It has been a whirlwind week for Caolan Loughran.
The Irishman was set to face Ramon Taveras at this Saturday’s UFC 304 however, just last week Taveras was forced out of the contest, leaving Loughran without an opponent.
Former Cage Warriors Flyweight champion Jake Hadley will now step up and face the former Cage Warriors Bantamweight champion on just over a week’s notice.
Speaking to the media, Loughran was full of praise towards Hadley for taking the fight and sees it as an arguably a more entertaining contest than the one he was originally preparing for. He said:
“Well, first and foremost, fair play to him, respect here. I didn’t have a fight last Wednesday and I didn't know what was going on. I've known Jake Hadley since, it must be 12 years now, from the amateur days I've been watching him. We were both kind of winning the whole way up. Both Cage Warriors champions coming in, so I've always respected his skill and as soon as I heard his name, it gave me a lift.
“I think anyone who's been watching UK MMA for a while will tell you it's a much better fight, he’s a bigger name obviously in the UK. Anyone who's ever trained with me or fought me will tell you that coming up from 125lbs, you’ll be doing very, very, very well to live with me like so, absolutely respect him. Fair play to him, but I think I am going to run through him, to be honest.”
For the short notice call up Hadley will move up to Bantamweight. Loughran, who cuts a substantial amount of weight to make the Bantamweight limit, cannot see how the size difference will not play a part throughout the contest.
“It has to play a factor like any time I have trained with a Bantamweight, they're the one to tell me like after ‘Jeez lad, you're strong.’ I never train with Flyweights because I may be a wee bit too strong.
“For him to come up, I don't know. He's a skillful fighter. He definitely poses threats, I say he’s been winning the whole way up like but I'm very, very, very, very, very confident. I'm not stupid and saying ‘As soon as I hit him, he’ll go down. He's a wee man, as soon as I grip him...’ It's not that. He's a good fighter, but there's him feeling good, and thinking ‘F**k, I haven’t had to weight cut, I feel strong, I feel healthy, I feel good at 135lbs.’
“And then there's under the bright lights, 4oz gloves, me hitting him for the first time, me gipping him for the first time, so has to play a factor but I can't be under the illusion of like I'll just walk through him because he's coming up a weight class but it is definitely a factor."
