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

[Kdup]

Chandler had to make a move before his leg gave out so he wasn’t embarrassed like Mcgregor was shortly after. Instead Chandler is the one doing the embarrassing and Dan Hooker took it on the chin. He caught him, he might not catch him every time, imo if he doesn’t catch him Dan wins decision by leg kick.

 

[MMAProfessional]

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.

Yeah people aren't giving credit to Chandler. Chandler was pressuring him bad and closing the distance quickly with body punches. Also he was predicting every strike Hooker threw. He was like 1/6 on leg kicks.

 

[OZ!]

Hooker just isn't a very good fighter. He's a very effective brawler and that's about it. He always carries his hands low, he always gets tagged, he's been dropped a ton of times and just kinda survives. I've never seen what people saw to be so impressed with Hooker. If he had fought the way he normally does, he simply would have been ko'd sooner than he was. The gameplan helped him survive an extra minute and a half.

 

[tehMoose]

Hooker never fought a fucking tank like Chandler before. He lost to the superior fighter, he would lose to Chandler 100/100 times.

Khabib also fought only one guy like that, Tibau. And he struggled with him, some say he even lost that fight. Khabib is lucky the UFC LW division is not so good. I'm pretty sure Chandler will destroy guys like Poirier, Conor more impressive than Khabib did.

 

[Beherit]

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.

threat of the takedown, that's it, hooker is a journeyman

 

[Medulla Omoplata]

Exactly, if he had fought with his normal style he would have been knocked out in the first round.

 

[KoreanZawmbie]

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.

Exactly. Well said. Chandler was not only pushing the pace, but was hitting hard. Dan couldn't find his range or timing, and was literally back pedaling to avoid Chandler's body shots.

Chandler fought smart, he changed levels, and went up top. Its the punches that you don't see.

 

[Peli]

So now we act like Chandler is the greatest fighter on Earth and forget all about him getting starched by a FW a couple of fights ago?

Oh, Sherdog...

You're only as good as your last fight for most people.

I picked Chandler to win this fight although not by KO. I picked him because of the wrestling. Level changing and the threat of the takedown and the wrestler dictating where the fight can take place. Dan hooker never faced a mma wrestler with the pedigree that chandler had.

All that being said, I believe Chandler loses his next fight whoever he fights. I don't believe he's an elite fighter. I maintained he can beat the lower top 10. Dan hooker was frustrating him. Dude dropped his hands like 4-5 times because he couldn't find a way to enter on dan before he finally did.

When he runs into someone with better footwork and decent wrestling(gaethje), he's going to have a hard time coming in. He's going to have a hard time dealing with those leg kicks.

I believe Poiriers striking also fucks up Michael Chandler.

 

[Bend NvR Break]

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.

Hooker changed up because of Chandler's threat of wrestling not power. They were more afraid of getting taken and held down for a whole fight then Chandler's power.

 

[Bend NvR Break]

So now we act like Chandler is the greatest fighter on Earth and forget all about him getting starched by a FW a couple of fights ago?

Oh, Sherdog...

You forgot the best FW on the planet. The same guy who beat Benson who beat Sherdog's love child Masdival.

 

[Peli]

threat of the takedown, that's it, hooker is a journeyman

He's now 20-10 so that's a fitting title I guess.

I would call him a gatekeeper more than a journeyman.

 

[markg171]

So now we act like Chandler is the greatest fighter on Earth and forget all about him getting starched by a FW a couple of fights ago?

Oh, Sherdog...

People are forgetting that the ghost of Benson Henderson hurt him multiple times in his fight before Chandler.

Anybody who touches his chin is going to put his lights out.

Exactly. He switched up his style to better fight Chandler.

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

What part of "in general" don't you understand? Hooker said he was switching his style IN GENERAL, for ALL his future opponents. Not for Chandler specifically. He's planning on always fighting like this now. Or at least was before it backfired on him so badly.

And no, if he'd brawled Chandler he'd have easily won. Chandler's chin is so bad that even 10 years past his prime, never had much power to begin with Benson Henderson easily hurt him. Multiple times. In Chandler's immediate fight before Hooker. If Hooker had been actually striking at Chandler's head he'd have been KO'd considering he has vastly more power than Benson.

Let alone that the final sequence Chandler ducked straight down into what would normally have been a knee from Hooker had he been fighting how he usually does. Hooker loves throwing knees when guys rush/duck in.

Even if he'd been losing prior to that, when Chandler ducked so bad he'd have gotten KO'd then and there when Hooker kneed his face off for presenting him such an open target.

 

[mkt]

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.

How come Barboza, coming off a 2-loss streak (including getting finished by Kevin Lee) abused Hooker and finished him as well? How come Hooker lost to Felder in most people's minds...due to a home country advantage? Hooker is a good fighter who matches up well with some guys, but let's not pretend he wasn't overhyped. Someone like Gaethje would've exposed him as well.

 

[mkt]

You forgot the best FW on the planet. The same guy who beat Benson who beat Sherdog's love child Masdival.

2012 champ Bendo. That's as relevant as someone now beating Gilbert Melendez or Pettis (who finished a much better version of Bendo as easily as Chandler did).

 

[mkt]

Chandler had to make a move before his leg gave out so he wasn’t embarrassed like Mcgregor was shortly after. Instead Chandler is the one doing the embarrassing and Dan Hooker took it on the chin. He caught him, he might not catch him every time, imo if he doesn’t catch him Dan wins decision by leg kick.

Yes, Chandler hits hard and will win some fights early via KO or maybe even GnP or sub. But his style may also backfire against guys who can counter or at least survive his early onslaughts.

Chandler may have had a near bodybuilder physique AND strong cardio in Bellator, but I don't see him keeping both under USADA.

 

[BjPenn2017]

“Fought a smart fight”

“got ktfo in 2 and a half minutes”

one of these things is not like the other, one of these just don’t belong..

 

[NoBiasJustMMA]

So now we act like Chandler is the greatest fighter on Earth and forget all about him getting starched by a FW a couple of fights ago?

Oh, Sherdog...

Pitbull is the best 145er in the world IMO. You sound like you don't watch MMA other than the UFC. You should do something about that or don't comment on stuff you don't watch.

 

[NoBiasJustMMA]

You forgot the best FW on the planet. The same guy who beat Benson who beat Sherdog's love child Masdival.

You and I both know he doesn't watch MMA other than UFC.

 

[Marko Polo]

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.

Chandler also appealed to Hookers ego which could have took him off his game a bit. As Hooker was circling out I remember Chandler moving to the centre and saying with his body language “come and fight” sort of thing

 

[blaseblah]

He was fighting a short fighter with knockout power who is prone to weird injuries. It was obvious his plan was to pick him apart from the outside and target his legs. Chandler still found a way in.