Allan Nascimento handed Jake Hadley the first loss of his career with a dominant grappling showcase at UFC Vegas 54.
The Brazilian who trains with uncrowned UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira used his top control and Brazilian Jiu-jitsu skills to hold Hadley under him for three rounds. This resulted in an unanimous win. The fight 30-27 was scored by all three judges for Nascimento. He celebrated his victory with a photograph of his father, whom he had just lost.
” I’m so grateful for this moment,” Nascimento stated. “I did this for my father, for my team. My timing needs to be adjusted on the court. No playing around on the back. I am so happy at the moment .”
Some early striking exchanges led to a well-timed takedown from Nascimento, who then had to fight off a slick omoplata attempt from Hadley on the bottom. As he tried to retain better control of the situation, Nascimento was able to regain top spot. However, Hadley kept threatening to flee from the bottom and he was struggling with his damage.
Hadley was able to reset his feet and became aggressive. However, Nascimento continued to feed him with kicks to both the legs, as well as the body, until he gave up. Hadley was trying to get closer to the finish line, but Nascimento was able to timing his takedowns. This continued to cause problems for the British fighters.
On the ground, Nascimento showed his superior strength as he kept Hadley locked down to prevent any further scrambles to break free.
Hadley finally showed signs of life with five minutes remaining as he came forward looking for the finish, and nearly snatched a guillotine choke after Nascimento shot an ill-advised takedown without any real setup. Hadley continued looking for submissions until Nascimento eventually scored a reversal, which put him back on top again.
Nascimento continued to show strong grappling skills while dropping some hard punches on Hadley with his ground-and-pound just before the final horn sounded.
The performance helped Nascimento earn his first UFC victory after dropping a close split decision in his debut, and now he’ll look to build some momentum in the flyweight division.
