Uriah Hall has wanted to quit MMA before.

The uber-talented UFC middleweight has lost to opponents he felt he should’ve beaten. He thought about hanging up his gloves, only to be talked out of it. Much of how Hall is perceived in the industry revolves around his mindset. When it’s on, he’s deadly. When it’s off, the jury’s out.

Hall (13-8 MMA, 6-6 UFC) has had some spectacular wins and suffered disappointing setbacks since his time on “The Ultimate Fighter 17.” But he’s never thought about throwing in the towel mid-fight, which is why his most recent trip to the octagon marked a turning point in his career.

In the middle of a September scrap with the awkward Krzysztof Jotko at UFC Fight Night 116, Hall’s inner voice was telling him to get out of the cage.

“I was ready to quit,” Hall, who next faces Vitor Belfort at UFC Fight Night 124, told MMAjunkie. “I was like, ‘Man, I’m done with this (expletive). What the (expletive) am I doing?’

“All of this was going through my head the whole fight, like, ‘Why am I doing this (expletive)? This (expletive) is stupid.’ I (expletive) have a better job than this. I can be an actor and take fake punches and still get paid.”

In the 1 minute between the fight’s first and second rounds, Hall was in a daze. Coach Eric Nicksick gave him a list of possible moves to try, and he calmed down. Still, when he started fighting in the second, he felt off. More doubts. He got even more frustrated.

“I was like, ‘This dude is awkward as (expletive). I can’t do anything,'” Hall said.

Then, something unique happened.

Hall calls it “thinking body, dancing mind.” Somehow, his mind switched off, and he went on auto-pilot, allowing his body to make the moves for him.

He also calls it a “Dragon Ball Z moment.”

“I literally said, ‘(Expletive) this (expletive), (expletive) you, (expletive) this, (expletive) everybody,’ and I knocked him out.”

When he thought about it later, Hall realized that most of the highlight-reel moments in his career had been proceeded by the same declaration. When he let go, he could see opportunities. He no longer felt paralyzed by limitations.

So, naturally, Hall is trying to find a way to summon that at will. In particular, he is keen on having it for a fighth with Belfort (26-13 MMA, 15-10 UFC), an ex-champ and legend whose decline over the past two years is offset by an ever-present danger. The two co-headline the FS1-televised main card of UFC Fight Night 124 on Jan. 14 at Scottrade Center in St. Louis.

“I tapped into this (feeling) moments of my life,” Hall said. “An Adam Cella moment was that, Dylan Andrews, Gegard (Mousasi) – I would tap into these moments, and I could never control it. And when I tapped into it, I had a glimpse of, ‘I think I know what to do,’ and it’s that (expletive) it moment.”

For more on UFC Fight Night 124, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.