Tag: chase hooper

Chase Hooper Speaks Out Following UFC Vegas 63 KO Loss

For the first time in his UFC career, featherweight Chase Hooper suffered a nasty knockout loss in the Octagon at UFC Vegas 63. Hooper lost to Steve Garcia on the UFC Vegas 63 prelims on Saturday. The loss was his first defeat by finish in his professi…

For the first time in his UFC career, featherweight Chase Hooper suffered a nasty knockout loss in the Octagon at UFC Vegas 63. Hooper lost to Steve Garcia on the UFC Vegas 63 prelims on Saturday. The loss was his first defeat by finish in his professional career and his first loss of any kind…

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Twitter Reacts To Steve Garcia’s Brutal TKO Win Against Hooper

Steve Garcia put on a dominant striking display for the short period of time that his fight with Chase Hooper lasted at UFC Vegas 63. After being knocked out in the first round of his last matchup at UFC 275, “Mean Machine” wasted no time going after H…

Steve Garcia put on a dominant striking display for the short period of time that his fight with Chase Hooper lasted at UFC Vegas 63. After being knocked out in the first round of his last matchup at UFC 275, “Mean Machine” wasted no time going after Hooper in their featherweight bout. A barrage of…

Continue Reading Twitter Reacts To Steve Garcia’s Brutal TKO Win Against Hooper at MMA News.

Steve Garcia flattens Chase Hooper for quickfire TKO, lands 4 separate knockdowns – UFC Vegas 63 Highlights

Steve GarciaIn a truly dominant victory at the featherweight limit, Steve Garcia knocks back popular division prospect, Chase Hooper — landing a stunning four separate knockdowns in the opening minute and a half en route to a first round TKO win on the preliminary card of UFC Vegas 63. Garcia, who entered tonight’s UFC Apex facility […]

Steve Garcia

In a truly dominant victory at the featherweight limit, Steve Garcia knocks back popular division prospect, Chase Hooper — landing a stunning four separate knockdowns in the opening minute and a half en route to a first round TKO win on the preliminary card of UFC Vegas 63.

Garcia, who entered tonight’s UFC Apex facility clash with Hooper off the back of a June knockout loss of his own against Hayisaer Maheshate, returned with a vengeance tonight — dropping and rocking Hopper in each lengthy exchange the two partook in.

Landing three separate knockdowns before the eventual first round win, Garcia floored the Dana White‘s Contender Series alum with a left hook after Hooper missed with a spinning effort, forcing referee, Herb Dean to step in and call a halt to the action.

Below, catch the highlights from Chase Hooper’s first round TKO loss to Steve Garcia

Chase Hooper: I’m Not Just The Young Dorky Guy

UFC featherweight prospect Chase Hooper is out to show that he’s not just the “dorky” 22-year-old he may come across as on social media, he’s a world-class fighter. Hooper certainly went some way to proving that this past weekend, when he returned from an 11-month layoff at UFC Vegas 55 in impressive fashion. Against Felipe…

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UFC featherweight prospect Chase Hooper is out to show that he’s not just the “dorky” 22-year-old he may come across as on social media, he’s a world-class fighter.

Hooper certainly went some way to proving that this past weekend, when he returned from an 11-month layoff at UFC Vegas 55 in impressive fashion. Against Felipe Colares, “The Dream” displayed his striking improvements, and reiterated his jiu-jitsu talents on the mat.

In the third round, Hooper put an exclamation point on his return to the win column by becoming the first man to finish Colares, which he accomplished with some relentless ground-and-pound.

Early in his UFC career, a lot of attention directed at Hooper has surrounded his heavy and entertaining presence on social media. Unsurprisingly, when he fell to defeats against Alex Caceres and Steven Peterson, some suggested that the 22-year-old’s hype was unwarranted when it comes to his skills inside the cage.

With his performance this past Saturday, Hooper believes he began to prove that he’s not just a “dorky guy,” but also deserving of his place inside the Octagon, as he told Ariel Helwani during an appearance on The MMA Hour.

“It’s just been so much time off. (I’ve) just been really putting in the work to improve my game overall, and I feel like that really showed (at UFC Vegas 55). And to try to not just take the place of ‘this young, dorky guy.’ I have to be a UFC fighter, first and foremost. And I have to really not see myself as any different to any of these other guys.

“Obviously, I’ve had a much bigger platform just from the jump on the social media side of things, but it’s not just being content with that… Trying to step up and prove to myself, and to the three people that matter, Dana (White), Mick (Maynard), and Sean (Shelby), that I am a world-class fighter, and that I deserve to be in the UFC.”

