What Can we Expect Out of Chase Hooper in the Years to Come?
Ben Askren’s illegitimate son Chase Hooper has been making some waves in the mixed martial arts world, in his fights and through the media. He’s a very exciting, young, nowhere near evolved talent, and he’s been taking some criticism lately.
Many people are saying he doesn’t belong in the UFC, many of the best reporters and fighters in the sport even. However, that’s not entirely true. Hooper’s a very talented young man, he’s just one-dimensional at this point in his career.
We’ll start off by saying Hooper is the youngest talent to ever be signed to the UFC at 19-years-old, and he’s gone 2-1 thus far into his run.
Hooper came to the UFC with a record of 8-0-1, and defeated Daniel Teymur upon arrival. Teymur isn’t the best fighter out there by any means, but he is very good at it, and he’s a 27-4 professional kickboxing champion.
Hooper submitted (triangle choke) him at 4:34 of round one, and it was a very entertaining, back-and-forth fight while it lasted. We saw very quickly though, you do not want to hit the mat with this grappling wizard.
Next came a bout against The Ultimate Fighter 12 veteran Alex Caceres, who out-struck him to a unanimous decision victory. Caceres was just far too experienced, and his footwork, as well as his striking, was too much for the 20-year-old kid.
Hooper rebounded this past weekend at UFC 256 however, as he submitted (heel hook) Peter Barrett at 3:02 of round three. He lost most of this fight, being out-struck throughout it, or so it seemed. He was getting his leg ate up badly, he could barely move correctly.
The numbers actually had Hooper up 81-61 in total strikes at the end of it, but that doesn’t at all tell the story of the fight. Hooper was being picked apart by Barrett, quite handily at that. He was able to secure an Imanari roll at the end of round one, and had Barrett’s leg locked up, but there wasn’t enough time left to finish it.
Hooper tried for a number of takedowns throughout this bout, all of which were unsuccessful, up until he was able to hit that second Imanari roll and get the finish in the middle of round three.
He was on his way to dropping his second fight in a row, but was able to pull himself out of it, and it was beautiful to see. Hooper’s ground game is so technically sound, he’s an absolutely wicked grappler.
What he needs to improve on is his striking, badly. This is the main reason many don’t believe he’s ready for the UFC, but come on, the kid’s 21-years-old. Don’t y’all assume it’ll come along?
As good as he is on the mat, it makes sense he doesn’t have great striking at this point in his career, especially when considering how young he is.
It was great to see the durability Chase Hooper possesses. He can be losing the whole fight, he can be taking an immense amount of damage, and it doesn’t mean anything, he can still put it all together and pull a win out when he needs to.
He showed that in his UFC debut after Teymur dropped him. He wasn’t able to do that against Caceres, but when he’s fighting someone with a similar amount of experience, chances are, he’ll find a way, so we’ve been shown.
Before joining the UFC, he won the Dominate FC Featherweight Championship, as well as the Combat Games Lightweight Championship. He’d already gone five rounds before, and he went 5-0 as an amateur with five finishes, having captured a title there as well.
Hooper’s now 10-1-1 as a professional with eight finishes, and his future is looking pretty bright. He’s already a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and he stands 6’1” with a 75.5” reach.
All Hooper needs to do is find a good striking coach, and continue training with Ben Askren in order to up his wrestling game. You see, Askren’s actually the perfect coach for him, because Askren was never physically the strongest, or the best athlete himself, much like Hooper, but he has more technique strength than anyone.
That’s what Hooper has once the fight is on the mat, technique strength. If he could just work on getting his fights down to the mat, and perhaps work on using his range, he’ll be tough for anyone to deal with.
Chase Hooper already throws a lot of side kicks, and if he could get a good karate practitioner to show him how to properly do it, he could become very effective with it. His jabs and crosses looked decent when he committed to them, but he surely does have a long way to go.
That’s the thing though, he has nothing but time. People shouldn’t be so dismissive of him, because he’s got a lot of the skill he needs to win fights as it is, we can tell that just by watching him. He’s barely out of his teenage years, his body still has some maturing to do, and he’s already this good.
Does anyone remember when Charles Oliveira first came around? He was 20-years-old, and while he was an assassin on the mat, his striking needed improvement. He also needed to improve how much damage he could take, because he used to fold under severe pressure.
Oliveira is now 31-years-old, and he’s one of the very best lightweights in the entire world. Hooper’s case is much like that, only Hooper’s shown he can take the damage and keep going forward.
We think he doesn’t belong in the UFC? This kid still has ten more years until he’ll be at his best, give him the time to grow before judging him. He’s already so talented, just imagine what he’ll look like in the future. Not everyone’s championship caliber in their early 20’s, and it doesn’t mean they’re a bum either.
What Can we Expect Out of Chase Hooper in the Years to Come?
