It’s not frequent that someone enters the UFC with tens of thousands of fans already closely following their career. In fact, you rarely even see someone amass such a noticeable following after a few years in the promotion, unless they have quite the early breakthrough.
But for Bilal Hasan, a flyweight who has yet to even secure his future in a major MMA organization, he’s already at that level. With over 81,000 Instagram followers, Hasan has the popularity of someone who is an established name in the sport.
Everything has come together for Hasan as of late, causing his sudden rise in MMA at just 23 years old. His deep experience in combat sports, his entertainer personality, and his ties to a country that craves a new sporting star to root for have made Hasan the full package as an MMA prospect.
And now, it looks like Hasan is right around the corner from his long-awaited UFC shot. But the job’s not done. In a recent interview with Knockdown News, Hasan explained how he got to where he is and how he hopes his future in the sport will go.
Becoming ‘The IndoNinja’
When you hear Hasan’s backstory, it’s not surprising that he found MMA eventually. He’s been a lifelong combat sports competitor, first practicing Taekwondo at age 4 and continuing with it until his late teen years. In high school, he also dipped his toes into wrestling.
Hasan always considered himself a “wild person,” embracing a loud and outgoing personality which would mesh well with the star-driven sport he now finds himself in.
But, not only was he not following MMA during his childhood, at one point, he didn’t expect he’d ever be interested in it.
“I actually thought it was super barbaric,” Hasan remembers thinking.
Things changed when a guy named Conor McGregor became an international star. It was a lightbulb moment for Hasan. “The IndoNinja” saw a lot of himself in McGregor: From his wide, “bladed” stance, like what he had learned in Taekwondo, to an outspoken persona, like the “extrovert” that Hasan always saw himself as.
“Hey, I can do that, too,” Hasan remembers thinking as he saw McGregor.
Hasan became obsessed with MMA by that point, and maybe went a little too far with his fandom. In high school, he recalled starting somewhat of a fight club out of his parents’ garage, putting together lineups of bouts between classmates: “In hindsight, I probably shouldn’t have done that,” he admitted.
While studying public health at the University of Washington Bothell, Hasan trained on the school’s boxing team. It was also around this time that he discovered Charlie’s Combat Club, an Everett, Washington gym run by late-90s and early 2000s MMA vet Charlie Pearson.
Hasan has cross-trained at other gyms, heading up to AMC Pankration in Woodinville, and also hitting the road to practice in other super-gyms periodically, although he credits the Combat Club for helping him become the fighter he is today.
“The biggest thing about our gym is the community aspect, and that’s something I take pride in so much every time I’m there,” Hasan described. “It just feels like family friends. Some days I don’t want to come into the gym. I’m tired, I’m sore. But it’s like, all my best friends are there. So, might as well just get into the gym, train, and have a good time.”
Success came early for Hasan. He was in the MMA amateur scene for just a cup of coffee, but that’s really all he needed. After six consecutive wins within 13 months, Hasan was ready to debut as a pro by late 2022.
Since his early appearances under the CFFC banner, Hasan has established himself as a walking highlight reel. After dazzling finishes, stopping Jacob Romano with a spinning wheel kick and flooring Shamel Findley with a right hook, Hasan earned himself a title shot in the New Jersey-based promotion. Just as he was becoming known as a knockout artist, Hasan pulled out a submission last September against Jose Leon to become champ.
There was a lot to like about Hasan’s abilities in the cage. But outside of the cage, it seemed like he was making even bigger waves.
Indonesia’s Next Big Thing
There are many great prospects on the regional scene with impressive victories under their belt. However, few of them can say they have a substantial online following like Hasan’s.
It certainly doesn’t hurt that Hasan is one of the hottest names coming out of CFFC currently. But there’s more to explaining why he has become such a big name online. While U.S.-born, Hasan proudly represents his Indonesian background, flying the flag in the cage and even sometimes donning the country’s red and white on his fight shorts.
Although Indonesia has a population of 281 million, it’s not yet a country that has created many stars in MMA. In 2023, Jeka Saragih became the first-ever fighter to represent Indonesia in the UFC. The country responded enthusiastically to Saragih’s call-up, ballooning his online following to over 250,000 fans.
Indonesia is craving another name that can represent them on the global stage in MMA, and they see Hasan as the top prospect who could deliver that. His support from the country is evident when you check any comment section on his posts, with a solid fraction of fans writing to him in Indonesian.
“To put it plain and simple, it’s just completely unreal,” Hasan says about his support from Indonesian fans. “It’s surreal … I do have a whole country behind me.”
Hasan worried that he would be considered a “fraud” for representing Indonesia despite not growing up in the country. “I didn’t want to represent my culture in the wrong way,” he said.
But his concerns about the representation were far from the truth. Embracing his background has been a positive experience, and one he says has brought him closer to his culture.
“The years that I’ve been in this, I’ve learned more about my culture. [Fans] also really love seeing me learn more about my culture and see how interested I am with it.”
The entertainer side of Hasan comes through on his social media pages, where fans from around the world cheer him on. He has made the most out of a micro-influencer-sized following, frequently churning out skits, vlogs, podcasts, and collaborations with other creators. And, unsurprisingly, a fair amount of it has Indonesian subtitles.
‘I Do Know My Value’
After his second-round finish win over Brian Hauser in February, defending his CFFC flyweight title with another dominant striking showcase, Hasan called for a spot on the UFC roster.
Hasan pitched an idea that was a little too good to be true: He hoped that in his home state of Washington, he could potentially get a fight just a few weeks later at UFC Seattle.
Rarely does a 23-year-old prospect’s call for a UFC shot not get labelled as premature. In a sport where so many fighters peak by their late 20s and early 30s, 23 is a young age to step into the cage with some of the division’s best. And fighting at flyweight, a division where UFC has shown their willingness to toss debutants against some of the more elite names, facing a ranked fighter isn’t out of the realm of possibility for a new name.
Hasan is aware of the fact that he still has room to grow. He doesn’t want to become another fighter who got a call-up too early and blew their shot. But in that same breath, when the time comes knocking for a UFC opportunity, he’s not going to turn down the chance.
“I’m in no rush,” Hasan said. “I’m still so young, and man, the flyweight division is full of killers. The last thing I want to do is rush in there, and they could even put me up against a top 15 guy right off the get-go. But at the same time, I do know my value as a fighter, and I feel like I’m what the UFC needs.”
Putting it politely, Hasan described his timing as “maybe not now.” Other times, like in the heat of the moment after scoring a knockout win, he has also called such an opportunity “inevitable.” The longer he succeeds on the regional scene, the harder it is to deny that.
For now, at least, Hasan isn’t UFC-bound. CFFC are planning to book him for a June card, defending his flyweight title for a second time when he faces 12-fight vet Jason Eastman, a 32-year-old who has more than a decade of fighting experience to his name.
It’ll be another big test for Hasan, one that could threaten to derail all of his momentum both in the cage and as a budding social media figure. But if he can keep going on the path he’s been on for years, it’ll just be another step in his rise toward being Indonesia’s next combat sports star.
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