“All I heard about the week leading up to this thing is this kid Mo,” Dana White said following UFC 297 one night after watching Mohamed Ado’s win over Chris Chapman at Unified 55. “He’s 23 years old and he’s 3-0. I get it, you’re excited, you’ve got a kid who looks like he’s got it, but that kid, he needs time.”
One of the people that was in White’s ear about Ado was yours truly.
After hearing that White would be in attendance for Unified 55, I offered to send him some notes about the fighters who I had seen compete previously during my time as a commentator for the promotion.
I referred to Ado as a “super prospect” and now, at age 24, he’ll attempt to earn a spot on the UFC roster when he faces 25 year old Jonathan Micallef Tuesday on the season finale of Dana White’s Contender Series this .
Ado, who was born and raised in Niger before moving to Canada to study International Development and Globalization at the University of Ottawa, stood out from the moment he made his professional debut.
Despite having never competed in mixed martial arts as an amateur, Ado accepted a fight at Unified 48 in December 2022 on mere days’ notice against Matt Speciale, an established, undefeated (4-0) fighter who trains under Joseph Valtellini, who, in my opinion, is the greatest Canadian kickboxer of all-time.
Ado, who was a four-to-one underdog, was down two rounds, when myself and the other commentators were talking about how Ado should be pleased with his performance and how a lot of great fighters had lost their pro debut. Just moments later, Ado landed a thudding head kick to score the finish.
Just like that, Canada was introduced to a promising young prospect.
Since then, less than two years after his professional debut, Ado has racked up four more wins, but that does not tell the whole story.
Ado’s next challenge was Taylor Cahill, who had a collegiate wrestling pedigree. Ado would outwrestle him and score a first-round submission victory.
Next was the experienced Roman Cordova, who was 11-11 and had 20 more professional fights than Ado, who would finish him in the second round.
Then came his biggest opportunity, fighting at Unified 55 in front of Dana White in Toronto, where he defeated Chris Chapman (5-5), whose record does not do him justice. Chapman is one of the toughest and most durable fighters on the regional scene and never shies away from facing tough competition. Ado scored a rear naked choke victory in the third round.
White spoke to Ado after the event and told him that he needed to take his time and get some more wins under his belt.
All it took was one more, but it did not come easy when he faced Afghanistan’s Abdul Fayzi in June. The fight lasted just under one round, but it was a frenetic round where Ado faced a lot of adversity as Fayzi landed multiple judo tosses and had even advanced to full mount on multiple occasions.
Late in the round, Fayzi had Ado in a deep armbar before Ado was able to summon the will to escape and when Fayzi looked to take him down again, Ado was able to lock up a guillotine choke late in the round, securing the submission victory.
Ado was unhappy with his performance, but ended up getting the call to compete on the Contender Series regardless.
“There were multiple mistakes that I know are so easy to correct that I should have made,” Ado told Sportsnet. “He did well in his game plan, dragging me down and throwing me around.”
Ado will be the sixth representative of Canada to compete on this season of the show with the first five competitors (Mike Imperato, Pat Pytlik, Shannon Clark, Corinne Laframboise and Christian Savoie) all suffering losses.
“It doesn’t really phase me or anything like that,” said Ado. “They had to do their own thing and I have to do my own thing, it’s two completely separate things to me.”
In addition to representing Canada, Ado is also excited about the prospect of being the first UFC fighter who was born in Niger.
“It’s a huge honour, especially being the first to do it. It means everything really,” Ado added. “It’s going to be an opportunity to show my people that a lot of things are possible. Unfortunately we don’t have the infrastructure or anything like that to do it back home, but I was fortunate enough to do it here in Canada and I’m grateful to both countries for that.”
Having had the privilege of seeing many Canadians compete at the regional level for several years, Ado is the most excited that I have been for any prospect by a good margin.
He continues to show growth and evolution each time out and regardless of the outcome of Tuesday’s bout, I expect he will eventually make his way through the UFC ranks.
His upside has been too profound to ignore and to see what he has been able to achieve as a professional fighter in under two years, without having had amateur experience, has been a joy.
Hopefully Canadians watching on Tuesday will be able to share in that joy and Ado will emerge as the next fighter from the great white north to earn a coveted spot on the UFC roster.
