Hakeem Dawodu Record: 13-4-1

UFC career

Dawodu’s UFC debut in March 2018 delivered a hard lesson: a first-round guillotine-choke submission loss to Danny Henry, the only submission defeat of his career. He responded with the kind of resilience that defined his run, reeling off a string of wins to establish himself in the division. He outpointed Austin Arnett by unanimous decision in July 2018, then edged Kyle Bochniak on a split card at UFC 231 that December. His signature performance came at UFC 240 in July 2019, when he showcased his striking with a third-round head-kick TKO of Yoshinori Horie.

From there Dawodu kept climbing, taking split decisions over Julio Arce at UFC 244 and over Zubaira Tukhugov at UFC 253 to extend his unbeaten UFC stretch. His momentum was checked in June 2021 when unbeaten contender Movsar Evloev outwrestled him to a unanimous decision. Dawodu bounced back with a unanimous-decision win over Michael Trizano in February 2022, but the back half of his run proved difficult: he dropped unanimous decisions to Julian Erosa at UFC 279 and to veteran Cub Swanson in August 2023.

Fighting style

Dawodu is a striker first and foremost, and the numbers reflect it: all seven of his wins inside the distance have come by knockout or TKO, with zero submissions on his ledger and six decisions rounding out his victories for a finish rate around 54 percent. His Muay Thai foundation shows in crisp boxing, sharp kicks and that fight-ending head-kick arsenal. The honest counterpoint is durability and wrestling: his losses have come either to grappling-heavy opponents who took him down, as Evloev did, or in close decisions, and the only stoppage against him was a submission. At his best, though, he is a measured, technical striker capable of changing a fight with a single kick.

Career highlights

• Decorated Muay Thai champion turned UFC striker — built an undefeated professional kickboxing record and multiple Canadian, North American and world titles before ever entering the cage.
• Head-kick highlight at UFC 240 — stopped Yoshinori Horie with a third-round head kick, his most emphatic Octagon finish.
• Multi-fight UFC win streak — rattled off five straight victories over the likes of Bochniak, Arce and Tukhugov to cement himself as a featherweight gatekeeper to the top tier.