MMA Fighting - We Got Next | Jake Hadley & Joseph Holmes

Episode Date: October 21, 2021

On the fifth episode of We Got Next, MMA Fighting's Mike Heck speaks with new UFC flyweight Jake Hadley (2:53) after earning a contract on Dana White's Contender Series with a second-round submission win over Mitch Raposo despite missing weight, talks how it all feels a week or so later, what led to the first weight miss of his career and how it was handled, the issues White stated Hadley had with UFC staff during fight week, thoughts on his performance over Raposo and if he felt he would get a contract, getting White's stamp of approval against the wishes of matchmakers Sean Shelby and Mick Maynard, if he feels Shelby and Maynard will try and stack the deck, wanting a fight with Francisco Figueiredo for his debut, and his thoughts on Brandon Moreno vs. Deiveson Figueiredo 3. Finally, Joseph Holmes (41:53) discusses his second-round submission win over Shonte Barnes at DWCS and not receiving a contract, getting a second chance to fight in front of Dana White at Fury FC's Lookin' For a Fight event in November, fighting a former training partner that had talked his way into the fight, how he feels about the promotion taking to social media to ask who he should face, what he plans to do to make it indisputable for White in the bout, where his "Ugly Man" nickname comes from, and much more. Follow Mike Heck: @MikeHeck_JR Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the downloaded two. Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudulian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever. Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible original Blockbuster. The Downloaded, it's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking,

What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The Downloaded 2, Ghosts in the Machine. Available now, only from Audible. Support for this show comes from the Audible original, The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine. The Earth only has a few days left. Rosco Cudullian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer, but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever.

Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprised his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible Original Blockbuster, The Downloaded. It's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide. Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking, what are you willing to lose to save the ones you love? The downloaded two, Ghosts in the Machine, available now, only from Audible. The Vox Media Podcast Network. Everybody, and welcome to an all-new edition of We Got Next,

as we shine the lights on the next wave of fighters who are on their way to big things, are embarking on a new journey with big things that they have earned already. I just love doing this show. I love being able to have these conversations, do some more interviews, and kind of showcase the next wave of talent in our great sport, and we have a pair of great chats lined up for the show this week. Before we get to that, I am Mike Heck. I hope you're all enjoying this show thus far and all the other shows on the MMA Fighting

Podcast Network. So if you haven't done so already, make sure you subscribe wherever you're listening to this program or all of our other programs. If you would like, you can leave a kind word or two, leave a five-star rating, all of that good stuff because it goes a long way. And we thank you very much for doing that. Now, I'm not here to waste your time. I'm not here to wax poetic. We're here to talk to the fighters. And that's what we're going to do right now.

So let's run down the lineup. Later on, we're going to talk to Joseph Holmes, who had a nice performance on the contenders. series a couple of weeks ago. He got a finish in the second round, but he didn't get a contract. However, Dana White did not slam the door on him. He wants to see him again, and he's going to see him on November 14th at the Fury FC looking for a fight card. He's going to reveal his opponent, and then Joseph's also going to reveal how the fight game together, because it's a pretty fascinating story, in my opinion. So that's coming up on the back end of the program. But first, Let us welcome in probably top three most controversial signings of the Contender Series era.

He goes out, submits Mitch Raposo on week seven of this season of the Contender Series in the second round. He is the now former Cage Warriors and EFC Flyweight champions. The talent is certainly there at 125 pounds. The performance was contract worthy, no doubt about it. But he missed weight. and Dana White still signed him. And according to Dana, he caused some problems during fight week with some members of the UFC staff. So we're going to hear it from the man himself.

We're going to get Jake Hadley's thoughts on those topics and much more. It is an in-depth conversation. We covered a lot of ground. So let's get to it. Here he is, Jake Hadley. All right, let us say hello to the newest member of the UFC's flyweight division coming off a submission win over a very game. opponent in Mitch Raposo. There's a little dramatic, but he made Dana White break all of his rules, and he's still got a contract despite a lot of things that happened throughout the week,

apparently. But Jake Hadley joins us. Very excited for you, man. Congratulations on the UFC contract. Welcome to the UFC. How does that all sound right now? That sounds amazing. And thanks for having me on the show as well, by the way. Yeah, I feel amazing. Yeah, it's been, as we record, a little less than a week since it all went down. Has it has it sunk in yet? I mean, you've been dreaming of this for a long time and now that you can actually say, I am a UFC fighter, how does it all feel? Well, I knew this was eventually going to happen. But what makes it more special is under the circumstances, every happened, you know, being the first fighter to miss weight to get to the UFC through contenders. I'm not trying to speak all that's an accomplishment or something because

obviously I don't want to be missing weight. But, you know, the things what I've happened has made this even more of a bigger thing. You know what I mean? But obviously, I knew that one day I'd be in the UFC. But, you know, it's an amazing feeling to prove a lot of people wrong and prove a lot of people right. You know what I'm saying? So, you know, it's a big moment in my life right now. I talked to Mitch before the fight.

And one of the things that I know. right away when the fight was announced was there was a lot of buzz around it. Like the matchup itself between you and Mitch, people were excited about it. They were ready to see it. It felt like two of the best unsigned 25ers in the world were getting ready to fight and we're going to get it on ESPN Plus for free. Were you starting to feel that buzz too? Did you see the reaction to the matchup on social media and seeing all the hype behind it?

Yeah, well, I feel like there was a lot of fight behind me being on Contender Series in the first place because obviously, as you know, I'm a two-promotion world champion being with the Kays Roy as an EFC, which is big promotions. I've got a lot of big wins behind me, you know, for my ultimate fighter guys.

I fought on Bellator as well. You know, I already kind of, already deserved the UFC contract. I'm the number one going in Europe. As far as Mitch goes, Mitch is a, you know, a bright talent. I've heard myself, even here in the UK

and whichever talent is you know other fighters speaking very highly of him and stuff you know he had that performance on the ultimate fighter where he was the number one seed he was the number one pick but he didn't perform it

the way he thought he was going to I believe that's because he's too small for badminton weight yeah but you know there was a lot of hype behind the fight I was kind of shocked that it weren't my own event. Me too.

I was shocked at it weren't my an event. Especially considering the main event, no disrespect to them, but one was five and all. The other one was five and one, but I hadn't beat anyone that'd beat nobody's. And, you know, with my record, you know, my last four or five years, I've been top level opponents.

Obviously, Mitch is a former ultimate fighter, so, you know, I thought it'd be a bit higher up on the card. Yeah, that, It was one of the fights I was looking forward to the most for the season, no doubt about it. Kind of going back to to Fight Week and all that and the weight cut, would you say that was the hardest weight cut of your career? What would you say happened, you know, leading into stepping on the scale and missing weight and not being able to hit the mark?

