Vegas defeat for Jake Hadley by a late notice opponent
Oldbury fighter Jake Hadley was stunned by Cameron Smotherman at UFC Vegas 99 as he lost by unanimous decision.
Smotherman had only stepped in with less than a week’s notice after Hadley’s original opponent Brady Hiestand withdrew from the fight for unknown reasons.
The 28-year-old Brit was the hot favourite heading into the bout after he produced a short-notice upset victory up a division against Caolan Loughran at UFC 305 in Manchester earlier this year.
But he was convincingly beaten by Smotherman with the fight scored 29-27, 29-27, 30-26 in the three-round contest.
Smotherman had been in Saudi Arabia earlier that week but after getting the call on short notice he flew into Las Vegas to make the weigh-in for the fight at bantamweight on Friday.
The opening round was quiet from both fighters but with the American finishing the round in the ascendancy after a slick combination ended with a kick to Hadley’s body.
The Englishman tried to pick up the pace in round two of the bout but struggled to string combinations together with Smotherman defending well.
And trailing by two rounds Hadley came back at the American in the final minute of the fight but it was too late as the contest was already lost.
