Dan Hooker was the man at UFC 305, taking the fight to a killer like Mateusz Gamrot to win the contest by decision. But what caught the attention of the community was his post-fight callout of ‘The Notorious’ Conor McGregor. And now, the Kiwi has doubled down explaining why ‘Dan Hooker vs Conor McGregor’ makes more sense than ‘Conor McGregor vs Michael Chandler’.
Joining Submission Radio, ‘The Hangman’ revealed why fighting him is a “smart option” for the Irishman instead of realizing the shelved bout with Chandler.
“I just feel like because I’ve been staying active and I’ve been fighting the best guys in the world that he (Conor McGregor) has more to gain from fighting me than he does from (Michael) Chandler.”
Sharing his thoughts, Hooker based his analogy strictly on facts and pointed out that he is now in the top 5 whereas Chandler is one spot behind him at #6.
Moreover, he also mentioned that he is on a three-fight win streak with wins over Gamrot, Turner & Puelles. On the other hand, Chandler is desperate for a money fight despite losing to Dustin Poirier in his last outing in the promotion almost 3 years ago.
Above all, from a fans’ perspective, McGregor vs Hooker makes a lot of sense because that bout will indeed be a banger for sure – a proper return for the Irishman!
In essence, the Kiwi is hyping himself up for a fight against McGregor, giving the Irishman a factual analysis of the situation in the lightweight division.
In addition to that, the 34-year-old is almost a bout away from a tile fight and a win in his next will most likely get him a crack at Islam Makhachev’s lightweight gold
Is Dan Hooker inches away from a title fight?
New Zealand’s Dan Hooker has seen a career resurgence after going 0-2 twice in his lightweight run. Despite being the next best thing in the 155 lb category, the Kiwi hit a rough patch after suffering a devastating UD loss against Poirier in 2020 in what was a brutal back-and-forth war.
He then went on to fight ‘Iron’ Michael Chandler in his next and yet again came up short, losing to the American powerhouse via TKO.
Kinda crazy that Dan Hooker is literally 1 win away from fighting for the belt now 💀 pic.twitter.com/3lJnArXrHW
— Elon Rakhmonov (Fan) 🇦🇺 (@ElonRakhmonov) August 21, 2024
While he managed to bounce back in his next outing against Nasrat Haqparast, a fall back to the slump after suffering two more defeats at the hands of Islam Makhachev & Arnold Allen had all but ruled out his chances at a title show.
But, the Kiwi has since taken back control of his story by winning all of his next three bouts in stellar fashion to get the momentum back in his corner, and now after his most recent win against the Polish wrestler, Gamrot, Hooker is sitting at the #5 spot.
But does that mean, he is inches closer to a title shot? Well, not exactly. The next one in line for the title fight is Armenia’s Arman Tsarukyan who is currently the #1 contender, followed by former champion Charles Oliveira, Justin Gaethje & Poirier.
Now, Islam doesn’t want to fight Poirier again. Gaethje is still far behind in the line after his loss against Max Holloway for the BMF title and Oliveira has already been defeated by the champion, who also happens to hate rematches.
So, if he manages to keep his belt against Tsarykuan, Hooker being on a stellar run is very likely to get the champion excited for a fight before he decides to move on to another division.