Yeah, well, it was definitely the hardest wake cut in my career. Obviously, I don't want to be giving no excuses about why I miss White or whatever. like no one wants to hear any shit like that you know what I mean no one cares all the care about is that you miss the weight um you know but but obviously I was meant to fight on contenders in the 21st of September I was told outright by my manager that I would not be fighting on contenders so don't get your hopes of so I was completely out of camp for a good three three plus weeks

I was still training towards a day six days a week but obviously got a bit heavier I've come over to the US My weight was going on track It was going down And I was going well I was right on track with my other camps Because I keep log

But then I just all of a sudden stopped sweating And I stopped Going to the toilet and stuff like So I already knew I was in trouble then Because obviously I was water loading and stuff And I weren't going to the toilet So obviously I'd eat and stuff

and something or drank something what was holding onto my water weight and I couldn't get it off so I was doing extra training sessions with plastic sign and stuff like I trying to sweat and I weren't sweating and stuff so I knew I was in trouble so I started

cutting weight early which I would never cut weight that early I started cutting weight the night before and I didn't sleep all night and I cut weight all night all through to the next day and I would have made the way wait, but I just ran out of time. So I thought, all right, then let me miss the wait

the first attempt. And I go back and cut the weight again, because I had enough time to make it. But then someone told me to wait. They said, wait over here for a minute, Jake. So I was waiting there 20 minutes. I'm like, what's happening, man? Why aren't they come? So then, you know, we're waiting

there, and then my coach goes and asks someone else and they says, why are you waiting there for, go cut your weight? So it ended up just being a bit of a mess up, you know what I mean. But I don't want to, you know, think about that too much now. You know, it's the first time I've ever missed weight. I thought all my amateur fights at flyweight, all my pro fights that flyweight. You know, it's just one of them things, you know, near everyone, everyone's saying,

oh, this guy can't make weight, blah, blah, blah, blah. But I can, but, you know, it's just one of them things that's happening. man. I definitely don't want to harp on this too much. We'll talk about the fight and what this all means in a minute. But you said something interesting there. So I just wanted to follow up. You said that you were kind of put off to the side for 20 minutes before your coach came over and said that you could continue with your way cut because you have, I believe, another hour to try to make it. You felt like you can make it. Dana had said, and I'm sure you heard this, obviously, because he mentioned it before he gave you the contract, that there were some issues between you and the UFC staff. Did it have to do with that? Was it because of the they put you to the side, you had no idea what was going on, and then you didn't have the appropriate time to actually cut? No, that wasn't the problem with the UFC staff. I was told after the fight by my management, and one of the situations, one of the problems,

also what Diana told me about it. To be honest, when he told me, and my management told me, I was in total of a shock, why the reasons was. No, I don't know if I can come out and talk about it or whatever. I don't really want to upset no one else, to be honest. So I don't know if I should come out and talk about it.

But put it this way, 100% I didn't mean the way people have took it. Like, you know, basically it's like little situations where, you know, I don't know if I can talk about it or even if. if I should talk about it, because obviously I don't want to get into any more problems with anyone, but trust me when I say, like, I didn't mean to upset anyone, but, you know, that's not my way. I want to upset fighters, yeah?

I want to upset fighters. I don't want to upset general population. I don't, you know, especially staff who work for a company, you know what I mean? Like, I don't want to upset staff who work. That ain't my game. I want to upset fighters and getting on their nerves and make them think all this and that about it. You know, for a civilian who works at a place,

and I don't want to upset no one. Would you say it was just a misunderstanding more than anything? Total, total misunderstanding. Total misunderstanding. Okay, fair enough. So after the whole weight and the mishap and everything, did you feel like your UFC contract was slipping away, considering how, what Dana's stance is and the company's stance?

on contender series fighters missing weight. It hadn't been done before. Did you feel like, listen, even if I go out there and put this guy away, I'm going to get there eventually, but maybe it's just not going to be now. Yeah, well, I expected not to get signed. But when I signed the line for the contender series in the first place, I, you know, I expected a contract, but, you know, also I'm coming to win. No, no. First and foremost, I'm coming to win.

Now, I fight entertaining. I come forward. I put pressure on people. I beat people. You know what I mean? I'll come entertaining. But if I have to be boring to win a fight, I will. A winner's win, you know what I mean? So the end of the day, I thought, well, you know. And the way Mitch fights, no offence to Mitch, but Mitch does fly a little boring. He runs around a lot. You know, in some fights before he was on the ultimate fight. He just stood in front of the the guy and just did enough to win, you know what I mean?

So, you know, he's a boring fighter, so, you know, I made the fight entertaining by coming at him and coming after, which I do to everyone. But my point being, I didn't expect to get signed. You know, I was thinking to myself, I'm going to go out there and smash these skis are in, but I probably won't get signed. But I knew my performance after I'd won the fight, I knew it was, a good performance as in you know I've just ran

through this kid you know who's good and it was a good performance but what I expected was maybe another contenders opportunity or you know something like that which you know I would have done you know what I mean but yeah I'm just over the moon

I got the contract Dana sees what I know is there I'm a special fighter you know what I'm saying just like he said yeah Dana kind of spoke for a lot of people, I think, because those who have been watching your career knew that you probably didn't even need the contender series to get a UFC opportunity. You were probably ready.

Were you surprised that you even get a contender series opportunity at this point? Like, I thought you were just going to bypass the system, maybe get another win, maybe two, and then you were just going to get signed outright? Were you surprised that when a contract came, it was for the contender series and not just an outright UFC fight? Yeah, well, I was definitely surprised when I first got the, the contract for the contender series, we weighed it up and we was like, all right,

then the contender series is better than any other option we've got. So we took the contender series, and I don't know if many people know this, but originally, contender series was meant to be in July. And I turned fights down on K-Dory as to fight in July, and then that got pushed back till September.

Yeah? And then my visa fell through, and then that got pushed back to October, you know so um what am i saying so basically i forgot what i was saying but uh you basically just kind of rode the wave to october to this point because you're already preparing for a fight in july yeah so i forgot what your question was but i've totally gone blank but um sorry no i was saying like were you like even being offered a contender series fight in july were you surprised by that Yeah, basically as well, when the September fight fell through, I was totally and utterly surprised, like, amazed at the offered me another contenders fight.

