LONDON – On a UFC-London card packed with British talent, a Canadian is planning on stealing the show on his octagon debut.
“Mean” Hakeem Dawodu (7-0-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) makes his UFC bow against Scotland’s Danny Henry (11-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC) at The O2 on Saturday at after impressing during his time with WSOF.
The Calgary native today exuded an aura of simmering intensity rarely seen by a fighter getting ready for his maiden matchup in the UFC. Often, debutants are happy and excited by the experience, but Dawodu’s demeanor was all business.
“I’ve got time to develop, but I’m ready to put on a big show, start turning heads, and within a year or two start making a title run,” he told MMAjunkie. “So I’m looking to make a statement.”
To those who have followed Dawodu’s early career in WSOF, the call-up to the big leagues was only a matter of time. And it took a little longer than he had hoped for. But with the UFC contract now signed, he says he’s ready to make people sit up and take notice from his very first appearance.
“The slow path slightly discouraged me,” he said. “I knew I was definitely at the level that I deserved to be in the UFC, but it always kind of seemed a little bit like a dream. Even when I signed the contract, it still didn’t feel too real. And now I’m here, I’m getting the kit and doing the press – it’s real. I feel ready, I know I belong here and I’m ready to start turning heads and show everybody what I’m about.”
Dawodu is renowned as a dangerous striker, with six of his seven career wins coming via knockout or TKO. But he says he’s arriving in the UFC with a full arsenal of skills, thanks to his time training at his home gym at Champion’s Creed and also at SBG Ireland in Dublin.
“Back then, I was pure brawl and sprawl,” Dawodu said. “Now I’ve been really upping my ground game, thanks to John Kavanagh at SBG and my coach Brian Bird at Champion’s Creed. I’m a complete fighter now and people are going to realise that real soon.”
The association with SBG came through a long-standing friendship between Bird and Kavanagh from their days on the jiu jitsu circuit. It’s helped give Dawodu a change of scenery and, crucially, a different set of sparring partners to push him in the gym.
“He wanted me to go to a tough gym, but also go to a gym where he knows the coach is going to take care of me and I’m not going to be at risk of injury,” he said. “They’ve got really high-level grappling and tough sparring partners. I got to really go against some people and test my skills against them.
“Back in Calgary, I’ve got a very good gym at Champion’s Creed, but I don’t have MMA sparring partners that are going to push me. Maybe they respect me a little bit too much. So it was good to get to another gym were people don’t respect me and they were willing to test their skills against me.”
When talk turned to his thoughts on his opponent, Dawodu’s response was to the point.
“I didn’t know anything about him. I watched one video on him and, yeah, we feel confident,” he said. “I plan on finishing this guy. I don’t know if it’s going to be the first round, the second round or the third round, but I’m planning on putting him away.”
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