Dan Hooker interview on learning from loss to Dustin Poirier & adjusting his style

[The Chosen]

Summary:
Dan Hooker talks having moments of self-reflection after his loss to Dustin Poirer, and how his teammates Alexander Volkanovski and Israel Adesanya’s performances against Max Holloway and Yoel Romero made it click in his head that he must be more composed and patient. Hooker says both Volkanovski and Adesanya have been in the UFC a shorter time than himself and yet he is not a champion while they are, saying that was also a realization that he must let go of his old mentality of being too eager to engage in brawls and hunting finishes, but instead be willing to have boring fights to secure a victory.

I liked Hooker’s takes here, Volkanovski and Adesanya are extremely intelligent fighters and I bet Hooker is kicking himself for engaging in a brawl with Poirier instead of being more calculated like his team would have liked.

 

[sssleeper]

I'd also like Dan, who is a young guy, to still have a brain at the end of his career. The dude has a chin and is not afraid of a war, but damn he has taken some punishment over the years.

 

[Jinx_AA]

He's not wrong ....if he just kickboxed dustin and kept him at his range , he coulda win easily ...

But some people love to bang

That's why I love hooker ....I don't think he'll ever be champ ....but I think he's super exciting to watch .

 

[Jinx_AA]

Damn hooker has quite the swollen black eye ! ...he's taken more punishment LOL

 

[DivineMind]

Good lad. In the future KOs and headshots will be illegal in MMA and it'll just be point fighting anyway, kind of like slap boxing. Submissions will still be allowed but no joint tearing ones. As research progresses fighter safety will take precedence.

 

[markg171]

Wrong time for this change in strategy.

Chandler is the new boy on the block with all the nerves to perform well as perhaps the most famous Bellator champ coming over. Don't sit back and let him get comfortable and let him think he's on the same level as a top 5 fighter. If you do he might actually be. You need to break him, and make him reconsider whether he should've ever made the jump up to the UFC.

Lawler and Masvidal had the strategy to use against a Bellator champ: just go overwhelm them from the get go.

That said, regardless I don't think Chandler's chin holds up. The ghost of Benson Henderson hurt him multiple times in his last fight lol. If Benson could Hooker definitely can.

 

[Pious Augustus]

He's not wrong ....if he just kickboxed dustin and kept him at his range , he coulda win easily ...

But some people love to bang

That's why I love hooker ....I don't think he'll ever be champ ....but I think he's super exciting to watch .

What are you talking about? Dustin was doing better at range than Hooker.
Moat of Hooker's success came after they got in a phone booth type of fight

 

[Jinx_AA]

What are you talking about? Dustin was doing better at range than Hooker.
Moat of Hooker's success came after they got in a phone booth type of fight

I respectfully disagree. . .I think hooker won the first round easily and was win the second round .....but midway through the second round dustin turned the fight into a war of attrition or as you out it phone booth fight ....and once it became that war of toughness and grit , that's when dustin took over .

The first round was a slower kickboxing style fight , where hooker was cleanly landing crisp Jabs and outpointing dustin.....he just couldn't keep it at that pace unfortunately

 

[TankAbbott4Eva]

I'd also like Dan, who is a young guy, to still have a brain at the end of his career. The dude has a chin and is not afraid of a war, but damn he has taken some punishment over the years.

My word yes, that Barboza fight was very hard to watch.

 

[RemyR]

I don’t see Hooker being champ as long as Conor/Dustin/Justin are in the division

 

[ligma]

Dude strikes me as a Conor/Zabit type of fighter.

His pace nose dives after 1.5 rounds for some reason.

 

[Aurelian]

Dude strikes me as a Conor/Zabit type of fighter.

His pace nose dives after 1.5 rounds for some reason.

2 things. 1 he puts out a lot of volume. 2 the weight cut is probably affecting his cardio. He's dangerous to anyone in the Top 10 in a 3 round fight. It's just 5 rounders where it becomes a serious issue. He could probably make a move to WW but with Khabib out of the picture he's 2 wins away from a potential title shot.

 

[I Always Fight]

Dan did a great job against Dustin till he gassed out last round and went to the wrestling , I hope to see him on the upper elchalant one day

 

[xXxGhost89xXx]

He's not wrong ....if he just kickboxed dustin and kept him at his range , he coulda win easily ...

But some people love to bang

That's why I love hooker ....I don't think he'll ever be champ ....but I think he's super exciting to watch .

If he just kick boxed and kept him at range, he would have easily won?
Lol, stfu. If it was “that easy”, he would have done just that.
You so called mma fans crack me up.