Birmingham native Jake ‘White Kong’ Hadley announced to the world on 12th December 2020 on why he should be competing in the UFC.
The flyweight secured the Cage Warriors Gold in a unanimous decision against then-undefeated champion Luke Shanks, with the official scorecards reading 50-42, 50-45 and 50-44 to a then 24-year-old Hadley.
Having made his Cage Warriors debut back in September 2020, you can be forgiven if you’re not familiar with Hadley. Having started his amateur career in 2014, Hadley went 7-2 before getting into the paid ranks in 2018. Winning his first three fights, all in the first round on the local scene, Hadley went out into enemy territory to South African promotion Extreme Fighting Championship Worldwide (EFC) for a shot at the EFC worldwide flyweight belt.
Up against the reigning flyweight champion, Nkazimulo’ Zulu Boy’ Zulu (11-2) Hadley (3-0) held more than his own for the entire five rounds and became the new EFC Flyweight Champion via unanimous decision. With no time to defend his belt, Hadley’s next assignment was for promotion Bellator 227 in Dublin, where he faced Blaine O’Driscoll, with the win coming in round three via RNC for Hadley.
Fighting out of Team Fearless MMA in Birmingham, Hadley has a wealth of Birmingham/Wolverhampton athletes to train with, including current UFC signee Jai Herbert, former UFC signee Tom Breese, Bellator signees’ Dan Cassell and Fabian Edwards and currently ranked number 3 UFC welterweight Leon Edwards.
They prove that you don’t necessarily have to go to the United States to get quality training to improve their skills.
It has always been made a “big thing” that British fighters have the disadvantage when it comes to the wrestling aspect of MMA, hence the jump over the pond to learn more skills. Hadley has thus far proven that the UK is the place to be.
Cage Warriors has been a proven springboard for UK fighters to go straight to the UFC, with the likes of Michael Bisping, Conor McGregor and latest signee Ian Garry; however, now with “The Ultimate Fighter” and “Dana White’s Contender Series” there are other avenues that can increase the potential in having your talents recognised by the UFC.
With having no immediate call up to the UFC, Hadley secured a position on “Dana White’s Contender Series”, initially slotted for 21st September 2021. However, Hadley’s Twitter account announced on 25th August 2021 that his bout was off. Nevertheless, Hadley continued training, and a new date was announced for “Dana White’s Contender Series”, 12th October 2021.
As with all “Dana White’s Contender Series” athletes thus far, Dana White has two rules 1) No contract if you don’t make weight and 2) To act professional. Unfortunately, Hadley missed weight by 1lb, which has never happened to him before in all his professional and amateur fights combined, a total of 15 flyweight bouts. Once the weigh-in had been completed and his opponent agreed to fight still, Hadley went on to apologise profusely for his missed weight.
Come go time Hadley showed up, weathering a competitive first round and getting the finish in the second round via Rear Naked Choke; straight after he secured the win, he went over to the side of the octagon where Dana White, Sean Shelby and Mick Maynard were seated and apologised again for missing weight.
However, Hadley still could not be sure that he’d get a contract with a win under his belt. After all, he missed weight which must have been playing a massive part in his mind.
Dana White started his speech with Laura Sanko, working through the five winners in the winners’ area with the other four winners.
Dana White comes to Hadley’s decision saying, “Hadley is special and super talented” going on to say, “I have two rules 1) You need to make weight if you can’t make weight now what are you going to be like once you’re in the UFC” and 2) “Issues – behind the scene, when somebody shows you who they are, believe that” with that being said he added “Don’t make an as*hole out of me, Jake get over here”, a very emotional Hadley had secured himself a UFC contract.
Whilst making his way over, Laura Sanko pressed Dana White on some of the issues with Hadley. White replied with, “Obviously he has problems that need to be addressed”, again encouraged by Laura Sanko as to why Hadley was chosen considering he had broken his first rule.