Because I fought, you know, my fight fell through through no fault on my own. I'm not saying it's anyone else's fault, but it did fall through for no fault on my own. I expected a straight contract, to be honest. But that didn't happen. They offered me the contenders and, you know, and they offered me a. good opponent. So, you know, I've took it. I say about I want to, you know what I mean? I said about I want to be in the UFC and be a UFC champion one day. It's just unfortunate that we've had these bit of issues here. But,

you know, it is what it is. Yeah, it makes things a lot more interesting. That's for sure. The first round between you and Mitch was pretty competitive. It was kind of split in how people scored it. Some people scored it for you. Some people scored it for Mitch. But then obviously you turned up the volume, end of the first round into the second. Did anything Mitch did in that first round surprise you at all? No, nothing he did surprise me one bit, really. I'll tell you what, actually, actually, yeah. My pre-watching footage of him, I thought to myself when I watch his footage that,

you know, he likes to back away and he's going to be hard to set down because of the distance he keeps and he keeps running around hard to pin down. So, but when I watched him, I thought, he ain't going to shoot a take down on me because he knows just through watching footage of him and watching footage of myself, he knows he can't hang other jih Tzu with me. Yeah, that's what I thought.

So he did, I did think he'd try to take me down, but after I'd smacked him a few times, that's what I thought, but I didn't really landed a lot on him before he'd even started shooting. So, well, I think I tied him up pretty easily and I almost had him out there, I had the shoulder lock on him actually

and I messed that up myself by trying to arm bar him off that shoulder lock so, you know, I was fighting him at his own game trying to beat him up in his own game really because that's what I'd say Mitch is best at he's basically boxing and a odd bit of wrestling here and there, you know what I mean, just to steal around.

But what he's really best at how he wins his fights is running around on the back foot with a boxing. He's got good boxing like. And I was fighting him in his, own game, beating him in that. And when I thought to myself, all right, then, you know, it's time to take him down there.

And I took him there. I just got him out of there as quick as lightning, you know what I mean? It shows and proves. I could have just done that in the first round if I wanted to. You know what I mean? I just wanted to, you know, test myself and playing his game,

stick it on him in his own game. And even if Anta took him down, It would have been a matter of time before I knocked him out anyway. So that's what I believe. But, you know, I thought it was the right time to take him down. You know, that's good fight IQ on my own part. Took him down, took his back, choked him out. I noticed he gives his back in his fights.

I'm like, I study these guys, you know what I mean? Like, I don't just, you know, oh, I'll turn up. I study these guys. My team studies these guys. And you can ask for as far as Griffin, if you want, because he was watching my training in the P.I. one who was watching my training in the PI. The exact way I took his back and shrug to me.

I trained that all week. All week long, I trained that exact thing. And you know that on my platter game? Yeah. I was drilling that as well. The whole week. I promise you that. And I did it on him.

So I just knew what these guys was going to do. Yeah, he did surprise you with the tag day. And I thought I'd had to smack him a few times before he tried to take me name. I thought that he'd believe that he wouldn't be on. my level on the ground. But, you know, he's young and he's a bit, a bit not so clever because he's young, and I'm not trying to diss him, but, you know what I mean? But there you go. So you win the fight, you get the submission. You're wondering if you're, you're feeling like you're probably not going to get the contract. You're sitting in the back. Dana's talking to

Lorisanko, talking about you, felt like it was, there were some tough decisions. There were two fighters who missed weight. You were one of them, but you got the finish. And he awards you the contract. What are you thinking at this moment, as he's talking. because it seemed like he was talking for a long time. Normally these situations, Dan is going to say, listen, if you can't make weight for this, how can I expect you to make wait for the UFC? We're not giving you a contract.

But it seemed like he was talking a lot here. Were you starting to feel like, you know what? I might get this contract after all. But I was kind of thinking it might give me a second chance on something or something. That was hoping. That's what I was hoping. I was hoping and praying in the back of my mind that it picked me up. But, you know, it was a long shot, weren't it?

it was like, more, more chance. You weren't going to pick me up, especially when he mentioned I've been in trouble with people as well in the back or whatever. So I thought, fuck, I know,

I ain't going to get it this time. But, you know, I still knew my fighting skills are impressive, though. I still know this and I still know I've achieved a lot and I've beat a lot of top guys and I am deserving,

you know what I mean? And, you know, if you weigh up some of the things what have happened in the lead or, you know, maybe, you know, obviously you can't take pity, but the thing is, you know, it's the one time it's ever happened. One time it's ever happened in my crew and bloody it's got to be on the contenders series in it. It's just just you look in it, you know what I mean? But like I said before, I think it was a test from God, as in, you know, let's make everything go wrong.

and let's see if you can still perform and I went out there and I still performed and I still finished him, I still beat him. And I got it. So I'm just happy, happy as anything. So one question I've been asked since that episode and I don't have the answer and I was watching live is right after you went over to get your contract

and Dana had finished talking to Lor Sanko, Dana had said something to you. You guys are having a conversation on camera. Paul Felder said something to be effective, Oh, I heard that, but nobody else could hear what Dana was saying to you, like on the broadcast. I had no idea. And people have been asked me like crazy. What did Dana say to you after you got the contract?

Dana was just telling me about, you know, things were what have happened in the back and stuff. But he was also telling me as my, as well, I'm much of a special thought he believes I am. And, you know, and I need to fix these things. And then he told me about the situation, what was happened, happened. and this and that and, you know, I'm just thankful to Dana White because, you know, he's gone against

his matchmakers, he's gone against some people in the UFC and he's picked me up, so you know, I can't thank Dana White enough, you know what I mean? And the guy is such a nice guy as well, he's, you know, so, so nice to me and, you know, and I can tell he likes me, you know,

he really believes in me, so I'm happy about that, you know what I mean? And obviously, I was 10 day and a listen. You know, that won't happen again. To be honest, I don't, I didn't know what happened until after, you know what I mean? And it's definitely a miscommunication, you know what I mean? But even if I got to keep my mouth shut the whole entire time I'm there, I'm just going to keep zipped.

You know, I mean, I am going to say nothing because I don't want to, you know, there you go. Yeah, you don't want to make anybody upset. So one of the interesting questions that Dana was asked at the press conference afterwards was because he had said that Mick Maynard and Sean Shelby stormed out of the building. They basically sent him to the back to make his decision with strict details saying, do not sign this guy. And Dana went out and signed you anyways. They stormed out all angry. So one of the questions he was asked was, do you think the matchmakers will kind of put you like through a murderer's row of contenders to try to maybe get you out of there? which I don't know if you heard Dana get that question or not,

but Dana was like, I don't know, but if he does, he'll be ready for it. I think he's a really good fighter. So do you think that Sean and Mick or whoever's going to be matchmaking your fights? Do you think they might kind of put you through the ringer and just see if they can get you out of there? And if so, how do you feel about that?

To be fair, I've got no problem with that. They can send whoever the Wanisson. You know, let's send whoever the Wanisandahson, but also, you know, I don't really know. I ain't going to talk about contracts and stuff like that, but I don't know. I mean, could they really say me like the number fifth guy in the world in my first fight or something like that contractively?

