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Phil Hawes has already had a pretty solid last 12 months from a professional standpoint, and one additional month could make it even better as he steps in with Deron Winn on Saturday.
The 32-year-old Sanford MMA representative literally punched his ticket to the UFC with a first-round stoppage win over Khadzi Bestaev on September 9, 2020, and followed it up with an 18-second finish of Jacob Malkoun in his promotional debut a month later. Already this year, Hawes has collected a majority decision win over Nassourdine Imavov, who earned a second-round stoppage win over Ian Heinisch in his very next fight, and then swept the scorecards in a clash with Kyle Daukaus in May to give him four victories in eight months.
Saturday night, Dawes can make it five wins in 13 months and four straight in the UFC as he squares off with Deron Winn in an intriguing middleweight pairing that was originally scheduled to take place in July, but was pushed back after Winn suffered an injury. Both men come from wrestling backgrounds and excellent camps, with Winn looking to build some momentum after snapping a two-fight skid last December.
Hawes was tabbed for greatness when he first broke into the sport and was training at Jackson-Wink MMA, but like innumerable fighters, he initially struggled against quality competition, losing to Andrew Sanchez in the elimination round on TUF 23, to veteran Louis Taylor under the WSOF shingle, and to Julian Marquez in his first appearance on Dana White’s Contender Series.
But since then, “Megatron” has been unstoppable and if he continues his winning ways this weekend, he’ll head into 2022 with the Top 15 in his sights and the talk about his championship potential beginning to simmer again.