“He’s something different than lots of the other kids that come in here”
For 25-year-old Hadley, his journey to being the best flyweight in the world is just beginning. And I, for one, will be looking forward to the journey Hadley will be taking; after all, the flyweight division in the UFC needs new blood after Joseph Benavidez’s retirement.
“The Iron Man’s” next fight in ONE Championship is confirmed, and it’ll be under kickboxing rules.
For the first time since January 2023, ONE Flyweight Muay Thai World Champion Rodtang Jitmuangnon will lace up the big gloves for a battle with Denis Puric at ONE 167: Stamp vs. Zamboanga on Saturday, 8th June, inside Bangkok, Thailand’s Impact Arena.
Rodtang last competed at ONE Friday Fights 34 in September, where he suffered his first promotional loss in ONE’s striking ranks in a Muay Thai super-fight with flyweight kickboxing king Superlek Kiatmoo9.
Fortunately for the legendary Thai, his gold wasn’t up for grabs that evening as Superlek missed weight. But the pair delivered an iconic clash that rocked the combat sports world nonetheless, with Rodtang missing out by unanimous decision.
“The Iron Man” has been sidelined with a hand injury since then, and he was forced to pull out of his highly anticipated match with Takeru Segawa in his backyard in Tokyo earlier this year as a result.
However, all looks well for him to return in June, and fans are excited to see Puric get the dream fight he’s always wanted.
“The Bosnian Menace” has been amassing momentum in ONE Championship recently.
After quashing Nguyen Tran Duy Nhat’s comeback in December 2023, he scored a dynamic victory over former #2-ranked flyweight Muay Thai contender Jacob Smith at last month’s ONE Fight Night 21 to usurp the Brit’s position.
All the while, Puric has been calling out Rodtang and claiming that he would face him in any discipline.
Now, he gets his wish, and it will be fascinating to see how his never-back-down approach fares against the aggression of “The Iron Man” at ONE 167 on 8th June.
Manchester’s Brendan Loughnane is coming into the 2024 PFL regular season with a point to prove after what many would call a shock, disappointing showing last year.
The PFL thought they had struck gold when they signed Brendan Loughnane straight off the back of his infamous appearance on Dana White’s Contender Series. Coming in with proven ability and a name value in the UK which they had not had until that point, they were right. He made it to the playoffs in 2021, his debut season, narrowly falling in the semi-finals to Movlid Khaybulaev via a split decision.
The following season was where the Featherweight really showed his ability. Two unanimous decision victories took him through the regular season relatively scot-free. A heated semi-final showdown against Chris Wade at London’s Copper Box Arena was next. Wade had lost in the playoffs three seasons in a row, and 30-27 scorecards across the board made that four, and moved Loughnane through to the final for $1m.
It was to be another man competing in his second season, Bubba Jenkins, standing in the way of that cheque. The iconic Theater at Madison Square Garden was the setting for the final, which proved to be the perfect moment for Loughnane to pick up his first finish of the season. In a fight he was clearly leading, a straight right from Loughnane made Jenkins do the splits in the middle of the SmartCage. A few punches on the ground followed by a knee to the chest was enough to make the Mancunian $1m richer.
As the newly minted 2022 PFL featherweight champion, Loughnane started the 2023 season strong, with a second round-TKO of former UFC contender Marlon Moraes earning him five points. A victory that put him, at that point, in good stead to make the playoffs for a third consecutive year. Then came the sophomore fight of the season, a fight in which he closed as a -800 favourite over Jesus Pinedo. What came next was the shock of the season.
Less than ninety seconds in the fight, the Peruvian landed a flush knee off of a clinch which dropped Loughnane seemingly out of nowhere, and four punches later it was over. The face of the 2022 season was not making the playoffs. Pinedo went on to win the season, and of course the $1m.
This gave Brendan Loughnane an elongated break, and in that time came a lot of change within the PFL. The acquisition of Bellator means new competition for the Mancunian, as well as the rest of the PFL roster, and that starts on Friday as he faces former Bellator title challenger Pedro Carvalho, in what is a big fight for the UK and Ireland market.
