LONDON – Jake Hadley has a solid flyweight test ahead of him on Saturday, but his first test could be one of willpower.
Hadley (9-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) takes on Malcolm Gordon (14-6 MMA, 2-3 UFC). UFC286 Prelims at The O2 in London. The main card will air on pay-per-view after prelims on ESPNews and early prelims on ESPN+.
But leading up to this fight, Hadley has heard a lot Muhammad Mokaev (8-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC), who later fights Jafel Filho in the prelims. Describing a clash with Hadley at the Fighter Hotel on Wednesday, Mokaev said Hadley was not interested in a confrontation and stood behind his father.
But Hadley’s version of the story is a little different.
“The kid is just an idiot,” Hadley said at UFC 286 media day. “I mean, he comes over to me and tries to fight me in the hotel – but you don’t want to fight me in the cage. He fights a debutant. He said ah I won’t fight you because you lost us to Allan (Nascimento) and all that. But then he wants to fight me at the hotel. What is this guy doing? He’s a total idiot. If I have a problem like this, why don’t you just fight me in a cage fight? We can’t fight here. People will break it up. People will get in trouble. What will happen if I smack him in the face when he comes and closes the distance? I’ve had staff complain about me before, so they’re going to complain, “Oh, you KO’d Mokaev,” and they’re all going to groan at me.
“I’m the one who’s portrayed as a villain all the time, but he still comes across to me. He says, “Brother, relax – back off, bro.” … If there’s a problem that big, then either fight me or show up at my gym or something – because he’s in Birmingham all the time anyway – and I’ll fucking beat you out there, no problem. But why are you trying to fight me at the hotel? That makes no sense. Then these fights will end, then my fight will end and we trained all this time for nothing. (He’s a) stupid kid.”
Hadley said the animosity between the two stems from their shared history in the British MMA space, including when they were amateurs.
“I’ve had several[incidents]over the years because he was obviously an amateur when I was an amateur,” Hadley said. “He said, ‘I’m going to hit you with a chair,’ ‘I’m going to fucking do this and I’m going to do that.’ If you threaten violence when you see someone, that gets you going. You’re like, ‘Okay, if he comes at me, I can’t let him put his distance. Boom. He’ll be out of there.’ So I expect safety to be a bit more to the point.”
Hadley won his way to the UFC through Dana White’s Contender Series in 2021 but lost his promotion debut in 2022 upset against Nascimento. But he bounced back with a second-round assist from Carlos Candelario last November.
More UFC!
UFC 286’s biggest favorite Muhammad Mokaev doesn’t overlook Filho – but sees Jake Hadley in the shadows
‘It doesn’t make you more African’: Kamaru Usman responds to recent claims by Dricus Du Plessis
Lerone Murphy grateful for UFC 286 return after nearly dying in bike accident: ‘I thought it was game over’
Watch Hadley’s full media day interview in the video above.
Visit the MMA Junkie event hub for more information on the map UFC286.
Source : sports.yahoo.com