Fast facts
- Division: Flyweight (UFC)
- Record: 10-0, plus one no contest
- Nationality: American, born in Honolulu to parents who immigrated from Indonesia
- Team/gym: Charlie’s Combat Club
- Notable wins: Nilson Rojas, Mridul Saikia, Brian Hauser, Jason Eastman, Renaldy Manse
The clip that went around this week was a goofy one. Bilal Hasan asked ChatGPT to predict his fight with Luis Gurule, and Championship Rounds posted the answer on X: “I’m calling it. Bilal Hasan by first round TKO.” The UFC’s own account shared it too, with the caption “The prediction is in.” It’s a fun bit of fight-week content. It’s also the least interesting thing about the man, and if all you know about Hasan heading into UFC 334 is that a chatbot likes him, you’re missing the better story.
Honolulu, Everett, and a dojo at age five
Hasan was born on July 16, 2001, in Honolulu, the son of parents who had come to the United States from Indonesia. The family eventually moved to Washington state, and he grew up in Everett, north of Seattle. That’s where the nickname comes from, “The IndoNinja,” a nod to his family’s roots and to the martial arts he started before he could read well.
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He began taekwondo at five. He stayed with it long enough to earn a third-degree black belt and to compete for the U.S. junior national team, which is the kind of résumé line that usually belongs to a kid who spent every weekend in a gym bag and a car seat. From there he branched out into wrestling, boxing, kickboxing and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, where he holds a blue belt. Honest belt, too. Plenty of fighters would round that up in conversation.
What gets me is the college part. Hasan went to the University of Washington Bothell and finished a bachelor’s degree in health studies in 2023, and he paid his way through it working a stack of jobs at once. He was a receptionist at a physical therapy office. He worked as a security guard. He taught martial arts. By the time he graduated, he’d already turned pro, so for a stretch there he was a student, a working man and a professional fighter all in the same calendar year. Nobody hands you a UFC contract for that, but it tells you a lot about the person who eventually earned one.
The regional grind
His pro debut came on December 16, 2022, at CFFC 116, and it was no highlight. He beat Xhelal Lleshi by split decision over three rounds, which is about as close as a win gets. Seven months later, at COGA Combat Games 75 in July 2023, his fight with Sonny Suranjin was waved off as a no contest after an accidental groin strike early on. So the first two entries on his record are a coin flip on the scorecards and a fight that barely happened. Not exactly a launch.
Then the finishes started. Across 2023 and 2024 he picked up wins over Orlando Ortega, Jacob Romano, Shamel Findley and Jose Leon, and those performances built him a reputation on the regional scene for stoppages that people wanted to rewatch.
Cage Fury Fighting Championships became home. On February 1, 2025, at CFFC 139, he fought Brian Hauser for the vacant CFFC flyweight title and knocked him out in the second round with a punch to the body. I love that detail. You’d expect the kid with the taekwondo pedigree to win his first belt with something spinning and photogenic, and instead he did it with one of the least glamorous, most painful shots in fighting.
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He defended the belt twice. At CFFC 143 on June 6, 2025, he stopped Jason Eastman by TKO in the fourth round, which matters more than it looks on paper. A lot of prospects with long knockout streaks have never seen a fourth round, and Hasan went there in a title fight and still found the finish. Six months later, on December 20, 2025, at CFFC 149, he needed only one round to TKO Renaldy Manse.
Eighteen days
The stretch that put him on the UFC’s radar for good is almost absurd when you lay it out. On August 11, 2026, Hasan fought Mridul Saikia on Dana White’s Contender Series and knocked him out in the first round. He got the contract.
Eighteen days later he was fighting in the UFC proper, on the August 29 Fight Night card headlined by Umar Nurmagomedov and Song Yadong. He knocked out Nilson Rojas in the second round. Two knockouts on two of the biggest nights of his career, less than three weeks apart, and his UFC debut came on short rest after the most stressful audition in the sport. That’s five straight wins inside the distance going back to the Hauser fight, three of them with a title or a contract on the line.
I have a low tolerance for hype trains built on three wins and a viral clip. Hasan has 10 wins, two title defenses, a fourth-round finish and a college degree he worked security shifts to pay for. That’s a body of work.
Where he stands
Hasan is 10-0 and currently sits at No. 26 in the Knockout Daily flyweight rankings, which run on Cagefile data. He’s 25, he trains out of Charlie’s Combat Club, and he’s one UFC fight into what the promotion clearly hopes is a long run. The UFC’s social team has been pushing him all week, calling him “DANGEROUS in the Octagon” and “a man on a mission” in posts promoting the card.
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There’s an obvious gap between No. 26 and anywhere near the top of the division, and one win over Rojas doesn’t close it. What it does is give him a bigger platform than he’s ever had to keep stacking finishes.
What’s next
That platform arrives Saturday, November 14, at UFC 334, the card headlined by Gane vs. Hokit. Hasan meets Luis Gurule in the main card opener, and the UFC’s own promo leaned into Gurule as the one “here to steal the show,” so both men will walk out knowing the first fight of the broadcast is their best shot at a highlight. The main card starts at 9 p.m. ET on Paramount+.
ChatGPT already has its pick on record, first-round TKO. Hasan’s actual record says he’s been just as comfortable finishing people in Round 2 or Round 4, and he’s never once needed a prediction to show up for work.