You know what I mean? As in like paywires and stuff. But, you know, to be fair, I was fighting anyone in the top 15 already right now. No problem. But, you know, I'm not the businessman. My manager is the business man. He's the one who says, oh, listen, you want Jake to fight number 10. Oh, let's raise his money.

You know what I mean? I don't know what they can, what the can I cannot do. All I'm saying is I'll fight anyone. But that's up to my management who's a businessman to sort that out as in, oh, Jake or fight anyone, but let's add some money to that.

You know what I mean? Or let's do this and let's do that. But I'm ready for anyone. I've already said, give me little figurato, little figurado, who's had multiple fights in the UFC. They can fast track me if they're on,

because I'll just go straight to the top quicker anyway. I don't see anyone, you know, the more good, listen, the more good. You know, number 10 ain't no better than number 15, and number 15, ain't no better than the unranked guy? In my opinion, I'm looking at the division, and I'm seeing unranked fighters who I think, oh, these guys are good, man. I've seen guys in the top 10. I'm thinking, top 15, I'm thinking, well, I don't think he's that good,

or some of them I'm thinking, oh, he's good, you know what I mean? But I don't know, the flyweight is such a nude. division now. I know it's been around a long war, but it's just only just come back in the UFC. The division's wide open. You know what I mean? Yeah. But Brendan Roy Val come to the UFC. He had

two fights. He's number of fucking three in the world or whatever he was at one stage. You know what I mean? He had off two fights. So, I mean, and he was only the LFA champion, which is a big promotion. Let's not get it twisted, but you know, Kedro's in an LFA are probably the same level.

You know what I mean? So, I mean. And I've got two titles. So what's saying they ain't going to stick me in with the number five guy or, you know, they're through Manal Cape straight to the world all the day there because he was risen champion. You know, so, you know, I ain't really too fussed. But, you know, they've got to go from my management in it. But if you ask me, bring whoever. If you had it your way, when do you want to make your debut?

Like, do you want to try to get one in for the end of the year? or are you thinking maybe early 2022 at this point? Well, you know, if it's going to be the end of the year, it's going to realistically needs to be like December 18th for the last one of the year. And I could do with knowing pretty soon, really. You know, obviously, you know yourself. You know, I need a proper camp if I'm going to make the weight you get me.

So, you know, December 18th, but I need to know pretty soon. I say in February times But you know Bring whoever the one I bring and I know I'm a company man I'll fight whoever day and wants me to fight you know what I'm saying Whoever he wants Let's bring it

So if you had your druthers if you had a choice It seems like Francisco Figuerreto It's kind of at the top of your list You think that makes the most sense Yeah he makes sense to me Because I like I like that he's got a name behind him And stuff like that You know what I mean

And he's unranked So it's not a lot of it's not like, you know, he's on the same sort of, you know, place in the UFC arm on, just an unranked fighter. So that makes sense. You know, there's other guys in the division that makes sense, you know, what I mean? So I think he's probably the biggest named unranked fighter,

as in everyone knows him because of his brother. So it's just like, you know, smash him up for no problem. Do you think Davidson could beat Moreno in this third fight or no? Davidson's a great fighter. Marano's a great fighter, but

I don't see I don't see it. I think Moreno is going to take it again. But, you know, Figueroa can catch him, but I highly dainty. There are two great fighters, but

I highly doughty. And you feel like obviously you stack up with these 125ers. You're ready for all of them at this point. But is there one guy in this division? I mean, it's not like trash talk or anything like that. But is there one guy in this division at this point that you're just like, I just want to fight this guy. Like it would be a lot of fun.

His style, my style, getting these, getting us together in that octagon, it's just going to be a crazy fight. Is there somebody that sort of sticks out to you that hopefully someday you get in there and mix it up with them? Obviously, you always, you'd always say you wouldn't fight the champ. But one guy who I really, oh, I really. you want to fight even right names, probably figurado. The older, figurado, a bigger one, you know, the former champion.

Figurado, that's who I want. But, you know, what I'm saying? It's all going to come. It's all going to come pretty soon. Is there a reason why it's him over everybody else or just a good test for you? When he was the champion and everyone was scared in him, like in the way, like he had this fear behind him. I remember watching him.

thinking, I'm going to fucking smash you. You know what I mean? And the way Miranda beat him the last fight was the way I was looking at him thinking, this is the way to beat this guy, you get me, like, I was thinking that before and before they even fought and he beat him that way. So, you know, I've been watching these geese

and I've been, you know, already thinking out, you know, planning on now, I'm going to smash this guy. You know what I mean? You know, I did that before, but before I was the EFC champion I was studying Zulu boy when I was an amateur and he was a world champion studying him, I'm going to beat him

and I was doing, I've been doing that with Figurado now the last like three or four year, you know what I mean? Before that it was mighty mehance and stuff. Yeah, but I just like that match up. I like that match up. You know, I don't think it's that far away. I think two years

and I'll be the champion. You know what I mean? Especially if they're going to, oh, I don't like Jake, that's fast-tracking. Then I'm just going to get me there quicker. But, you know, I don't know. There's no reason why the matchmakers wouldn't like me because I haven't said and I haven't even spoke to them,

apart from when I would come out of the cage and I was, I shook the hand and whatever. So I've never spoke to them. I don't think they dislike me. I just think, you know, obviously I miss weight and they don't like people to miss weight and get signed, which is fair enough. know what I mean

I don't see how anyone could be you know upset with me over the decision dynamed you know what I mean it's not on me you know

so I haven't really done anything wrong towards towards them you know what I mean I also my backstage issues they're basically resolved you know what I mean so there you go

that's all I can say about that a couple last quick things um first of all the video surfaced and i think dana commented on it too it's it was you making a birthday wish and your wish was to make it to the ufc and now that you're here going back and watching that video and just just taking a look at that that wish and everything not a lot of kids like at that age are going to say they want to be firefighters and astronauts and all this doctors or whatever you're like i'm i want to be in the ufc i wish to be in the UFC essentially. And now that you're here,

how crazy is it for you to go back and see that video now? You know, it's crazy, it's crazy. It's like everything, like, you know, when these people say, oh, fighting's been my life, fighting's been my life.

Most of them it hasn't been, fighting's been my life, my life forever. Before I even started training, I wanted to be a UFC fighter and a UFC champion. That's before I even started step foot in a gym.

you know, they used to ask you at school, very young age, what do you want to be when you grow up? I want to be a UFC fighter. I want to be a UFC champion. These are the things I used to say. I didn't even step foot in a gym. I didn't even know how to throw a jab. And I know what I mean?

Like, I couldn't even throw a punch and I wanted to be a UFC fighter. A young kid dreaming, dreaming of it. You know, one day I'm going to get there. one day I'm going to do that one day. So all I've ever dreamed of is to achieve half of the dream, which is half of the dreams to get to the UFC. The other half used to be the champion, you know what I mean?

