Undefeated flyweight prospect Jake Hadley will make his UFC debut against Allan Nascimento at a Fight Night event on May 14
The matchup was originally scheduled for UFC London on March 19 as Nascimento replaced Hadley's original opponent Francisco Figueiredo, but the bout was scrapped after Hadley withdrew due to injury.
Former Cage Warriors champion Hadley was signed by the UFC deal after submitting Mitch Raposo last October on Dana White’s Contender Series. His signing was met with controversy as Hadley missed weight for the fight and was allegedly unprofessional towards several members of UFC staff before the event.
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“When I left the back room, my instructions were not to sign this guy,” White said after Hadley's win on the Contender Series. “According to Hunter [Campbell], Sean [Shelby] and Mick [Maynard] stormed out of the room when I did and took off tonight, so they’re not happy about it.
"I just have a gut feeling that this kid has something special, and I broke all my own rules and didn’t listen to what they said. So hopefully I’m right on this, and this kid doesn’t make a d***head out of me.”
White admitted that Hadley, who is 8-0 as a professional, was surprised when the UFC boss told him about his unprofessionalism. The British flyweight said in his post-fight interview that he didn't mean to offend anyone backstage and cited the cultural differences between the UK and US as a potential factor.
“So everybody this week thought that he was an asshole because there’s a discrepancy between the sense of humour? We got lots of guys from the U.K. here, and that doesn’t happen a lot,” White said of Hadley's comments.
Hadley will be hoping to become the latest British flyweight to make his mark in the UFC after Muhammad Mokaev won his promotional debut in 57-seconds at UFC London.
The pair are fierce rivals from the amateur days and Hadley has accused Mokaev of sending him alleged threatening messages on social media. Hadley wanted to fight Mokaev in his UFC debut, but the 21-year-old faced Cody Durden instead.
Hadley's opponent Nascimento is a training partner of UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira. With 24 professional fights under his belt, Nascimento is more experienced than Hadley but has only fought competed times since 2018 losing two of those bouts.
Watch Jake Hadley take on Allan Nascimento in the UFC flyweight division on Saturday May 14 on BT Sport. Early prelims will also be live exclusively on UFC Fight Pass.
