Off the back of his UFC 314 win tonight. Chase Hooper shocked the community, and Joe Rogan to boot, with a rather bizarre admission from training camp.
Hooper, who made his return in a high-profile clash with veteran Jim Miller, did so with aplomb. Turning in a unanimous decision shutout win over the East Coast star, this was his fifth consecutive victory in the Octagon.
Hooper is now likely en route to the lightweight top 15 if he can keep up with this vein of impressive wins. However, ask him what’s next, and it’s not another veteran foe. Instead, the Eumanclaw native wants to test it out against Tom Nolan- or another up-and-coming prospect.
However, more than his performance tonight, it was the post-fight press conference that took the headlines! Speaking to Joe Rogan tonight, Hopper explained why he couldn’t get a finish.
“He (Jim Miller) countered my strikes really well,” the 155er said. And then he dropped the bomb.
“I spent too much time gooning this camp, so my forearms are a little sore. I gotta walk that back a little bit. So, still here. Still winning“, he added to the confusion of every person who isn’t chronically online.
Chase Hooper said he spent too much time “Gooning” during training camp pic.twitter.com/JCg0OL4je1
— Clocked N’ Loaded (@ClockedNload) April 13, 2025
As a Reddit user succinctly put it – “It’s wanking. Gooning means wanking.” In America, it means masturbation but with certain terms and conditions attached.
So, it doesn’t come as a surprise that on social media platforms, Reddit in particular, Hooper’s nickname has been changed.
While he currently uses the moniker ‘The Dream’, one fan claimed he should now be known as Chase ‘Gooner’ Hooper instead following tonight’s admission.
Another still can’t imagine he said what he said. “Joe had no fucking clue what he meant, that was legendary”, they stated.
Notably, Hooper didn’t stop at the admission.
Hooper goes into details of ‘Different Strokes’
Revealing he was unsure if the microphone would pick up his ‘gooning’ comments, the prospect decided against holding anything back at all.
Claiming to be less than a fan of ‘semen retention’- as he put it, Hooper made quite the hilarious anecdote. As far as he’s concerned, it’s just “different strokes for different folks“.
“We’ve gotta try different stuff for the cardio,” Hooper told assembled media after UFC 314.
“Yeah, that is what I said. Correct. I didn’t get the crowd pop because I feel like in the arena, you can never hear what you say. But it’s funny to me, damn it.
Chase Hooper explains his “gooner” comment in his #UFC314 post-fight interview:
“We’ve got to try different stuff for the cardio. … I’m not a big proponent of semen retention. Different strokes for different folks, as they say.” pic.twitter.com/o1Vz0U164C
— MMA Fighting (@MMAFighting) April 13, 2025
Well, that certainly was a way to get viral!