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After few close calls, Hakeem Dawodu hopes UFC 263 finish of Movsar Evloev propels him

Hakeem Dawodu has a couple of frustrating wins, but he’s looking for his breakout moment at UFC 263.

Dawodu (12-1-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) opens up the televised prelims when he meets unbeaten Movsar Evloev on June 12 in a battle between two featherweight prospects.

Having started out his profesional MMA career with an array of finishes under the WSOF banner, Dawodu hasn’t quite been able to set the UFC on fire the way he’s wanted. He’s 5-0 since dropping his promotional debut but has only one finish, with three of his wins by split decision.

So with various close calls in his past few outings, Dawodu is hoping to notch a definitive finish of Evloev (14-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) to announce his arrival in the top of the division.

“Yeah, definitely, I don’t want to split this fight,” Dawodu told MMA Junkie. “I don’t feel like my fights in the past have been split decisions, so you’ve gotta win very definitively because you never know what these judges are watching, but this fight, I plan on making it very, very clear who’s gonna be the winner.”

Dawodu will be taking on another strong grappler in Evloev, who has already beaten the likes of standout wrestler Mike Grundy and veteran Nik Lentz. After a few exchanges on the feet, Dawodu expects Evloev to resort to his wrestling, but he plans on making him pay for it.

“I think he’s gonna come and try and strike for a little bit until he feels uncomfortable, and then he’s gonna start shooting for the stars,” Dawodu said. “And then I see myself stuffing his takedown or him falling into a submission and then me doing what I usually do, just making it a ‘Mean Hakeem’ fight and laying a beating on him and making him quit.”

It hasn’t been an easy road for Dawodu, who has drawn young, tough opposition in his past few outings. He was initially scheduled to meet Shane Burgos at UFC 257, but a shoulder injury forced him out of the bout. Dawodu admits that Burgos was the more appealing stylistic matchup, but he’s confident he has the skillset to take on all styles.

“I don’t know. Maybe they want to test me, maybe they want to see me lose, or maybe they know I’m the man for the job to keep beating these wrestlers and these Russians and Chechens,” Dawodu said. “So either way I look at it, I know I got the toolset to beat anybody in the division, so I’m not looking past this fight, but I’m definitely here to put this guy away and keep moving up to that top 10.”

Having already gone through a training camp for Zubaira Tukhugov at UFC 253, Dawodu is well prepared in the wrestling department. But while he thinks Tukhugov presented more of a striking threat, he sees Evloev as the more conditioned fighter.

“They each have their own strengths,” Dawodu said. “I thought Zubaira was a little bit more dangerous, as in he has shown a little bit of knockout power in the past. This guy (Evloev), he’s only had four fights at featherweight, and he hasn’t knocked anybody out, but where I think he’s a little bit stronger than Zubaira is he’s got better cardio. So I don’t see him quitting until I give him a reason to quit.”

 

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