Former interim lightweight champion Dustin Poirier is set to return against top contender Dan Hooker according to reports. The match-up although not official is believed to be in the works to headline at UFC San Diego on May 16 per MMA Junkie who cite two anonymous sources with knowledge of the deal. Poirier hasn’t fought […]
Former interim lightweight champion Dustin Poirier is set to
return against top contender Dan Hooker according to reports.
The match-up although not official is believed to be in the works to headline at UFC San Diego on May 16 per MMA Junkie who cite two anonymous sources with knowledge of the deal.
Poirier hasn’t fought since losing his 155lb unification fight against Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 242 in September. ‘The Diamond’ came up short against the Russian who picked up a third-round submission win when the pair met in Abu Dhabi.
Prior to this loss Poirier was in rare form picking up high profile wins over Max Holloway, Justin Gaethje and Eddie Alvarez. Since suffering defeat ‘The Diamond’ has been nursing a hip injury and seeking the biggest fights possible.
In comes New Zealand fighter Dan Hooker, fresh off the back of the biggest win of his career. The 30-year-old from Auckland beat Paul Felder over five rounds in front of his hometown fans last month. He’ll be hoping to be more convincing in his next fight after many fans thought he lucky to emerge victorious against Felder.
This story is still breaking. Stay tuned to LowKickMMA.com
for updates an official confirmation in the coming days.
Who wins if Dustin Poirier and Dan Hooker meet at UFC San
Diego?
UFC lightweight Dustin “The Diamond” Poirier has teased a potential match-up against fellow ranked lightweight Dan “The Hangman” Hooker. Taking to twitter Hooker tweeted, “Can you see me now.” Along with a diamond emoji to capture the attention of Poirier. The message was received by Poirier who replied, “I got 25 minutes for you” implying […]
UFC lightweight Dustin “The Diamond” Poirier has teased a potential match-up against fellow ranked lightweight Dan “The Hangman” Hooker.
Taking to twitter Hooker tweeted, “Can you see me now.” Along with a diamond emoji to capture the attention of Poirier.
The message was received by Poirier who replied, “I got 25 minutes for you” implying a potential main event bout between the two.
This comes after Hooker’s split decision win over Paul Felder this past weekend at UFC Fight Night: Felder vs. Hooker in Auckland, New Zealand raised him to #5 in the Lightweight Rankings.
At the time coming off an unsuccessful attempt of unifying his interim title, the #2 ranked lightweight Poirier had his eyes set on bouts with UFC megastar Connor McGregor or former BMF title challenger Nate Diaz.
During this time Connor McGregor was due to be returning but did not have any match-up announced, this saw many of the top lightweight contenders including Poirier throwing their names forward to potentially welcome McGregor back to the octagon. Diaz also had no fights announced after having just lost to Jorge Masvidal a teammate of Poirier’s.
It would seem in the time since the original callout, Poirier has become more open to the idea of a matchup between himself and Hooker.
Duke Roufus is not a fan of the judges that scored the UFC Auckland main event clash between Dan Hooker and Paul Felder. When the fight ended, the media were torn on who had won as it was a very close. But, in the end, it was Hooker who edged out a spl…
Duke Roufus is not a fan of the judges that scored the UFC Auckland main event clash between Dan Hooker and Paul Felder. When the fight ended, the media were torn on who had won as it was a very close. But, in the end, it was Hooker who edged out a split-decision win. For […]
Dan Hooker is officially a top five UFC lightweight. Hooker earned a split decision win over Paul Felder in the UFC Auckland headliner this past weekend after a closely-fought battle. Many observers felt Felder had done enough to grab the victory. However, two out of three judges saw things differently while Hooker even went on […]
Dan Hooker is officially a top five UFC lightweight.
Hooker earned a split decision win over Paul Felder in the UFC Auckland headliner this past weekend after a closely-fought battle.
Many observers felt Felder had done enough to grab the victory. However, two out of three judges saw things differently while Hooker even went on to claim that he won four out of the five rounds.
Whatever one thinks of the result, Hooker has now won three in a row as well as seven of his last eight outings. “Hangman” also moved up the ranks in the process as he is now #5 in the lightweight division. Donald Cerrone, meanwhile, dropped to #6 while Felder is just below him at #7.
