Tag: Dan Hooker

Hooker: I Can’t Be A Contender In The Current Lightweight Landscape

Dan Hooker has suggested his likely return to featherweight derives from the fact he can no longer be a contender in the current lightweight landscape.

A month out from his latest defeat in the Octagon, Hooker hinted towards a possible move back do…

Dan Hooker & Islam Makhachev

Dan Hooker has suggested his likely return to featherweight derives from the fact he can no longer be a contender in the current lightweight landscape.

A month out from his latest defeat in the Octagon, Hooker hinted towards a possible move back down to the weight class in which he began his career in. In a clip posted to Twitter, “The Hangman” can be seen making the 146-pound limit for non-title featherweight fights. He later confirmed the planned move in various interviews.

Hooker’s decision to return to the division he went 3-3 in between 2014 and 2016 comes after his initially successful lightweight stint came to a faltering end across the last year. Since victories over the likes of James Vick, Al Iaquinta, Gilbert Burns, and Paul Felder left him 7-1 at 155 pounds, the New Zealander has lost three out of four fights.

After falling short in a five-round war against top contender Dustin Poirier last June, Hooker was finished by the debuting Michael Chandler in January this year. Following a brief rebound against unranked prospect Nasrat Haqparast in September, the 31-year-old was submitted by surging Dagestani Islam Makhachev in Abu Dhabi a month later.

In an interview with It’s Time For Sports, Hooker discussed his decision to set his sights on another divisional roster after his second loss of 2021. Having been beaten by three of the top five, “The Hangman” suggested he can’t be a contender at lightweight until the landscape of the weight class changes.

“It’s just not exciting, what are you gonna go back (and fight the same guys)? you know what I mean? I’m just being real. I know where my skillset lies with those guys and I know the circumstances of the fights and the circumstances that those fights were taken under, I understand that, and I understand that if everything was a perfect world, the results of those fights definitely wouldn’t be what they were. We all know that.

“But that’s not the fact of the situation. The fact of the situation is that I’ve lost to three of the top-five guys. Under that landscape, this is just fact, under that landscape, you’re not gonna be able to make a run at the top couple of guys in the division or towards the belt until the landscape of that division changes. You would have to stay busy and fight until the landscape of the division changes, or move down to a division which I feel comfortable competing in and I feel like I have a lot of advantages in that division.”

Hooker Has Options At Featherweight

The featherweight division is about as exciting and stacked as any other in the UFC right now. Below Hooker’s teammate Alexander Volkanovski, who’s ruled the weight class since 2019, are a host of elite contenders, including Max Holloway, Yair Rodriguez, Giga Chikadze, and Arnold Allen. There are very few matchups for Hooker that won’t get fans’ imaginations running wild.

But for Hooker, there’s one man head and shoulders above the rest. In a fight just as mouth-watering as any that could be put together in the promotion, the New Zealander wants to throw down with “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung.

Despite having a preference, Hooker isn’t fussy. He’s willing to challenge anyone the fans want to see him up against, and recently expressed a willingness to enter the Octagon with fellow brawler Calvin Katter. Replying to a tweet from Chael Sonnen that suggested a clash with “The Boston Finisher” could mark his arrival back at featherweight, Hooker simply said, “Count me in.”

Who would you like to see Dan Hooker enter the Octagon with at featherweight?

Continue Reading Hooker: I Can’t Be A Contender In The Current Lightweight Landscape at MMA News.

Dan Hooker: I’d Love To Throw Down With The Korean Zombie

Dan Hooker has revealed his desire to trade leather with featherweight contender “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung if he returns to 145 pounds in 2022.

Hooker arrived on MMA’s biggest stage as a featherweight. After losses to Maximo Blanco, Jason …

The Korean Zombie, Dan Hooker

Dan Hooker has revealed his desire to trade leather with featherweight contender “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung if he returns to 145 pounds in 2022.

Hooker arrived on MMA’s biggest stage as a featherweight. After losses to Maximo Blanco, Jason Knight, and Yair Rodriguez left him 3-3 in the division, “The Hangman” made the move up to lightweight. Finding more success, Hooker defeated Marc Diakiese, Jim Miller, Gilbert Burns, James Vick, Al Iaquinta, and Paul Felder on his way to building a 7-1 record at 155 pounds.

But since his main event win over “The Irish dragon” last February, Hooker has lost three times and had his hand raised just once. After a Fight of the Night setback against current number one contender Dustin Poirier, the New Zealander was finished for only the second time in his UFC career when he welcomed Michael Chandler to the UFC in January this year.

Despite rebounding against Nasrat Haqparast at UFC 266, Hooker fell to defeat yet again in a short-notice assignment against surging Dagestani Islam Makhachev last month.

