Jake Hadley reveals near-death weight cut prior to UFC Nashville loss: ‘I actually saw God for a second’

Jake Hadley says he had a scary experience during his weight cut ahead of Saturday’s UFC card.

Hadley faced Cody Durden in a preliminary bout at UFC Nashville, where he dropped a unanimous decision in a wild battle. The loss snapped a two-fight win streak for Hadley, who has had weight cutting issues in the past — including missing weight for his contract-earning submission win on the Contender Series in October 2021.

Following the loss, Hadley released a statement on Twitter about his bad weight cut, and having a near-death experience.

“Lost the fight, few things went wrong before the fight. I almost died during the weight cut,” Hadley stated. “I actually saw God for a second, couldn’t rehydrate like normal, felt like that had a major effect on my performance because I couldn’t push like normal, anyone who knows me knows I never gas.

“[I’ll] fix theses mistakes, ready for the next one. Respect to Cody, he showed he was a true warrior surviving that armbar, what a gangster. Nashville fans [were] absolutely amazing, they really showed me some love. [A lot] of people telling me [that should’ve] been FOTN. I don’t know, but Durden deserves a bonus.”

After getting stopped in under a minute by Muhammad Mokaev at UFC London in March 2022, Durden has quietly put together an impressive four-fight win streak, and is 5-1 in his six most recent outings.