UFC lightweight Dan Hooker has made it crystal clear that he is interested in a fight against promotional newcomer Michael Chandler.
Hooker, who is coming off the back of a narrow loss to Dustin Poirier, has never been shy when it comes to calling out those in his division that he wants to fight. The aforementioned Chandler has finally made the jump over to the Ultimate Fighting Championship and is expected to serve as the back-up fighter for UFC 254’s main event between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Justin Gaethje.
If he doesn’t climb into the Octagon at that event, though, Hooker wants to make sure he is the one who introduces Chandler to the promotion.
“If Sean Shelby calls me right now and he says Michael Chandler, UFC two hundred and whatever, we can put that together, we can make that happen, of course,” Hooker told Submission Radio. “The UFC is putting a lot of stock in this kid. So I would love to be the guy who welcomes him to the UFC, knees his chin off, and sends him back to the B-Leagues.”
Despite this it’s not like Hooker is going to be picky, with his coach Eugene Bareman recently noting that he could be interested in taking on Tony Ferguson after talks of a fight between “El Cucuy” and Dustin Poirier fell through.
“October is a bit early for us, otherwise we would jump in there straight away for sure. But if they can push it back. Dan just got off concussion protocol now, so of this week. So, he’s only just started back training. So, obviously October might be a hard push. He would do it. I would have to talk him out of it, but he would probably do it one hundred percent. But Dan’s just back now, he’s getting fit again, it’s good to have him back in the gym. So, yeah, if they can’t come to terms, and it sounds like they haven’t come to terms, then we’ll jump in there and fight Tony for sure,” Bareman said (via LowKickMMA.com).
Dan Hooker is one of the most fascinating fighters currently competing at 155 pounds, and regardless of who his next opponent is, you can bet his next fight is going to be one hell of a brawl.