You know, to achieve that, it's a big thing, but it feels like it was meant to be, you know, I was meant to happen. obviously I didn't expect it to happen in the situation. It happened in, you know, but, you know, it's made it even better. It's made it feel even better that I've got in off these sort of circumstances. It's made it feel like even better. But, you know, I knew this is going to happen.

It's been my dream my whole entire life since I've basically come out of the room, mate. It's been my whole dream. My whole life's work, this has been. what about it as a as a young kid made you think like you want this is before you like you said before you could even throw a jab before you step in a gym before you could throw a punch you were dreaming of being a UFC fighter like what about it made you want to become part of it to be honest to be honest I don't really know as in like I used to watch it on the on the telly with like my dad also I used to like watch the boxing and whatever fighting was on the

You know, even back then young kid wrestling and everything. I was just more entertained with the MMA. I used to love the MMA. I used to, you know, love watching it. And then we'd, you know, I'd have my friends. I'd have some friends over there. We shouldn't really have been watching. It was too young to watch.

But we'd go around the air, so we'd watch the fighting. And then we'd go in the garden and just grapple each other and try arm by each other and just make it up on the spot. You know what I mean? And then I used to go to school. I used to just be in fights all the while. I was crap at everything. I couldn't throw, I couldn't kick a ball.

I couldn't throw a ball. I couldn't listen in class. But I tell you one thing I was a good at. And that was fighting. I was good at fighting when I was at school. It was just naturally good at it. And then also, you know, as a young kid, you know, you get into fights with kids in the older years or whatever.

And maybe they used to beat me, but they wouldn't want to fight me the next day. I don't wait. And I was very poor at communicating with people and, you know, none of the girls wanted to talk to me or anything, but everyone wanted to talk to me after a fight. So I felt, I felt, you know, I felt wanted in my life after something for the first time. You know what I mean?

You know, so I was drawn to fighting because I was good at him. you know, and I like to watch it, and I was good at it. I think whatever you're good at in life, you like it. If you crap at something, you don't like it. Like, I'm rubbish at football or what Americans that call soccer, so I hate it. I hate it.

I can't watch it. Can't, you know, talk about it. I don't know nothing about it because I'm not good at it. But fighting, I'm good at it, and I know about it because I wanted to know about it because I was good at it and I was naturally good at it. And that's just imbredding to me, my family of fighters, a lot of my family of fighters.

So I think it runs through my blood. It's in my DNA. I can't help it. I can't help but be a fighter because it's in me. You know, even if, just say, for instance, even if I didn't want to be one, I couldn't help but be one because it's in my blood. It's in my DNA.

I can't help it. That's what I was born to do. That is an incredible answer, Jake. Last thing from me, obviously, this signing, I mean, I'm trying to think of other contender series signings that got this much attention. Maybe the Greg Hardy signing, but you're right up there with his. I mean, Greg's signing was met with things in a much different fashion than yours. But for the people who support the signing, for the people who don't support the signing,

for the matchmakers who were upset about it, for the fans who talk crap about it, what do you want to say to everybody as you prepare for your UFC debut, probably sometime early 2022? I don't really got much to say to anyone other than you can love me or hate me. But to be honest, I've been loved and hated my whole entire life. I'm like Marmite. I don't know if you know what that is. I don't know if that's a UK thing.

Marmite, basically, people either like that or they ate it, you know what I mean? And that's what I've been like my whole entire life. When I was growing up as a kid, I just think I'm a hard geez to get along with. You know what I mean? Like a lot of people dislike me. A lot of people really like me The guys who know me really like me The people who dislike me

But at the end of the day I don't care Because I'm coming in here All I've got planned is to come in here And be the champion I don't care if you like me or dislike me But at the end of the day You're going to tune in at the end of the day So what do I care?

All I want to say though is thanks for all the support And thanks for all the hate You know It strives you on at the end of the end of of the day. I mean, I was a young kid at school and the teacher said to me, you'll never amount to nothing in your life, you'll never be in the UFC and all these.

You sell me that, yeah? When I was a young kid, and I could still remember it today. You know, things like I spare you on. People are just sparing me on them just helping me along. They're just helping me push. They're helping me say, all right, then I don't want to go for that 4 a.m. run. But you know what? I'm going to go for that 4 a.m. run.

Because you're talking shit down, I'm not. going to do anything and I'm not going to be anything. You know what? I'm going to get up and do that run because you've motivated me. I would have done it anyway, but I'm just saying, you know what I mean? So thanks to everyone. And the end of the day, the OG, the real OG of the fight game, Dana White, the real original gangs, he's better than anyone, any promoter, any, better than any promoter.

Like, even including Don King or anyone you want to mention, he's better than all of them. Yeah, he knows. he see the star and he said he see the star and I know I am but when the OG says that you're like yes I know you know I mean and he knows and he made the right decision I'm going to prove you made the right decision well said do you actually have teachers tell you you're not going to be anything like you're never going to be a UFC fight you had teachers actually say this to you yeah our teacher said this to me when I was at school he's a deputy head teacher I see him a couple of years ago

actually I bumped into him a couple of years ago but he's all right but like it's water under the bridge I don't, it's like I don't care what he said he'd spared me on but I had teachers say that to me but I was like you know a bad kid at school

didn't want to listen because I thought I'm going to be I don't need to listen to this I'm going to be champion of the world I'm going to be in the UFC one day and you know when someone says don't put all your eggs in one basket I put every egg in the world in that

one basket. Like, I ain't got no, there's no backup plan for Jake Hadley. There's no, oh, I've got a degree in this or I've got a, mate, it's either fighting and be world champion or be broken and in the gutter. That's the only deep for me, because I've put everything into this, everything. I'm not telling any young kids that's the smart thing to do. That's just the way I did it, you know what I mean? And I'm deadly serious about this game and,

I'm willing to die to be champion in the world in the UFC because if I don't have achieved that, my life has been a waste of time. You know what I mean? So I'm all in. And yeah, I was never expected to do anything in my life. Even when I was fighting in the MMA and stuff,

there was other people who were expected to do better than me. But I've overtook all of them. So, yeah. There you go. Jake, congratulations on the win. Congratulations on the contract. No matter how you got there, you got the contract. Excited to see you make your debut.

This division just got a little bit of a boost. In my opinion, I think the flyweight division is vastly underrated as it is. And I think you're a tremendous addition to it. So congratulations on everything. Heal up, rest up. Get ready for that Octagon debut because like you said, love you or hate you, everyone's going to be watching. So I appreciate the time and all the best to you for the holidays and for the rest of of the year, my man. Yeah, thank you for that. Thanks for the interview.

