Unbeaten prospect Nascimento calls Hooper 'easy money' ahead of UFC Baku debut

Jefferson Nascimento will make his UFC debut on just eleven days’ notice, facing fellow promotional newcomer Tahir Abdullaev at welterweight at UFC Baku on June 27 — a moment the unbeaten Brazilian has been engineering toward for years.

Nascimento, 13-0 as a professional and a three-time LFA lightweight champion, received the call on June 16. He had anticipated it. With the UFC scheduling events in Abu Dhabi, Serbia, and Azerbaijan in quick succession, he told himself a short-notice opportunity was coming “at any moment.”

The debut comes with a side of unfinished business. Back in April, a month before Nascimento defended his LFA lightweight title with a fourth-round knockout, he posted a fake UFC fight announcement on social media pairing himself with Chase Hooper — who had just been knocked out by Lance Gibson Jr. It was less about Hooper personally, Nascimento explained, and more about the frustration of watching fighters reach the UFC while he was still grinding through the Brazilian circuit.

“He lost, actually,” Nascimento told MMA Fighting. “And I kept asking myself, ‘What does this guy have that I don’t? Does he just sell really well?’ I couldn’t understand it. He got to the UFC at a very young age but I thought, ‘I’ll throw it out into the universe. If it happens, it happens.’ I had nothing to lose, so I went for it.”

Hooper is scheduled for his 14th octagon appearance on July 18 against Mitch Ramirez, and Nascimento made clear he still wants that fight.

“Easy money,” Nascimento laughed. “Honestly. I don’t know what he’s doing here, or why he was here and I wasn’t. I kept asking myself that. But it is what it is — he had his opportunity. Still, it’s a fight I’d love to have. Now I’m finally here.”

Nascimento moves up from his natural lightweight class to take on Abdullaev in Baku, competing in front of a crowd he expects to be hostile. He welcomes it.

“I like that atmosphere,” he said. “It motivates me and gives me an extra boost. Of course it’s great to fight at home, close to my family and friends, but seeing the crowd booing me and then proving them wrong gives me even more motivation. I enjoy it. And the pressure ends up being even greater on my opponent because of that.”

Nascimento was highlighted as one of Brazil’s top prospects to watch in 2024, but he believes the additional two years — and three LFA title defences — have sharpened him considerably.

“I’m calmer,” he said, “and this is the right moment for me to shine and build a long career here.”

He plans to return to lightweight after UFC Baku but says he will keep the door open for further short-notice welterweight appearances if the opportunity arises.