SBG Ireland’s “The Game”, makes his PFL debut, and along with his contemporaries from Bellator, has been a part of refreshing the PFL regular season roster which was at risk of becoming stale due to the small roster size leading to repeated matchups in the playoffs. Through eleven fights in Bellator, he fought the best that the organisation had to offer including Aaron Pico, Mads Burnell, and organisational GOAT Patricio “Pitbull” Freire, becoming one of the go-to names on their regular events in Dublin, which became a staple of the company over the last few years. A win for him over Loughnane will instantly ensure he is highly thought of in his new organisation and put him in a great position to make it to the playoffs at the first time of asking. As we learned last year however, all can change as the season goes on.
Despite the loss last season, Brendan Loughnane does not feel the pressure coming into the 2024 season. Speaking at media day this week, he said:
“I feel like the pressure’s off. I’ve got the title here, I’m the 2022 champion and I’m just coming here now out of choice and to have fun and I think that makes me very dangerous”.
Loughnane was able to see the positives of his shortened season in 2023.
“I was happy for the layoff. I’m the most experienced guy in my division now and Bubba [Jenkins] so I’ve been in this thing for so long that I didn’t know life outside of this for a while so it was nice to take care of a few things and reset”.
The co-main event tonight between Loughnane and Carvalho promises to be a fight of the night contender. Both men come to throw down every single outing and to many people, especially those on this side of the pond, this is the most anticipated matchup of the first round with whoever prevails putting themselves in a great position and taking that first step towards making the playoffs.
For a fighter to become the best, it helps to remain humble and focused. And if the opportunity to train with world-class athletes arises, they should grab it with both hands. Ahead of her return to ONE Championship next month, ONE Women’s Strawweight Muay Thai World Champion Smilla Sundell has been doing all that.
The Swedish striker is set to return in the main event of ONE Fight Night 22 on Saturday, 4th May, inside Bangkok, Thailand’s Lumpinee Boxing Stadium, where she’ll defend her crown against Russian ruiner Natalia Diachkova.
Sundell has been dominant across four promotional outings. But she knows she’ll have her hands full with Diachkova, so she recently chose to take some tips from ONE Featherweight Muay Thai World Champion Tawanchai PK Saenchai.
“I did his seminar in Bangkok at PK Saenchai with my friend Matt. We went there and wanted to learn some new skills and see how he did seminars because I want to go to America after my fight to do seminars. I’ve done one now, and I like teaching, so it was fun,” Sundell said.
“There’s no competition in it. He’s like a cat playing with a rat. It’s too easy for him sometimes. He doesn’t even try.”
The strawweight Muay Thai queen sharpens her skills at the Fairtex Training Center in Pattaya, Thailand, alongside other world-class striking talents, like three-sport ONE World Champion Stamp Fairtex.
Stamp’s fun-loving nature has rubbed off on Sundell, but it’s her commitment to never backing down that has truly inspired the 19-year-old sensation.
“She’s always been a happy girl and trains hard every day. She’s basically the same funny girl. Still hungry (to get wins),” Sundell explained.
“I think I learned that you can achieve whatever you like as long as you put in the work. But I learned that from my parents, too. But maybe more practical, in a sense, because Stamp did it in martial arts.”
-
News3 years agoKing of Lethwei Dave Leduc BANNED from Myanmar and competing in the sport
-
News3 years agoSam Kapoi, half-brother of Max Holloway, sentenced for meth possession
-
News3 years agoNathias Frederick vs Matthew Bonner revealed for Cage Warriors 123
-
News3 years agoUAE Warriors 19 & 20 fight cards
-
News3 years agoPaige VanZant is seeking a KO victory over Rachael Ostovich
-
News3 years agoThe Latinas of Combate Global set for world domination
-
News2 years agoFans disgusted at inter-gender MMA fight in Poland
-
Interviews2 years ago
VMTV Vaults | EP.38 – Deniz Ilbay