Hooker Looks To Reignite His Career At Featherweight

Having lost to three of the current lightweight top five in the past year-and-a-half, Hooker believes he’s facing a long wait for the division’s landscape to change before he can contend again at 155 pounds. With that in mind, the 31-year-old is looking to return to his old stomping ground.

After teasing the move with evidence of a successful weight cut test on Twitter, Hooker confirmed his intention to fight at 145 pounds again during an appearance on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour. Explaining why lightweight isn’t the right home for him anymore, “The Hangman” suggested a return to featherweight would represent an “exciting” fresh start.

“It excites me. Let’s just say that. That comes with pretty much every decision that I have ever made when it comes to fighting. I do what excites me. I fight and train because I love it, but getting out there and competing is how I entertain myself. I do this for fun… I do whatever is the most exciting to me. A move down to featherweight, back to featherweight, to me, is exciting. There’s a lot of exciting guys down there that I’d love to get into the Octagon with. It’s a fresh start.”

When asked which “exciting guys” he’s got his eye on for when he commits to the weight drop, Hooker identified “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung as his ideal opponent.

“I’ve had a quick look at the (roster). The head and shoulders, like the number one guy that I would love to get in there with would be The Korean Zombie. I would love to throw down with the Zombie… I feel like you just let the people decide. Whoever the people wanna see me in there against, will kind of convince the UFC. What everyone wants, everyone can get. But for me, it would be, head and shoulders, The Korean Zombie.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/CNK-Mz-BEvH/

Like Dan Hooker, “The Korean Zombie” is regarded as one of the most entertaining an durable fighters in the UFC. The former title challenger has earned eight post-fight bonuses, and boasts victories over Dustin Poirier, Renato Moicano, and Frankie Edgar. The 34-year-old recently returned to the win column with a decision triumph over Dan Ige at UFC Vegas 29.

Given that Hooker is the leading candidate for “The New Zealand Zombie” title, this matchup could provide fireworks, knockdowns, blood, and just about everything you’d want from a fight.

Would you like to see Dan Hooker return to featherweight and face The Korean Zombie?

Continue Reading Dan Hooker: I’d Love To Throw Down With The Korean Zombie at MMA News.

Hooker Was Ready To “Ace” Hasbulla Off Khabib’s Shoulders At UFC 267

Dan Hooker was not happy to see Hasbulla in the cage after he lost at UFC 267.

Heading into his short-notice fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov’s protege, Islam Makhachev, at UFC 267, Hooker made it clear that he did not like Hasbulla Magomedov. The so…

Dan Hooker Hasbulla

Dan Hooker was not happy to see Hasbulla in the cage after he lost at UFC 267.

Heading into his short-notice fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov’s protege, Islam Makhachev, at UFC 267, Hooker made it clear that he did not like Hasbulla Magomedov. The social media sensation said that he was coming to Abu Dhabi to attend the event, simply to support Makhachev, and this rubbed the New Zealander the wrong way.

So, to add insult to injury after a quick and devastating first-round submission loss, none other than Khabib himself was seen inside the Octagon with Hasbulla atop his shoulders.

UFC 267: Islam Makhachev expects title shot vs. Dustin Poirier

Speaking to The Mac Life, Hooker explained that seeing this after losing made him frustrated, and he even considered chucking Hasbulla off of the former lightweight champion’s shoulders in the event Hasbulla tried his signature sneak-attack punch move.

“That was pretty hard. Like, I’m standing there, ‘cos I know his (Hasbulla) trick where he does the photo and then as soon as he gets the photo, he punches the guy, and then Khabib comes over. You’ve gotta take it, you’ve gotta wear that sh*t; that’s just part of it, that’s part of losing. You’ve gotta stand there in the ring, let the other guy get his roses and you’ve gotta just stand there and take it on the chin,” Hooker said.

“But Hasbulla comes over and I was just like, I shook his hand and I was just like, ‘If this tiny motherf*cker touches me.’ I was like, ‘I’mma ace him right off Khabib’s shoulders, like, I’m not in the mood.’ [LAUGHS] But he didn’t, so that was all good.”

Luckily, it did not come to that, and Dan Hooker did not feel compelled to throw Hasbulla around. Dana White has suggested that the Russian little person may have something going with the UFC soon and is even rumored to have offered big bucks to try to give him a fight in the UFC. So who knows, maybe a fight between these two could go down in the future, mano y mano, without the help of the Dagestan squad.

Watch the full video with Dan Hooker below:

Continue Reading Hooker Was Ready To “Ace” Hasbulla Off Khabib’s Shoulders At UFC 267 at MMA News.