You can check out the full rankings below (via MMA Mania):
MEN’S POUND-FOR-POUND
1. Jon Jones 2. Khabib Nurmagomedov 3. Henry Cejudo 4. Stipe Miocic 5. Daniel Cormier 6. Israel Adesanya 7. Kamaru Usman 8. Alexander Volkanovski 9. Conor McGregor 10. Tony Ferguson 11. Max Holloway 12. Dustin Poirier 13. Tyron Woodley 14. Robert Whittaker 15. Dominick Reyes
FLYWEIGHT
Champion: HENRY CEJUDO
1. Joseph Benavidez 2. Jussier Formiga 3. Deiveson Figueiredo 4. Alexandre Pantoja 5. Brandon Moreno 6. Askar Askarov 7. Kai Kara France +1 8. Rogerio Bontorin -1 9. Alex Perez 10. Matt Schnell 11. Tim Elliott 12. Jordan Espinosa 13. Raulian Paiva 14. Mark De La Rosa 15. Tyson Nam *NR
BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: HENRY CEJUDO
1. Marlon Moraes 2. Aljamain Sterling 3. Petr Yan 4. Cory Sandhagen 5. Raphael Assuncao 6. Jose Aldo 7. Pedro Munhoz 8. Jimmie Rivera 9. Cody Garbrandt 10. Rob Font 11. Cody Stamann 12. John Dodson 13. Song Yadong 14. Marlon Vera 15. Raoni Barcelos
FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: ALEXANDER VOLKANOVSKI
1. Max Holloway 2. Brian Ortega 3. Zabit Magomedsharipov 4. Chan Sung Jung 5. Yair Rodriguez 6. Frankie Edgar 7. Renato Moicano 8. Jeremy Stephens 9. Josh Emmett 10. Calvin Kattar 11. Jose Aldo 12. Shane Burgos 13. Ryan Hall 14. Sodiq Yosef 15. Arnold Allen
LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: KHABIB NURMAGOMEDOV
1. Tony Ferguson 2. Dustin Poirier 3. Conor McGregor 4. Justin Gaethje 5. Dan Hooker +2 6. Donald Cerrone -1 7. Paul Felder -1 8. Kevin Lee 9. Al Iaquinta 10. Edson Barboza 11. Diego Ferreira 12. Gregor Gillespie 13. Charles Oliveira 14. Islam Makhachev 15. Alexander Hernandez
WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: KAMARU USMAN
1. Tyron Woodley 2. Colby Covington 3. Jorge Masvidal 4. Leon Edwards 5. Demian Maia 6. Stephen Thompson 7. Michael Chiesa 8. Rafael dos Anjos 9. Nate Diaz 10. Robbie Lawler 11. Geoff Neal 12. Gilbert Burns 13. Vicente Luque 14. Anthony Pettis 15. Conor McGregor
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: ISRAEL ADESANYA
1. Robert Whittaker 2. Paulo Costa 3. Yoel Romero 4. Jared Cannonier 5. Darren Till 6. Jack Hermansson 7. Kelvin Gastelum 8. Derek Brunson 9. Edmen Shahbazyan 10. Uriah Hall 11. Brad Tavares 12. Omari Akhmedov 13. Ian Heinisch 14. Antonio Carlos Junior 15. Anderson Silva
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: JON JONES
1. Dominick Reyes 2. Thiago Santos 3. Anthony Smith 4. Jan Blachowicz 5. Daniel Cormier 6. Corey Anderson 7. Volkan Oezdemir 8. Alexander Gustafsson 9. Glover Teixeira 10. Aleksandar Rakic 11. Johnny Walker 12. Misha Cirkunov 13. Nikita Krylov 14. Ronaldo Souza 15. Ovince Saint Preux *NR
HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: STIPE MIOCIC
1. Daniel Cormier 2. Francis Ngannou 3. Curtis Blaydes 4. Junior dos Santos 5. Derrick Lewis 6. Jairzinho Rozenstruik 7. Alexander Volkov 8. Alistair Overeem 9. Walt Harris 10. Shamil Abdurakhimov 11. Blagoy Ivanov 12. Aleksei Oleinik 13. Augusto Sakai 14. Sergei Pavlovich 15. Ciryl Gane
Former referee and current Bellator color commentator “Big” John McCarthy doesn’t believe Dan Hooker’s win over Paul Felder was a robbery. This past Saturday night (Feb. 22), Hooker and Felder collided in the main event of UFC A…
Former referee and current Bellator color commentator “Big” John McCarthy doesn’t believe Dan Hooker’s win over Paul Felder was a robbery. This past Saturday night (Feb. 22), Hooker and Felder collided in the main event of UFC Auckland. Both men put on a show as expected for five rounds. In the end, it was Hooker […]
Although Dan Hooker called out Justin Gaethje after UFC Auckland, he also has his eyes on Dustin Poirier. In the main event of UFC Auckland, Hooker edged out a split-decision win over Paul Felder to extend his winning streak to three. Now, the Kiwi cou…
Although Dan Hooker called out Justin Gaethje after UFC Auckland, he also has his eyes on Dustin Poirier. In the main event of UFC Auckland, Hooker edged out a split-decision win over Paul Felder to extend his winning streak to three. Now, the Kiwi could be ranked in the top-five and says if Gaethje is […]
UFC lightweight Dustin “The Diamond” Poirier has teased a potential match-up against fellow ranked lightweight Dan “The Hangman” Hooker. Taking to twitter Hooker tweeted, “Can you see me now.” Along with a diamond emoji to capture the attention of Poirier. The message was received by Poirier who replied, “I got 25 minutes for you” implying […]
Dan Hooker is officially a top five UFC lightweight. Hooker earned a split decision win over Paul Felder in the UFC Auckland headliner this past weekend after a closely-fought battle. Many observers felt Felder had done enough to grab the victory. However, two out of three judges saw things differently while Hooker even went on […]