You know, share it to all the people supporting me. Yep, and I'll be back soon, real soon. Thank you. All right, let us say hello to Joseph Holmes, who now has six wins in a row, six finishes in a row. The most recent was on Dana White's Contender Series earlier this month, picked up a second round submission of Shante Barnes. Unfortunately, he did not get a contract, but the door was not closed all the way, Dana White wants to give him another look in around a month or so. So let's get his thoughts on this right now. Joseph,

welcome to the program. How are you, sir? I'm good. Thanks for having me. Absolutely. So you went into the apex. You got to win. You got to finish. No contract. But Dana obviously saw something in you to sort of keep you in play here. All in all, would you consider it a good night, all things considered? Yeah, I'm very happy about how things went. Absolutely. That's good. Yeah. How would you? you sort of grade your performance overall? I would grade my performance. I would say about an

eight out of ten just because I saw growth and I saw myself do things that me and my coaches were working on. I did see myself, you know, kind of be a little timid and hesitant at times. But I was going against a very high-level guy, very aggressive and dangerous dude. So, yeah, I'm very happy about my performance. Is the timidity something? something that you've had to deal with throughout your career, or do you think maybe it was like the opportunity and, you know, being in front of Dana, did it maybe like get to you early on that you had to get comfortable? No, I don't think Dana had anything to do with it because my first pro fight, I was fighting on one of the biggest stages in the world with Bellets who were at the

time. So the nerves and the pressure, that's all what I'm used to. And that's what I feel makes me a great fighter. But as far as the timidness that I have, I think that's more my style kind of, like, I don't like, you know, I'm not like in there trying to take damage and get hit myself. You know, like, most of my stuff is like being long where I can't be touched, you know, and counter striking off of them attacking, you know, and moving myself just out of the way. I think it's just kind of how my style makes it for me, like, especially at the beginning of the fight, when guys are very dry, you know, and aggressive. they're definitely really dangerous at the beginning. So I feel like that kind of makes me a little bit more timid at the beginning of fights. When you talk about growth and, you know, utilizing some of the skills that you worked on heading into the fight,

what in particular did you notice, did you see that you were able to execute during that fight? I had been working on these cage takedowns. Krauss was teaching me. that I feel like I have down, pretty downpacked and able to use those and, again, keep myself safe, especially when I'm pressuring someone else on the cage, just kind of being able to continuously switch between this, take down, that, take down that, take down until one of them works. That's something that we worked on that I noticed that I did really well this fight,

as well as, like, not necessarily always jabbing, but always using my lead hand to either try and knock their hand down or just do different things with my lead hand that I wasn't doing in the past. Are you full-time with Glory now? Or is it like part of a hybrid system that you have? Yeah, I guess I'd say it's kind of part of a hybrid type of system I have. I train full-time at SFSMMA,

but Glory is about eight hours from me. So I'm just trying to get out there about a week, at least a week of month. something like that, just so I can get as much time with him and the team as possible. I'd love to be full time out there. But I have a whole life in Dallas that's a little bit more priority than, you know, moving out there just to be there more. You know what I mean?

Yeah. I mean, at least you get out there like a week a month. Do you remember like the first time that you went to Glory? I think I saw it in social media that maybe your sponsors like helped with that first trip and then you went out there and obviously worked with a guy like James who is finally starting to get some notoriety for his coaching. He's one of the best in the game. Plus he's still an active fighter at the same time in the UFC. What was that like? Like the first time in there working with James and kind of seeing the wizard in person. Wow. First time I met James was awesome.

He wasn't there my first day. I think he was coming back from a fight or something like that. But I was out there three days the first time I went. And the first time, we did just like a lot of grappling with me and the team. So it was okay. It was whatever. But the second day we got to do like MMA striking and grappling. And that was intense. There was a lot of a lot, a lot of guys.

And this was at like 10 in the morning. So I was super surprised to see a gigantic class like I did. And it was just like Krause was there. And then actually one of my old opponents was there to a guy Ryan Lininger who I thought it would be awkward, but he's actually super duper sweet guy, really nice guy, great training partner as well. But yeah, I got to go across that time too. And then we were kind of going out in and then on the striking, on the stand-up.

And then he took me down one time. And then I worked my way back up. And then we were striking again, going back and forth. And then he took me down again. And I remember looking at the clock and there was still like a minute and 35, something like that left at the clock. And I was like, there's no way he's going to hold me down here for this whole time. And he did help me down there, smashed my face, obliterated me for that whole minute, 35 seconds.

And I didn't get finished and I didn't give up. But it was still just like, oh, yeah, I need to come out here more often. So it was amazing for a seven-win. Yeah, I mean, James is just one of those guys right now. And you seem happy with how everything played out. You win the fight. You get a finish. 90% of the time when you get a finish on the contenders.

series, you're pretty much getting a contract. So Dana's talking about you with Lorisanko. He makes his speech, talks about the fight and says he's going to put you on this looking for a fight card with Fury FC, November 14th. How did you react to that initially? Because you're hoping to get a roster spot. That's why you're there. But here you are coming back with the contender series season wrapping up soon. You're on a different card, different kind of an opportunity. Now there's fans, big event on fight pass. You seem cool now, but how did you react to it when Dana actually made that announcement? Well, when it happened, I was, you know, I was, I guess I was a little embarrassed.

I was kind of just like questioning myself, like, did I not do enough? You know, like I finished him. You know, I finished everyone I fought. Like, you know, he was a tough guy who had more wins than I did. And a lot of them are knockouts. You know what I mean? So he's a dangerous dude. Like, so when it happened, I was kind of like.

you know, kind of down, kind of like bummed out. I wasn't mad or anything like that. I was pretty just bummed out, like, you know, and just question myself, like, you know, wondering, like, what did I need to do different? Did I need to, you know, force this guy into a brawl? You know what I mean? Because he wasn't the type of guy.

He wasn't, you know, he wasn't giving me that chance. You know, a couple of times I tried to, you know, just bite down on my mouthpiece and throw a couple hooks, but he would just circle out. you know, and he was the smaller guy. So I don't know. At the time, I was just extremely just bummed. But I've thought about it since.

And, you know, I kind of understand, like, he's just trying to grow me. You know what I mean? And then plus, like, I gained a lot of people that now know me and follow me on social media from my last fight. And then again, fighting on, you know, Dana White's show is only going to grow me more, you know, because I'm not going to lose. you know, so people are going to see my style and they're going to, you know, see me for the first time. And Dana's going to see me for the second time. And I'm going to do the same thing I've been doing, you know, and then it's just inevitable. So it's all good.

