Dan Hooker couldn't use his normal style because of Chandlers power

Chael_Sonnen

Chael_Sonnen

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I see a lot of people saying stuff like:

"Hooker looked off"

"Hooker looked scared"

"Hooker was backing up too much"

Etc...

Hooker is smart. So is Eugene Bareman. They had clearly game planned it out, and realized that if they initiated a brawl with Chandler, the likelihood of Hooker going to sleep before Chandler did was too high.

Chandler hits like a truck. He is the hardest hitting 155'er on the planet. Hooker has a porous defense, and he relies on his chin to get him through brawls. Him and his team clearly had realized that this wasn't going to work against Chandler, and so they switched up his style into that of a patient kickboxer.

His strategy was pretty good. Chandler fights in a lead leg heavy style, and is susceptible to leg kicks.upload_2021-1-28_0-48-59.gif
Hooker fired a couple of really hard ones at Chandler, and landed one towards the end that hurt Chandler.
upload_2021-1-28_0-47-4.gif

Hooker fought a smart fight. He was also a terrible matchup for Chandler, and in my opinion Chandlers toughest in the top 5. Chandler is just that good.

Anyway, just thought I would share my opinion on why Hooker fought the way he did.
 
Was keeping his hands at his waist also part of the plan?

I don’t think they prepared for the brawl, but rather for a takedown.

If the game plan was to avoid a close-quarters striking match then surely he would have used straight punches instead of backing up with his hands down
 
chupacabra5 said:
Was keeping his hands at his waist also part of the plan?

I don’t think they prepared for the brawl, but rather for a takedown.

If the game plan was to avoid a close-quarters striking match then surely he would have used straight punches instead of backing up with his hands down
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Chandler conditioned him with body shots. At the start of the fight Hookers hands were up. By 3 minutes in, they had dropped because Chandler was hitting him with body shots.

They were also down because Chandler was feinting a level change constantly.

So yes, they had prepared for the takedown, and their answer to that was to break Chandler down with leg kicks, and then hit him with punches. Going for straight punches right off the bat is dangerous, because of Chandlers speed and power.
 
Hooker was and is MASSIVELY overrated. His plodding, hands down, chin out style was a perfect matchup for an agile, hard-hitting, fast as fuck tank like Chandler.

I thought Dan would pull out some luck and catch him in an early exchange but this fight is not even close. Chandler wrecks him 10/10.
 
Natural Order said:
Hooker was and is MASSIVELY overrated. His plodding, hands down, chin out style was a perfect matchup for an agile, hard-hitting, fast as fuck tank like Chandler.

I thought Dan would pull out some luck and catch him in an early exchange but this fight is not even close. Chandler wrecks him 10/10.
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If Hooker is plodding, hands down and chin out, then how come Poirer, who hits hard and is a very good boxer, couldn't finish him?

Come on, stop underrating Hooker, he is damn good. Chandler is just better.
 
It was by design that he fought like that.

They've talked about wanting Dan to have a more technical, patient approach. They didn't want him to continue to get sucked into brawls like previously. Sort of like Justin Gaethje's new approach.
 
Chael_Sonnen said:
Chandler conditioned him with body shots. At the start of the fight Hookers hands were up. By 3 minutes in, they had dropped because Chandler was hitting him with body shots.

They were also down because Chandler was feinting a level change constantly.

So yes, they had prepared for the takedown, and their answer to that was to break Chandler down with leg kicks, and then hit him with punches. Going for straight punches right off the bat is dangerous, because of Chandlers speed and power.
Click to expand...

His hands would be up here and there but for the vast majority of the fight they were low before he ate a single body shot. I just went back to watch the first 20 seconds to check.

Look when he kicks too. He drops his hands all the way down.

Backing up with your hands down when your power-punching opponent is fresh is not a strategy that most would describe as smart
 
Chael_Sonnen said:
If Hooker is plodding, hands down and chin out, then how come Poirer, who hits hard and is a very good boxer, couldn't finish him?

Come on, stop underrating Hooker, he is damn good. Chandler is just better.
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It all comes down to speed. Dan is slow, Mike is fast as fuck. Speed kills, as it did again Saturday night.
 
hooker for the most part relies too much on his hgt and reach for his defence
his defensive skills at mid range is poor
which is why chandlers game plan was to step in with body, head combo
 
Chael_Sonnen said:
I see a lot of people saying stuff like:

"Hooker looked off"

"Hooker looked scared"

"Hooker was backing up too much"

Etc...

Hooker is smart. So is Eugene Bareman. They had clearly game planned it out, and realized that if they initiated a brawl with Chandler, the likelihood of Hooker going to sleep before Chandler did was too high.

