Chase Hooper overwhelms and defeats Nick Fiore in lightweight debut at UFC Vegas 73
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returned to us today, May 20, 2023, for UFC Vegas 73, going down live from the UFC Apex in Enterprise, Nevada.
Headlining the event is a women’s strawweight encounter between no. 8 ranked BJJ sensation Mackenzie Dern (12-3) and no. 14 ranked kickboxer Angela Hill (15-12).
Co-headlining is a middleweight showdown between Edmen Shahbazyan (12-3) and Anthony Hernandez (10-2).
Going down early on the preliminary card tonight was the lightweight debut of Chase Hooper (12-3-1), who decided to leave the featherweight division following the first knockout defeat of his young career. He faced fellow finished Nick Fiore (6-2), who was also coming off a loss, his in his UFC debut earlier this year in January.
Continue reading to see how this lightweight encounter went down:
Official Result: Chase Hooper def. Nick Fiore via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-27)
Hooper initiates a grappling exchange early on and it looks like he’s about to go for a banana split submission. He loses the position however and ends up on bottom. Once he makes his way back to his feet, Hooper gets to work with his boxing, which is actually quite effective.
Round one was very much a scramble fest with each man having success, and Hooper began to absolutely batter Fiore toward the end of the opening round. Had there been ten more seconds left in the first, Hooper may have walked away with a first-round knockout.
Fiore takes Hooper down early on in round two and soon after secures mount, which Hooper quickly escapes from. Hooper gets back to his boxing, front kicks, and sidekicks once they’re back to striking range, and is giving Fiore no space at all, pouring on the pressure the entire time.
With 90 seconds left in the middle stretch, the striking totals are 92-21 in favor of Hooper.
Fiore catches one of Hooper’s kicks early on in the third and final round and puts him on his back once again, just as he did at the start of the second. Hooper however doesn’t accept the position and the two scramble back to their feet.
Hooper didn’t let up with his pressure and continued to box Fiore up; he is getting caught here and there, but he ate everything Fiore threw his way and landed roughly 150 head strikes by time the final bell sounded.
Hooper secures a double leg takedown with about 60-seconds left in the contest and continues to reign down punches from top position until the fight ends.
Chase Hooper gets back to his winning ways with a victory in his lightweight debut at UFC Vegas 73. He landed 217 total strikes tonight, which is third-most in UFC lightweight history (second-most in three round fights).
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