Dan Hooker Ponders Future Fight With Alexander Volkanovski: ‘That’s Not The Worst Situation’

Dan HookerUFC lightweight contender, Dan Hooker has suggested a potential future matchup against City Kickboxing teammate, reigning featherweight champion, Alexander Volkanovski would not be the worst situation to find himself in — with speculation brewing regarding a potential division return for the Auckland native. Hooker, who has suffered three defeats in his last four lightweight outings, […]

Dan Hooker

UFC lightweight contender, Dan Hooker has suggested a potential future matchup against City Kickboxing teammate, reigning featherweight champion, Alexander Volkanovski would not be the worst situation to find himself in — with speculation brewing regarding a potential division return for the Auckland native.

Hooker, who has suffered three defeats in his last four lightweight outings, currently sits at #8 in the official lightweight pile — most recently suffering a one-sided, kimura submission loss to the #4 rated, Islam Makhachev at UFC 267 on short notice back in October on ‘Fight Island’.

Prior to that loss, Hooker briefly snapped a two-fight slide against both Dustin Poirier and Michael Chandler with an impressive unanimous decision success opposite Nasrat Haqparast in September at UFC 266.

In the time since his loss to American Kickboxing Academy standout, Makhachev, Hooker fueled speculation of a featherweight division return — hitting the 146lbs limit at featherweight during a test-cut with the help of a dietician from the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas.

The City Kickboxing mainstay then claimed that should he make a return to the featherweight limit, where he competed six times during his promotional stint, he would like to first match with the #4 ranked challenger, one-time title challenger, Chan Sung Jung first.

Dan Hooker suggests a future fight with teammate Alexander Volkanovski is not the “worst situation”

Speaking on It’s Time For Sports podcast recently, Hooker claimed that a potential future matchup with teammate, Volkanovski was not the worst situation to find themselves in — likening the potential pairing to another potential lightweight bout with training partner, Brad Riddell.

“It’s the same as the position like Brad Riddell in my division at lightweight,” Dan Hooker said. “There is never a bad position to be in. It’s like your training partners or your group of friends are so good at fighting that you might potentially have to fight each other to be the best fighter in the world. That’s not the worst situation, but I want [Alexander] Volkanovski to win as well and I see him being super successful.“

Hooker also claimed that the landscape of the featherweight division may look considerably different in the not-too-distant future, hinting at a lightweight move for Volkanovski.

“Well, the landscape of something can change so quickly in this sport,” Dan Hooker explained. “Over the next year, you could see Volkanvoski doing some incredible things. You could see Volkanovski moving up to lightweight and being a double champ. You could see him fighting Conor McGregor and walking away with 20 million dollars or something incredible. That’s what I see for Volkanovski. I want Volkanovski to win and I want Brad [Riddell] to win as well. I want my teammates to be successful as well. It is not like I want to be successful at their expense. I want to be successful but I want to see them do some incredible things as well.” (Transcribed by Sportskeeda)

Dan Hooker: Featherweight Is The Weight Class I Can Thrive In

UFC lightweight contender Dan Hooker thinks his future lies in the featherweight division, a weight class he believes he can “thrive” in.

After initially going 7-1 after making the switch up to 155 pounds, Hooker has lost three of his last four out…

Dan Hooker

UFC lightweight contender Dan Hooker thinks his future lies in the featherweight division, a weight class he believes he can “thrive” in.

After initially going 7-1 after making the switch up to 155 pounds, Hooker has lost three of his last four outings. Following a five-round Fight of the Night victory over Paul Felder last February, “The Hangman” fell to consecutive losses to #1-ranked contender Dustin Poirier and former Bellator Lightweight Champion Michael Chandler.

Having rebounded with a decision win against the unranked Nasrat Haqparast at UFC 266, Hooker fell to another setback in a short-notice clash with surging Dagestani Islam Makhachev last month. Despite his three recent defeats coming to top-five lightweights, the New Zealander is looking to make a change.

In a video posted to Twitter earlier this week, Hooker can be seen weighing in at 146 pounds, the weight limit for non-title featherweight bouts.

Now, during an appearance on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour, Hooker has confirmed his desire to return to the weight he entered the UFC at. Discussing the featherweight tease he posted on social media, the fan-favorite brawler said the test was made in order to prove he can perform the cut with relative ease.

“That (weight-cut test) wasn’t for me. I know I can make the weight. That was to try to convince a few people that need convincing. My coaches were not that keen on me going back to ’45, but that’s me stepping on the scale and, to be honest, making it look pretty easy. From when I was there in the past to where I am now, the science and the people that are a part of the UFC (are a lot better).”

