UFC Vegas 39 Fighter to Watch: Phillip Hawes
"Megatron" looks for his fourth UFC win in 12 months on Saturday night in a main card assignment against Deron Winn
Name: Phillip Hawes
Nickname: Megatron
Record: 11-2 overall, 3-0 UFC
Division: Middleweight
Team: Sanford MMA
Opponent: Deron Winn (7-2 overall, 2-2 UFC)
In fantasy sports parlance, Phillip Hawes is someone you would call a “post-hype sleeper” — a guy that was touted as a breakthrough candidate early in his career, stumbled, but no looks like he just might reach those lofty heights that were initially forecasted for him after all.
A physical specimen and outstanding athlete who was one of Jon Jones’ key training partners when “Bones” was in the early days of his dominance over the light heavyweight division, Hawes got hit with the “Next Big Thing” label at the outset of his career. He won four straight to begin his career, running through overmatched competition, but when he stepped in against more experienced foes, he stumbled.
He made the short list of hopefuls for Season 23 of The Ultimate Fighter, but dropped a decision to Andrew Sanchez in the bouts to determine who gained entry into the house. Hawes was out, and Sanchez went on to win the light heavyweight competition, grinding out Khalil Rountree Jr. in the finals before moving down to middleweight.
Later that year, Hawes faced off with Louis Taylor at WSOF 32, losing to the veteran by submission in the second round. A year later, Hawes popped up on the opening season of Dana White’s Contender Series in a matchup with Julian Marquez. Midway through the second round, the burly Missouri-based fighter dropped Hawes with a high kick that earned him the finish and a UFC contract.
At that point, few would have argued that Hawes would eventually find himself on the cusp of cracking the Top 15 in the UFC middleweight division, but here we are.
He took nearly two full years off from MMA competition following that loss to Marquez, venturing to Thailand to compete in Muay Thai, part of a general “apprenticeship” program he put himself through in order to sharpen all his skills and give himself the best chance to maximize his considerable natural gifts. He settled in at Hard Knocks 365 in Deerfield Beach, Florida, getting plenty of good work with elite coaches and training partners, continuing to learn from those with more experience and that have enjoyed more success; happily playing the cut as he worked on his craft.
Since returning to MMA competition in the summer of 2019, Hawes is undefeated, amassing a 7-0 record that includes a blistering finish to earn a UFC contract in his second appearance on the Contender Series, a three straight UFC victories heading into this weekend, all three of which have aged nicely.
Hawes blasted through Khadzi Bestaev in 78 seconds to secure his UFC deal, and then stopped Jacob Malkoun in just 16 seconds to claim victory in his promotional debut last October. In February, he edged out talented emerging threat Nassourdine Imavov by majority decision, and two-and-a-half months later, he out-hustled Kyle Daukaus, closing out the fight by earning 10-8 scores from all three judges in the final round. Both Malkoun and Imavov has since rebounded with victories, while Daukaus had a first-round submission win over Kevin Holland taken away from him last weekend after an accidental clash of heads was deemed too influential on the remainder of the fight, or something like that.
This weekend’s fight with Winn was booked and announced before Hawes’ fight with Daukaus took place, which certainly didn’t sit well with Winn, only for it to be pushed back after Winn suffered a rib injury late in his training camp. Now the two wrestlers will finally stand across from one another, giving Hawes a chance to continue his impressive climb and Winn the opportunity to halt his ascent and claim his momentum for himself.
I think Hawes is someone to pay close attention to in the middleweight division because all of those natural gifts and obvious talents that made him a buzzy prospect when he was starting out are still present; he’s just supplemented the raw materials with a ton of training and development, making him a far more complete fighter and more dangerous competitor. There were questions about his conditioning following his bout with Imavov, where he tired down the stretch, but his bout with Daukaus should quiet those concerns, at least for the time being.
Additionally, middleweight is one of those divisions where there are three or four top contenders that have clearly separated themselves from the pack, but then everyone else in the rankings and the next 10-12 fighters beyond that are all pretty evenly matched and somewhat interchangeable, meaning it’s not that difficult to envision a path to the Top 15 for Hawes, especially if he wraps up an outstanding rookie campaign on the UFC roster with a fourth straight victory.
While it hasn’t been as flashy or highly publicized as Kevin Holland’s breakout campaign last year, I would argue Hawes’ run offers even more reason for intrigue, as he’s faced and beaten better competition to this point, and he doesn’t have the technical gaps in his game that the maddeningly talkative Holland still hasn’t fully shown that he’s shored up.
The matchup with Winn presents some challenges, as the compact American Kickboxing Academy representative is a very good wrestler and should, in theory, make it difficult for Hawes to get in his wheelhouse in terms of the grappling. On the other hand, Hawes is six inches taller than Winn and sports a seven-inch reach advantage, which should allow him to work from range without too much concern for getting clipped and make it more difficult for the diminutive Winn to get inside and wrestle himself.
As of this writing, the lower third in the middleweight Top 15 consists of Edmen Shahbazyan, Chris Weidman, Brad Tavares, Kevin Holland, and Andre Muniz.
I’d pick Hawes to beat four of them without pause, Tavares being the only one I’d have to think about because I know better than to not show the Hawaiian veteran the respect he deserves.
If he gets by Winn on Saturday, I would expect him to be facing one of those men next, at which point, seats on the bandwagon will be scarce, so why not jump on board now and enjoy the ride with me.