Michael Chandler believes Dan Hooker is a tougher test than Charles Oliveira.
Chandler takes on Oliveira for the vacant lightweight title in the UFC 262 headliner which takes place May 15 at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.
In Oliveira, Chandler will be facing arguably his toughest opponent yet with the former currently on an eight-fight winning streak and fresh off a dominant unanimous decision win over Tony Ferguson. “Do Bronx” is also a betting favorite going into the fight.
However, Chandler disagrees. He even believes Hooker — who he TKO’d in one round in his UFC debut — was a tougher test for him than Oliveira will be.
“I think Dan Hooker was a tougher test, and that’s not me predicting that I’m going to knock Oliveira out in two minutes because I knocked Hooker out in two and a half,” Chandler told ESPN (via Middle Easy). “If you look at the past fights, you look at the Poirier vs Hooker fight, the Felder vs Hooker fight, I mean the guy is absolutely unbreakable. I was going to have to separate him from consciousness to beat him, and luckily I was able to do that.
“Charles Oliveira is not that. I think Charles Oliveira is a tough competitor, but I think Dan Hooker has a lot bigger and better attributes. I would say Dan Hooker is a tougher test, but that is not me looking past Charles Oliveira.”
Compared to Hooker, Chandler even went as far as calling Oliveira a quitter. Of course, he also used past fights as evidence to back that up.
“If you look at the Paul Felder fight, he tapped due to strikes,” Chandler added. “You look at numerous fights, he just kind of goes… if he can’t impose his will on you, there comes a point where he just looks at you and decides ‘Okay, you’ve won this one. I’m done. I’m going to go collect half a paycheck and I’m going to go home,’” Chandler said.
“I think there’s going to be a moment or multiple moments in this fight where he’s going to see it in my eyes, he’s going to feel the power that I possess, he’s going to feel that I only get better, and he’s on a fast journey straight down to panicking. I just think that’s going to happen.”
Do you agree with Chandler?