When asked whether he expects his next appearance to be at 145 pounds, Hooker confirmed it’s likely. According to “The Hangman,” featherweight is the division he can find the most success in.

“That’s a strong possibility (next fight will be at featherweight)… I’m excited for the future. I feel like featherweight is the weight class that I can really thrive at.”

Hooker Targets FW Switch To “Capitalize” On Advantages

Addressing why he feels now is the right time to make the move back down to the weight where he went 3-3 in his opening six Octagon outings, Hooker admitted he hasn’t been able to make the most of the advantages he possesses while fighting at lightweight. He believes that will be a different story at featherweight.

“It’s just an advantage that I haven’t been capitalizing on, if I’m being honest. There’s like, there’s a number of things, a number of advantages that I haven’t been capitalizing on. But that’s just one of them. So it’s kinda, moving forward and learning from the past, you have to make a judgement for the future… It’s (featherweight) a weight class where I can really capitalize on all of my advantages.”

Given the current landscape of the featherweight division, there are a number of mouth-watering matchups we could see Dan Hooker involved in should he commit to the weight switch. With hard-swingers like “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung, Shane Burgos, Giga Chikadze, Dan Ige, and Calvin Kattar all sitting in the top 15, “The Hangman” could have some more FOTN bonuses coming his way at 145 pounds.

Who would you like to see Dan Hooker face at featherweight?

Continue Reading Dan Hooker: Featherweight Is The Weight Class I Can Thrive In at MMA News.

Dan Hooker Eyes Clash With Chan Sung Jung, Confirms Featherweight Return Is ‘Possible’

Dan HookerUFC lightweight contender, Dan Hooker has teased a featherweight division outing for the first time since November 2016 recently, following a rough patch at his lightweight home where he currently resides at #8 in the official rankings. And if he makes a featherweight return — has sights fixed on a showdown against the #4 ranked […]

Dan Hooker

UFC lightweight contender, Dan Hooker has teased a featherweight division outing for the first time since November 2016 recently, following a rough patch at his lightweight home where he currently resides at #8 in the official rankings. And if he makes a featherweight return — has sights fixed on a showdown against the #4 ranked contender, Chan Sung Jung.

Hooker, who most recently featured at UFC 267 back in October on ‘Fight Island’, suffered his third loss in his most recent four Octagon appearances — dropping a first round kimura submission defeat against the surging, Islam Makhachev.

Prior to that, Hooker, who made a short-notice appearance against the Dagestan native — knocked back Nasrat Haqparast at UFC 266 in September with an impressive unanimous decision victory. However, it has not been the plainest sailing run for the Auckland native since the beginning of the pandemic — dropping a pair of high-profile losses to both former interim lightweight titleholder, Dustin Poirier, and a January knockout loss to one-time title chaser, Michael Chandler.

Teasing a move back to the 145lbs limit recently, the City Kickboxing staple utilized a dietician from the UFC Performance Institute whilst he stays in Las Vegas, Hooker successfully made a test weight-cut back to the featherweight limit of 146lbs.

Dan Hooker welcomes featherweight return against Chan Sung Jung

The 31-year-old striker has not competed at the featherweight limit since a unanimous decision loss to promotional alum, Jason Knight five years ago, but maintains that it’s still a possibility that he makes the return to the division for his next outing. 

“That’s a strong possibility,” Dan Hooker told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour. “The problem was I didn’t really ask, I just talked to Jordi [Sullivan[ and Charles, my dieticians, and that was it really. I just talked to them and just went along and got the job done and did it. I haven’t even talked to the UFC about it, so maybe Sean Shelby’s seen it, maybe he hasn’t. We’ll see.“

When pressed on a potential welcoming party for his return to the division, Hooker claimed that he would be intrigued by a matchup against one-time title challenger, the #4 ranked South Korean favorite, Jung next.

“Head and shoulders, the number one guy that I would love to get in there would be ‘The Korean Zombie’ [Chan Sung Jung],” Dan Hooker said. “I would love to throw down with the zombie.“

“So, I don’t know what the people were saying, that’s why I just put it out there, stepped on the scale, made the weight, and I feel like you just let the people decide,” Dan Hooker explained. “Whoever the people want to see me in there against will kind of convince the UFC. What everyone wants, everyone can get, but for me, it would be head and shoulders, ‘The Korean Zombie’.” (Transcribed by MMA Fighting)

In his most recent Octagon walk, Jung defeated Dan Ige in the main event of UFC Vegas 29 in June — bouncing back to winning-ways following a comprehensive unanimous judging loss of his own against recent title chaser, Brian Ortega in October of last year on ‘Fight Island’.