kept a good tempo, but I wasn’t at my best so it is what it is."

In a division as crowded as middleweight, moving in the rankings and earning your spot is as important as it is anywhere in the UFC.   Therefore you would think there would  be bitterness when the 12th ranked fighter jumps the queue and gets the next title shot as Dan Henderson will when he takes on title holder Michael Bisping at UFC 204.  Hall, however does not see it that way and hopes Henderson even leaves Manchester with the strap.

"I think Dan deserves it, I‘m a fan of his, I actually met him at UFC 200 we were talking and I have nothing against him, it’s part of the game," said Hall.  "This is the hurt business we all go out there, beat each other up and shakes hands."

"I think he deserves it, he’s been in this sport for a long time and I kinda want to see him knock out Bisping again."