Dan Hooker has responded to talk of welterweight champion Kamaru Usman jumping up two weight classes to challenge for the UFC light-heavyweight title.
In an exclusive interview with LowKickMMA’s James Lynch, Hooker discussed a range of different topics in the world of combat sports, most notably his exciting, upcoming debut at featherweight against rising prospect Arnold Allen at UFC London in March.
Among other things, Hooker also talked about his City Kickboxing teammates; current UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya and featherweight champion Alexander Volkanowski, who he feels he’d deserve next with a win over Allen as well as his current contract status and why he loves the state of Texas so much.
Dan Hooker respectfully dismisses Kamaru Usman’s Fighting At 205lbs
One of the many intriguing topics Hooker discussed was the rumored move of present UFC welterweight champion Kamaru “The Nigerian Nightmare” Usman straight to light-heavyweight to challenge for the title there, completely bypassing the UFC’s middleweight division.
Usman himself has been quoted many times in the past as saying that he would never challenge for the UFC’s middleweight championship as long as his friend Adesanya remains the champion, a situation quite similar to Daniel “DC” Cormier and Cain Velasquez a few years ago.
In his interview with us, Hooker outlined the practical difficulties of moving up two divisions straight away, pointing out just how physically big 205 fighters actually are.
“That’s a massive jump. Like, I’ve bumped into a few of those [LHW’s]”, Hooker said. “Like Gustafsson and Glover. Glover is thicc! Glover is built like a fire hydrant, and Gustafsson is just huge and long….yeah, that’s a big jump, and I’ll believe that one when I see it.”
Hooker certainly does make some interesting points. Whilst Usman is a massive welterweight, Israel Adesanya looked substantially smaller than Jan Blachowitz when he, a natural middleweight, moved up to challenge him at 205 pounds. Whether the move ever happens or not is an interesting prospect, but a two weight jump is both a massive logistical challenge and an unlikely one too, although stranger things have happened before.
Do you agree with Dan Hooker? Is Kamaru Usman moving to 205lbs unlikely?