UFC alum Jake Hadley makes his PFL debut in the promotion’s bantamweight World Tournament in Orlando on Friday, albeit against a name he could have easily faced in the UFC.
Originally booked opposite Sarvarjon Khamidov, “White Kong” instead will face fellow UFC alum Matheus Mattos. As Hadley (11-4) explained during this week’s PFL 2 media day, Khamidov withdrawing was no surprise.
“Through fighting, through getting matched up with these wrestler guys before, if they injure their toe they pull out. So I wasn’t really that shocked he pulled out,” Hadley exclaimed. “When he got replaced with Matheus, I thought this is much more of a dangerous fight, he’s much more of a guy who comes to finish. Comes to look for the knockout or submission. But it’s more of an entertaining fight for the fans.”
When it comes to Mattos, “he’s also only lost to the cream of the crop fighters, like Petr Yan and [Magomed] Magomedov,” Hadley pointed out. “So I think it’s a good win for me here. It’s probably, looking at the tournament, it’s probably top two hardest fights of the tournament. So it’s good for me here to get the top guy out of the way.”
Jake Hadley’s time in the UFC was awash in controversy, right from his appearance on Dana White’s Contender Series. He got off to a disastrous start on the show, causing problems during Fight Week then missing weight. Dana White signed him regardless.
Then, there was an incident with Muhammad Mokaev, who himself was later released by the UFC for being difficult to work with. The pair have both expressed interest in fighting one another.
“If he wants to come over here to PFL, then yeah. I don’t see why that fight can’t happen. He was talking about, he wants a one fight deal to come over and fight me. I think, why not? Put him on a one-fight deal and bring him over and come and fight.”
Hadley envisions the pair fighting in Birmingham in England. “I think that would be a big card for PFL. Even if it’s only a one-fight deal with him, I think PFL are still going to make a decent amount of money off him, because we’ll sell out.”
“I think yeah, bring him over, why not. I see he’s doing Karate Combate now. I’ve never seen the guy throw a punch, so I don’t know what he’s going to do with that,” Hadley exclaimed. “So why don’t he come over here and we’ll have an MMA fight or whatever. He’s going to end up doing the slap fighting the way he’s going.”
Watch Jake Hadley’s full 2025 PFL 2 media day appearance above.