I'm still real young. I'm not in a hurry to fight these sharks, especially when I'm making the money that they're making, you know, now. Yeah. Did you talk to Dan at all that night? I did get to talk to him. What do you say to you? He was like, he's like, oh, man, don't hate me. He's like, don't hate me.

And he, like, gives me a hug and embraces me. And then I was like, no, I was like, no, it's not like that. He was like, hey, man, look, I like your style. I like your attitude. I'm going to bring you on my show. I'm bringing you on looking for a fight. Just win that again. You got yourself a contract.

He's like, he's like, look, my looking for a fight show gets a million views in less than three days. He's like, so just take it all in. And I'll see you there. There you go. Do you know who you're fighting yet? Yeah, I'm fighting the Jonathan Petit. All right.

Do you know a lot about him? I mean, obviously you got to learn a little something, something. But I don't know if you're the kind of, you work with Krause. So it's more about what you're going to do. He's going to worry about the game plan and things like that. But do you know a lot about him, like from what you've seen so far heading into this one? Yeah.

I used to train with him a bit. when I was an amateur, I used to travel to his gym and Kuline, um, uh, strikeings. And yeah, I used to train with him a lot. He was professional at the time when I was amateur just starting. Um, so, you know, he would have my number a lot. He wasn't really finishing me or anything like that, but I knew I had a grapple advantage, a grappling advantage over him at that time.

Um, and I've trained a lot since then. I'm a brown boat now. and I think he's still just like a purple or something like that. So I know where the fight's going to be won at. And I've also grown a lot like on the feet and just overall MMA. So just combining everything. So I know he might not recognize me as much as I'll recognize him. Because he's like a flashy, excuse me, strikers.

Sorry, I've been training all morning. It's all good, man. I need water. but he's a flashy striker. He likes to do like spinning things and, you know, stuff like that. So it's definitely a great matchup of fight. It's going to be an exciting fight because he's going to bring it. Plus, this is probably his last chance in front of Dana.

So it's going to be a fun fight. I'm actually really, really excited for it because it's probably going to be one of my hardest tests yet. but I do know a lot about them. Yeah. Were you guys cool when you were training together? Yeah, no, he's a very respectful guy. We've always been really cool. Yeah, I've never had a problem with him.

Again, I was amateur at the time, so, you know, it was cool to, like, kind of see him and, like, you know, see how a professional, you know, moves and does things. He had a hard weight cut at the time, so I don't doubt his weight cut now is going to be any easier. And my weight cuts not super-duper hard. So I feel like I have a lot of advantages over him, especially since I got to train with him.

But he might feel he has a good amount of advantages as well because he trained with me. But again, I'm nowhere near the same fighter as I was when I was amateur. Is it kind of weird that you're getting this fight against a guy, a former training partner, someone that you're this familiar with? How did you react when you found out that you were fighting Jonathan? then. Jonathan.

No, it's all good. But at first it was a little bit weird because they offered him the fight or he or he offered himself for the fight before. Well, like the fight on his end was working before I was even in realization that he was an option. So obviously I heard it from him or like not him personally, but like his side. of the world, you know, because I know a lot of people out there. So I heard it from his side of the world before, you know, I heard it from my management.

So when I heard it, I was kind of just like, really? You know, like, because it sounded like to me that he was excited about the fight. You know, he was all like, oh, I'm about to fight Joe, you know, who do, do, woo, you know, talking back and forth with Eric and stuff, you know. And I'm like, you know, why are you excited as? you know, you just know you're going to win this fight or something. You know, like, what makes you excited? You know what I mean?

Like, you know, I just reach out to my management. I'm just like, hey, all I say to them is, I was like, I used to train with Jonathan Petit. That's all I say. And then they respond back to like, okay. And they're like, wait, so does that mean we don't want to take this fight? And I'm like, I'm like, no, that's not what I'm saying. I just used to train with him, and I'm hearing it from his side of the world that we already have this fight booked,

and I haven't even heard about him being an option. So that's more what I'm saying. So we got on the phone, we figured it out. We figured out he was probably one of the best options stylistically out of the options that I had, which wasn't many. And yeah, so we accepted that fight. It's cool. I mean, like, at first I was like, you know, he's my friend. I thought we were friends, you know, and he's all excited about fighting me as if he's going to smoke me or, you know, hurt me or beat me, you know, and I'm not the kind of guy that, like, enjoys a person wanting to hurt me. You know what I mean? Like, even in a fight, if I feel like, oh, he's throwing that hard, he's trying to hurt me. I, like, in my head, I'll, like, crank it up and I'm just like, no, I'm not trying to get hurt. You know, I'm going to do whatever I have to do for you to not hurt me with that again. You know what I'm saying? Or attempt to hurt me.

You know what I mean? Say you hit me with a kick. Okay, well, I'm a crowd of you, grab your neck and choke you. You know, like. So do you feel like you kind of talked himself into this fight? Maybe so, yeah. But then again, like, it kind of didn't look super-dover professional, in my opinion, how they looked for an opponent for me.

Now, it isn't the longest notice. It was only about a month and a half. But they, like, posted it on Instagram. Like, who wants to test Joseph? or Ugly Man Joe to see if he's ready for Dana White contract. You know, they posted it on an Instagram story. You know, and I saw it. And I'm like, you know, y'all don't just have a roster.

You can see what's the best matchup for me, you know? Like, no, that wasn't the case. But Fury did this? Yeah. You know, I saw it on like the Fury Instagram page. Like, who wants to test Ugly Man Joe? Like, and I saw it. And I was like, why is that how we're fighting me an opponent right now?

you know, because it's supposed to be something that makes sense, you know, not just like this guy that offers himself to, you know, oh, I can beat him. You know, they've been watching me my whole career, you know, and you know what I'm saying? Like, I don't know. I guess however it's supposed to work is whatever. I mean, this probably gets you a little more amped up than you probably thought, right? Doing it that way? Yeah, kind of.

It kind of is just like, oh, it's like that. Like, like, yeah. y'all looking for someone to come beat me, you know, but it's like an even match, but like they're supposed to come beat me? Like, hey. I mean, it's the theme, right? You're looking for a fight. Now they're trying to look for a fight too for you. And someone stepped up, someone who you know pretty well. And he seems very excited about this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hey, let's do it. What I do. So that is obviously exciting stuff. And I kind of want to go back a little bit because, you know, young man in this game. You're 26. You've been at this, at least from what I, what I saw in

like topology and stuff, four years competitively. How did this all start for you? Like, what got you into the gym for the first time? What made you think to yourself? You know what would be a fun job getting in a cage and punching and getting punch in the face? Well, I walked into a gym in like 2014. It was November. I had just met a guy. I think we were right into the fair and I had just met some new people headed to the fair that were with a friend of mine. And he had an SFS hoodie on. And I just asked, what is that? He explained it to me. It's an MMA gym. You should go try it out. They do free classes. And I was like, okay, cool. I was just working at UPS at this time as well. So I think I was just making like 200 bucks a week, you know,

something small like that. So I went and tried it. It was a little bit pricey for me at the time. I was like, I had an apartment, but I made it work. And I just been in a gym since. Like, when I first tried it, I remember I was, like, getting smashed. But, like, I would always end up going with the more advanced people because of my size. And I was playing college football, you know, before I went there. So I was a pretty in-shaped guy.

