Dan Hooker explains why he is leaving the lightweight division, ‘It’s just not exciting’
Dan Hooker has fought some of the best around in the UFC lightweight division. Following his last loss to Islam Makhachev, Hooker has made the decision to drop down in weight and try his hand at featherweight. Hooker recently ran a test to see if he was able to make the weight safely. He completed the test and is looking to make his mark in the 145-pound division going forward.
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Hooker sat down to chat with It’s Time For Sports about the decision to make this move now.
“It’s just not exciting, what are you gonna go back (and fight the same guys)?” Hooker explained. “You know what I mean? I’m just being real. I know where my skillset lies with those guys and I know the circumstances of the fights and the circumstances that those fights were taken under, I understand that, and I understand that if everything was a perfect world, the results of those fights definitely wouldn’t be what they were. We all know that.
In his last five fights Hookers only losses were to those the top five of the division and men who are currently being considered for a title shot. When Hooker first came to the UFC back in 2014 he fought at featherweight. He moved to lightweight in 2017 and went on a very impressive run before losing to Dustin Poirier and Michael Chandler.
“But that’s not the fact of the situation. The fact of the situation is that I’ve lost to three of the top-five guys,” Hooker said. “Under that landscape, this is just fact, under that landscape, you’re not gonna be able to make a run at the top couple of guys in the division or towards the belt until the landscape of that division changes. You would have to stay busy and fight until the landscape of the division changes, or move down to a division which I feel comfortable competing in and I feel like I have a lot of advantages in that division.”
Hooker has not mentioned yet whom he would like to face when he finally makes his featherweight return. Some names that could match up well with him could be Brian Ortega or The Korean Zombie. This move could be a new beginning for Hooker, and along with a possible move to the U.S, he could be in title contention by this time next year.