Chandler hits like a truck. He is the hardest hitting 155'er on the planet. Hooker has a porous defense, and he relies on his chin to get him through brawls. Him and his team clearly had realized that this wasn't going to work against Chandler, and so they switched up his style into that of a patient kickboxer.

His strategy was pretty good. Chandler fights in a lead leg heavy style, and is susceptible to leg kicks.View attachment 829634
Hooker fired a couple of really hard ones at Chandler, and landed one towards the end that hurt Chandler.
View attachment 829633

Hooker fought a smart fight. He was also a terrible matchup for Chandler, and in my opinion Chandlers toughest in the top 5. Chandler is just that good.

Anyway, just thought I would share my opinion on why Hooker fought the way he did.
Click to expand...
Good analysis
 
Reign009 said:
It was by design that he fought like that.

They've talked about wanting Dan to have a more technical, patient approach. They didn't want him to continue to get sucked into brawls like previously. Sort of like Justin Gaethje's new approach.
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Exactly. It was also a smart approach vs Chandler. A brawling style would have gotten him KO'd faster.

chupacabra5 said:
His hands would be up here and there but for the vast majority of the fight they were low before he ate a single body shot. I just went back to watch the first 20 seconds to check.

Look when he kicks too. He drops his hands all the way down.

Backing up with your hands down when your power-punching opponent is fresh is not a strategy that most would describe as smart
Click to expand...

His hands are low to stop the takedowns. Chandlers takedown game and ground game is more deadly than his hands are.

I rewatched it again and although yes, his hands are "down", he was using them to post. He was simply utilizing a different form of blocking against Chandler, and against a shorter, less reach opponent, posting is highly effective. Especially when simply blocking against a guy that hits as hard as Chandler might just get you KO'd through the block.
 
Maybe, maybe not, Hooker had other options, but he looked off to me..he let his back against the cage , he should have kept moving, circling, kicking and jabbing, he had to take Chandler into deeper rounds...
 
Hooker just aint that great. His best asset is his ability to take a ridiculous beating, something which he's going to regret when he's older.
 
I was sure that leg kicks were going to be a big part of his game plan, no surprise there. His hands were hanging low and that was what allowed Chandler to blast him. I don’t know if it was the body shots (were there many of those?) or the threat of a takedown, but it was clear that his chin was exposed.

Chandler is explosive as shit and caugh Hooker by surprise there as he bursted forward and clocked him
 
Hooker literally said pre-fight he was going to fight more "patiently" to avoid having more brawls in general. But okay.

Had he fought how he usually does he would've KO'd him as Chandler's chin sucks.
 
chupacabra5 said:
Because Hooker has a great chin. Porier HIT him a lot.
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Exactly. My point exactly. Hooker couldn't fight the same way against Chandler as he did against Poirer, because Chandler hits way harder.

Natural Order said:
It all comes down to speed. Dan is slow, Mike is fast as fuck. Speed kills, as it did again Saturday night.
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I wouldn't say he is slow, but yeah, Mike is definitely much faster. My point is, is that Hooker couldn't use his normal style against Chandler, because Chandler is too fast, and hits too hard. His style that he used was actually a good choice.
He had a massive reach and height advantage over Chandler, and his style was a bad matchup for Chandler. The knees down the middle, and the guillotine, and the leg kicks, all matched up really well with Chandler. Although Mike is much faster, and more athletic, it wasn't a good stylistic matchup for him. I still thought he would win, but imo Hooker is Chandlers worst matchup in the top 5.
I don't think Dan is overrated though. He hurt Poirer badly, and currently Poirer is the top LW in the world.
baconCrunch said:
hooker for the most part relies too much on his hgt and reach for his defence
his defensive skills at mid range is poor
which is why chandlers game plan was to step in with body, head combo
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Yep I agree with what you just said.

mangokush said:
Hooker never fought anyone at LW who had the threat of a takedown

Which is his why he ducked Islam and Charles at the time.

Chandler exposed that fact immediately when they fought, those takedown feints had Hooker shook which lead to him getting KTFO
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Lol, I don't think he ducked anyone. But yeah, the takedown feints definitely did the job. I would also point out that Chandler has a much stronger takedown game than Oliveira or Islam, and has a great ground game to back it up.

HaulParris said:
Good analysis
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Thanks!
 
markg171 said:
Hooker literally said pre-fight he was going to fight more "patiently" to avoid having more brawls in general. But okay.

Had he fought how he usually does he would've KO'd him as Chandler's chin sucks.
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Exactly. He switched up his style to better fight Chandler.

And come on, if he had brawled Chandler would have caught him faster.
 
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