UFC Cuts Ties With Hakeem Dawodu In Latest Roster Sweep

There are three things that will lead to a release in the UFC: losing, consistently missing weight, and inactivity. Hakeem Dawodu had a touch of all three issues over the last few years, and that’s likely why Dana White and the UFC chose to part ways with the veteran.

The 33-year-old hasn’t fought since he lost a unanimous decision to Cub Swanson in August 2023. The loss to Swanson was his third in four fights.

Dawodu missed weight by 3.5 pounds in September 2022 ahead of his unanimous decision loss to Julian Erosa. Between the losses to Swanson and Erosa, Dawodu withdrew from a scheduled fight with Lucas Almeida in June 2023.

Overall, it hasn’t been an especially strong last few years, and despite Dawodu’s talent and relative youth, the promotion elected to remove him from the roster.

Dawodu’s best years as a mixed martial artist took place when he was a part of the World Series of Fighting promotion. From 2014–2017, Dawodu compiled a record of 7-0-1 with WSOF.

That run and the folding of WSOF led Dawodu and others like Anthony “Rumble” Johnson, Marlon Moraes, and Justin Gaethje to sign with the UFC. Dawodu didn’t have immediate success with the UFC. In fact, he lost his first fight with the promotion via submission, and it took just 39 seconds for Danny Henry to submit him.

However, Dawodu bounced back and won his next five fights in the UFC.

Dawodu wouldn’t take another loss until he dropped a unanimous decision in June 2021. In February 2022, Dawodu rebounded with a win over Michael Trizano for what will likely be his last victory with the promotion.

In addition to Dawodu’s lack of activity and recent victories, he also rarely won fights by stoppage. His lone stoppage win in the UFC was a head-kick KO of Yoshinori Horie in July 2019.

From the looks of Dawodu’s Instagram account, he appears to be training, but it is unclear if he is still interested in competing. As it is, Dawodu, Kron Gracie and Connor Matthews were separated from the promotion.

Looking ahead to Saturday, UFC 316 takes place in Inglewood, California at the Intuit Dome. Here’s a look at the complete card.

Main Card

• Merab Dvalishvili (c) vs. Sean O’Malley – Bantamweight Title
• Julianna Peña (c) vs. Kayla Harrison – Women’s Bantamweight Title
• Kelvin Gastelum vs. Joe Pyfer – Middleweight
• Mario Bautista vs. Patchy Mix – Bantamweight
• Vicente Luque vs. Kevin Holland – Welterweight

Prelims

• Bruno Silva vs. Joshua Van – Flyweight
• Johnny Walker vs. Azamat Murzakanov – Light Heavyweight
• Serghei Spivac vs. Waldo Cortes-Acosta – Heavyweight
• Khaos Williams vs. Andreas Gustafsson – Welterweight
• Ariane da Silva vs. Wang Cong – Flyweight
• Jeka Saragih vs. Joo Sang Yoo – Featherweight
• Quillan Salkilld vs. Yanal Ashmouz –Lightweight
• MarQuel Mederos vs. Mark Choinski – Lightweight