Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler: After Daniel Cormier, Dan Hooker Impressed With ‘Super Lightweight Title’ Idea for UFC 303

The UFC currently has eight weight classes for men. They start at 125 pounds and go all the way up to heavyweight. While most divisions have a 10-pound difference between them, there is a huge gap between some divisions. Likewise, several fighters including Conor McGregor and Daniel Cormier have called for a new division between lightweight and welterweight. More recently, Dan Hooker joined in on the cause and explained why a new division would make a lot of sense.

Dan Hooker is currently looking for a fight after his win over Jailin Turner last year. In the meantime, he sat down with ‘The AllStar‘ for an interview, during which he was asked for his thoughts on a super lightweight division. To this Hooker said,

“Yeah, that is cool. I think because 55 and 70 are such deep divisions, to have three around the same will be pretty cool. Like if you’re going to introduce a new weight class especially in terms of men, that is head and shoulders. Just move it to 55,65,75. That is a huge motivation for me for getting on the card. That is the biggest fight in MMA, that is the biggest fight in the UFC.”

In a similar turn of events, Daniel Cormier recently urged the UFC to start a super lightweight division through a YouTube video. He also stated that the fight between McGregor and Chandler at UFC 303 should be for the belt in the new division. Interestingly, there is a 15-pound gap between lightweight and welterweight, and ‘DC’ opined that such a gap is not beneficial for fighters.

Is a super lightweight division in the UFC a possibility?

Daniel Cormier is not the first person to advocate for a new division, nor will he be the last. The lightweight and welterweight divisions are the most stacked in the UFC in terms of top talent as well as numbers. However, a lot of fighters fighting at either weight class would be better off fighting in the middle at 165 pounds.

 

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While the idea of a 165-pound bracket was also supported by Conor McGregor, it has been rejected multiple times by Dana White himself. Hence, even though such a change appears impossible at this moment, we cannot rule it out as Dana White has often backtracked on several statements he made in the past.