Having brought Chase Hooper 2.0 to the cage at UFC Vegas 55, “The Dream” will be looking to return to a winning streak next time out, as his search for consistency inside the Octagon and an ascension up the ladder continues.

Hopefully his entertaining ways on social media will continue, even if he does zone in on mixed martial arts success int he coming years.

How high do you think Chase Hooper’s ceiling is in the UFC?

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Chase Hooper Intends To Follow “The O’Malley Approach” To UFC Rise

UFC featherweight prospect Chase Hooper wants a slow and steady rise up the rankings, similar to that of bantamweight Sean O’Malley. Hooper got back in the win column on the UFC Vegas 55 prelims, earning a late TKO finish of Felipe Colares. He returned to the Octagon following a nearly one-year hiatus and losses in…

Continue Reading Chase Hooper Intends To Follow “The O’Malley Approach” To UFC Rise at MMA News.

UFC featherweight prospect Chase Hooper wants a slow and steady rise up the rankings, similar to that of bantamweight Sean O’Malley.

Hooper got back in the win column on the UFC Vegas 55 prelims, earning a late TKO finish of Felipe Colares. He returned to the Octagon following a nearly one-year hiatus and losses in two of his previous three fights.

Hooper has fought a slew of fellow prospects during his young UFC career, and he intends to stay on this current path for a while. O’Malley has recently been praised for his methodical approach to his strength of schedule when it comes to his opponents and activity.

During his UFC Vegas 55 post-fight press conference, Hooper explained why he isn’t in a rush to be thrown into fights with bigger names in the featherweight division.

“I’ve never been one to call people out,” Hooper said. “The O’Malley approach is always a great one. Fight the lowest-ranked guy for the most amount of money on the highest spot on the card. I’m just gonna go back, look at the things I did well this fight, look at the things I need to improve on.

“The past 11 months I haven’t just been training for this fight, I’ve been training for the rest of my career. I’ve been training to be good enough for the next 3, 4, 5 fights. So it’s just about continuing to make those improvements and waiting for that call from the UFC.

“Hopefully I impressed the only three people that matter in this sport right now. Dana White, Sean Shelby, Mick Maynard. Those are the guys who keep my bills paid and allow me to live this lifestyle that I do. So, hopefully, they’re impressed.”

Hooper, at 22 years old, is one of the youngest fighters in the UFC. He made his UFC debut against Daniel Teymur at UFC 245 after a win on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2018.

Hooper has plenty of time to develop and eventually face top names in the featherweight division.

As for O’Malley, he’ll face arguably the toughest challenge of his UFC career at UFC 276 against ranked contender Pedro Munhoz.

Do you agree with Chase Hooper’s approach?

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UFC Vegas 55 Performance Bonus Winners

UFC middleweight Chidi Njokuani earned his second straight post-fight bonus with an elbow strike knockout over Dusko Todorovic at UFC Vegas 55. Njokuani fought off a series of Todorovic takedown attempts to get the fight back to the feet. A well-renowned kickboxer, he was able to move Todorovic to the clinch before landing a right…

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UFC middleweight Chidi Njokuani earned his second straight post-fight bonus with an elbow strike knockout over Dusko Todorovic at UFC Vegas 55.

Njokuani fought off a series of Todorovic takedown attempts to get the fight back to the feet. A well-renowned kickboxer, he was able to move Todorovic to the clinch before landing a right elbow strike that sent Todorovic unconscious.

Check out Njokuani’s finish below.

Earlier this year, Njokuani earned another performance bonus for his TKO over Marc-Andre Barriault in his UFC debut. He earned a shot in the UFC following an up-and-down tenure in Bellator, followed by a win on Dana White’s Contender Series.

Njokuani wasn’t the only one who cashed in after scoring a big finish. Featherweight prospect Chase Hooper got back on track in his UFC career with a third-round TKO win over Felipe Colares on the prelims.

Hooper had been away from the Octagon for nearly a year since his loss to Steven Peterson at UFC 263. The 22-year-old showed massive improvements with his striking after being well-known for years as a grappling-first athlete.

In the UFC Vegas 55 co-main event, welterweights Santiago Ponzinibbio and Michel Pereira put on a three-round war at the UFC Apex. After 15 minutes of action, Pereira earned a split decision to win his fifth straight fight.

The bout earned ‘Fight of the Night’ with both Pereira and Ponzinibbio earning an extra $50k each.

Pereira has picked up wins over the likes of Niko Price, Khaos Williams, and Andre Fialho since losing two of his first three UFC fights.

The UFC Vegas 55 main event featured a split-decision win for Ketlen Vieira over former bantamweight champion Holly Holm.

What are your thoughts on Chidi Njokuani and the rest of the UFC Vegas 55 performance bonus winners?

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