Dana White’s Contender Series Season 5, Week 7 was in full effect last night at the APEX in Las Vegas.
Of the five fights, only three fighters earned UFC contracts with big finishes. Amongst the three successful fighters Birminghams ‘White Kong’ Jake Hadley secured the ‘W’ and won over Dana White in a controversial decision on whether or not to give him a contract into UFC due to missed weight and some conflict with UFC staff backstage.
Cage Warriors former flyweight champ Hadley took on season 28 contestant of The Ultimate Fighter, Mitch Raposo. What looked to be an unsettling first round for Hadley, he went on to show true grit applying pressure and looking for submissions off the back in the first round. Going into the second round ‘White Kong’ did what he does best and applied his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and secured a rear-naked choke causing Raposo to tap.
Unfortunately, Hadley missed weight by a pound. Usually, this is a massive ‘NO, NO’ on DWCS, but it was evident that Hadley’s skill set and sheer grit could not be overlooked. Dana awarded Birmingham’s bad boy a UFC contract and even praised him on his BJJ skills stating ‘I asked him, who is your Jiu-Jitsu coach, you’re only a purple belt?’
Hadley burst out with emotions completing a life-long dream. In the post-fight interview, he apologised if had offender any of the UFC staff and stated he wasn’t sure if there was a barrier between US and UK banter, but it wasn’t his intention.
Jake Hadley is now the 107th former Cage Warriors fighter to secure a UFC contract.
Congratulations Jake, we look forward to you making a lot of noise in the UFC!
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