Hakeem Dawodu

Hakeem “Mean” Dawodu is a prominent Mixed Martial Artist (MMA) athlete and current featherweight contender for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He was born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada on April 24th 1991 to two Nigerian immigrants. Dawodu began his martial arts journey in 2002, at the age of 11 when he took an interest in Taekwondo. After competing regionally and nationally as a child, he transitioned into Kickboxing during high school where he found success being crowned both Pan Am National Champion and North American Continental Champion prior to graduation.

In 2012, after nearly ten years of experience with various combat sports disciplines Hakeem decided to take up MMA full time upon graduating high school. His professional MMA debut came shortly after that same year and over the course of 5 years on multiple international promotions including Resurrection Fighting Alliance (RFA), Score Fighting Series (SFS) & World Series Of Fighting (WSOF), Dawodu amassed an impressive 8-0-1 record before signing with UFC in 2017.

Since joining UFC Hakeem has gone from strength to strength racking up five wins out of six fights so far in what many consider one of the toughest divisions within MMA today; Featherweight. When talking about his approach towards competition Hakeem says “It’s not just physical anymore – you have mental toughness too; this is something I learned early on throughout my career” which shines through in every fight he competes – showing off dynamic striking combinations backed by solid grappling techniques that have earned him 5 stoppage victories since entering UFC including 2 Performance Of The Night Awards for his recent wins against Julio Arce & Yoshinori Horie respectively.

When asked how he feels about competing at such a high level inside today’s modern era of combat sports – Hakeem states “I’m humbled by it all… when I look around there are fighters who come from different backgrounds than mine but we all share one thing: we want to be great” pointing out that although challenging no matter what language or culture you come from – passion will always drive success above all else. This unwavering commitment has seen him rise through ranks from local shows all the way up international stages like ESPN & Dawson vs Gall Fight Night where ultimately led him compete alongside some greatest names within sport history further cementing his legacy as one promising prospects coming out Canada right now!