So I learned everything real well. And also, like, I'm a visual learner. So normally, like, they'll show us something or, you know, obviously the coach is like walking, you know, showing it. And then, you know, they do, you do it. You know, so I would normally do it pretty easily or, you know, maybe I'd have to ask one more time, like, show me again. But I'm normally really good at, like, seeing something and doing it.

So I ended up competing really early, like two months into training. And it was a gigantic tournament. It was Europa. And this was like 2015 or so, you know. So Europa was huge. at the time if you know anything about jujitsu tournaments. And I ended up having two huge brackets. Like my first one was like eight fights.

And then my second one was like nine or 10 fights, like a whole bunch of fights, something insane, right? I ended up fighting like 19 times or 18 times that day because I was winning a lot of them. So get to the end, I ended up getting like third place in Gee. And then I ended up getting like fourth place. and no ghee. And I had never been so proud of a third place medal.

So after that happened, I just kept going with Jiu-Jitsu, kept going with MMA, and now here we are. Man, how long was the day? Like, what was like a 24-hour tournament? 19 times? It's insane. I fought back to back to back. Our bracket was gigantic. I remember looking at all these white belts because, you know,

was a white belt and I'm just like dude everybody's pumped and I fought a lot of the same guys in the second bracket too but like man it was insane that is wild man let me ask you let me ask you something I have a I have an eight year old who I just he just started MMA like three weeks ago maybe and well like what advice did you give him because he's getting humbled up in there he doesn't really, he's, he's not really pulling the trigger. He's just like he's there. He knows the moves. Like he's the technique. I feel like he's got the technique down, but he's afraid to like pull the trigger and like take it to that next level. Like not hurt people, but I think he's like afraid that he might hurt people. What advice did you give?

Just keep training. And, you know, it ain't about hurting anyone. It's just about learning how to defend yourself and do everything to the best of your ability. So as long as you're doing it to the best of your ability, you're doing it totally fine, even if it is timid or, you know, even if he is like afraid of getting hit right now, just keep going and just know as long as you're doing your best, you're doing just fine. Well said. Can I ask where the nickname came from?

I mean, obviously, ugly kid Joe was a, I remember when I was a little kid, Ugly Kid Joe was like a rock, rock and roll. He had like one album that was kind of successful. And obviously, Ugly Kid Joe is something that people say all the time. But is Ugly Man just a playoff of that or is there more to it than that? No, Ugly Man Joe is kind of when Ugly Man ganged, which is a friend of like a group of friends and me, we created just a group, social media type of group, where, we just kind of express ourselves.

Like when you see, like if I see my friend, that's also part of ugly man gang, even if he looks super duper nice, I'll probably like telling me doesn't look good. You know, I'll probably like,

about his shoes or joke about his shirt, you know, or, you know, say his pants are flooding or something, you know, like, but that would just really be us, like, you know, saying the opposite of that,

if that makes any sense. because they will be like, you know, they have to like be confident in themselves, you know, and be like, boy, you know, like, what, boy, these are, you know, whatever, you know, these shoes, boy, cost me whatever, you know. And that's kind of like how things were at the time when I was in college, just like going out to parties and having fun and, you know, stuff like that. So that's where Ugly Man Gang came from.

And Ugly Man Joe is just my version of it because I'm just, Joe, you know, or most people call me Joe. That makes sense. Where'd you go to college? I went to Arkansas Tech University. All right. And you played football there for all four years? No, I just, I just redshirted there.

And then I left after that. And then I tried to walk on it Navarro and then kind of just lost motivation for football. And now look at you, getting ready to fight in front of Dane away for the second time. Looks like he made the right choice, right? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. life has a way of pushing you in the direction you're supposed to go. Completely agree. So November 14th is when you get this opportunity in front of the big boss,

looking for a fight, big opportunity for you. How do we get this done? How do we put the big man in charge in a position where it is undeniable? We got to give ugly man Joe a contract here. I have to go in there and not only bring the whole group of people that I bring with me to every fight I go that I am in. but I got to just do what I do, man. Just go in there, finish this guy,

just show it's undeniable that something I have, which is very simple, take your back and chuck you out, is hard for people to handle because I have a long jab to do and I have nice combinations, and I'm smarter than most people in the cage. So we're octagon now. So, yeah, I just have to do what I do, finish this guy.

I don't really like judges, so I don't like to deal with them. and I'm not getting finished, but he will be. There you go. Joe, I appreciate it, man. Congratulations on the opportunity. Congratulations on the win on the contender series. This is without getting a contract. This is about as good as it can get.

You're getting a second chance. The door wasn't slammed, and it seems like you are ready to kick that door wide open and earn yourself a UFC fight to kick off 2022 at some time. So I appreciate the time. Congratulations. And all the best to you on November 14th, man. Thank you so much, man.

Appreciate your time. Great stuff from Joseph Holmes right there. Great stuff from Jake Hadley, nearly 40 minutes, with one of the newest members of the UFC's Flyweight Division, excited to see the futures for both of those guys. Of course, you could see Joseph Holmes, November 14th, Fury FC. Part of Dana White's looking for a fight. He'll get a chance to earn that UFC contract.

And Jake Hadley, we'll see what happens with him. There's a lot of really exciting matchups for him. at 125 pounds. But that's it. The show is over. Thank you for joining us. Lots of stuff coming up on the podcast network over the next few days to get you ready

for a very busy weekend in the world of mixed martial arts. Later on today or Thursday, whenever you're listening, maybe it's already out. Between the Links is back. We're on the road to the BTL eight-person tournament to crown an undisputed BTL champion heading into 2022. We have a great matchup.

So make sure you go back and check that out. Preview show for UFC Vegas 41 for Bellator 269. Of course, the return of Fador-Millionenko takes on Timothy Johnson. That's the main amendment of Bellator 269. UFC Vegas 41 will be headlined by Paul Costa versus Marvin Vittory. So we'll talk about that in the preview show. Then we'll have all your post-fight coverage, results, post-fight interviews, news and notes, from a very busy weekend upon us in the world of MMA.

and then AK and I will be back on Sunday to matchmake for the notable names coming out of UFC Vegas 41, and we are excited to do that. So until then, everybody, thank you for joining us. We'll see you right back here next week once again on We Got Next.