Tag: Dan Hooker

Dan Hooker’s UFC Auckland master plan: Beat Paul Felder, call out Justin Gaethje

“That Gaethje fight, that’s the one that, when you mention it to fight fans, when you mention it in discussions, it’s the one that makes the hair on your arms stand up.”

[autotag]Dan Hooker[/autotag] has a big opportunity to crack the top of the lightweight rankings with a win on Saturday.

Hooker (19-8 MMA, 9-4 UFC) headlines his first UFC event when he takes on [autotag]Paul Felder[/autotag] at UFC on ESPN+ 26 in his home country of New Zealand.

Winner of six of his last seven, with five of those wins coming by finish, Hooker has proved that he is a dangerous 155-pound contender. And with a win over fellow surging lightweight Felder (17-4 MMA, 9-4 UFC) , the Kiwi has his eyes on a matchup he knows will deliver, against the always game [autotag]Justin Gaethje[/autotag].

“Yeah, coming into the top five, on a three-fight win streak, will present some pretty incredible opportunities,” Hooker told MMA Junkie. “That Gaethje fight, bro. That Gaethje fight, that’s the one that, when you mention it to fight fans, when you mention it in discussions, it’s the one that makes the hair on your arms stand up. He’s an incredible finisher; I’m an incredible finisher. That fight packs out and sells out any arena in any kind of a world that you put it on.”

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But before his thoughts can turn to a potential scrap with Gaethje (21-2 MMA, 4-2 UFC), Hooker must first face arguably his sternest test yet in the form of the tough and gritty Felder. But “The Hangman” is in form ahead of his fight, having picked up a unanimous decision win over Al Iaquinta at UFC 243, where he put on a striking clinic. This time he has two extra rounds to work with, and he says he’s going to relish the opportunity to put on a show for his compatriots at Auckland’s Spark Arena.

“Five rounds, I’m looking for a tough fight, I’m looking for the hardest fight I’ve ever been in,” Hooker said. “I feel like we’re going to be throwing leather for 25 minutes, and I cannot wait.”

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UFC on ESPN+ 26 free fight: Dan Hooker starches James Vick in first round

Ahead of his return at UFC Auckland, relive Dan Hooker’s first-round finish over James Vick at UFC on ESPN 4.

[autotag]Dan Hooker[/autotag] rebounded from his first blemish in years in emphatic fashion.

He saw his four-fight winning streak come to a halt in a third-round TKO loss to Edson Barboza, where he displayed a ton of heart. But Hooker (19-8 MMA, 9-4 UFC) would then get matched up with fellow striker James Vick last July at UFC on ESPN 4 in hopes of regaining his momentum.

In Round 1, Hooker was on the attack early, chopping away at Vick’s long legs. He continued to press forward, tagging Vick with a nice one-two combination up top, but Vick answered with a flurry of his own, popping Hooker’s head back with a straight right, as the two continued to exchange.

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Then, midway through the first round, Hooker fainted with the right, then threw a big overhand lef,  which connected straight on Vick’s chin, sitting him down on the canvas. He followed it up with some ground-and-pound, putting Vick completely out. Hooker was back in a big way, with yet another stoppage win.

After the finish over Vick, Hooker notched arguably the biggest win of his career, battering Al Iaquinta over the course of three rounds at UFC 243, which set him up for his first main event in the UFC.

Hooker returns to action this Saturday in the UFC on ESPN+ 26 headliner in Auckland against Paul Felder in a lightweight banger.

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UFC on ESPN+ 26 fight breakdown: Felder vs. Hooker

Check out the MMA junkie’s John Morgan and Dan Tom’s analysis and predictions for the UFC on ESPN+ 26 main event between Paul Felder and Dan Hooker.

Check out the MMA junkie’s John Morgan and Dan Tom’s analysis and predictions for the UFC on ESPN+ 26 main event between Paul Felder and Dan Hooker.

Video, photo gallery: Dan Hooker greets Paul Felder in traditional Maori way ahead of UFC Auckland

Dan Hooker wasn’t about to disrespect Paul Felder in the traditional Maori greeting but intensely looked him in the eyes while doing so.

[autotag]Dan Hooker[/autotag] wasn’t about to disrespect [autotag]Paul Felder[/autotag] in the traditional Maori greeting but made sure to look him straight in the eye while doing so.

The traditional Maori greeting involves two people pressing their noses, and sometimes foreheads, together often used as a way to greet people in major ceremonies.

And ahead of their headliner this Saturday at UFC on ESPN+ 26 in Auckland, New Zealand, Hooker shook Felder’s hand then proceeded to intensely look into his eyes as they pressed noses. Hooker has made it clear this fight is personal for him, as he faced off with Felder for the second time.

Felder also faced off with Hooker’s City Kickboxing teammates, Brad Riddell, Kai Kara-France, and UFC champions Alexander Volkanovski and Israel Adesanya.

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While his faceoff with Felder may not have been as heated as the first time around, Hooker knew he had to hold back out of respect for the Maori culture.

“Accepting it coming in, the Maori’s is a place of peace,” Hooker said. “You can’t bring any tension like that to a Maori. It would have been incredibly disrespectful of me to push him or shove him or disrespect him and deny the hongi, so I’m a man of respect. I had to give the hongi because I respect the Maori culture so much, and I respect the people, and this is their land, this is the culture, so yeah, you have to abide by that. I have too much respect for the Maori culture to do anything silly or disrespectful.”

You can check out highlights of the ceremony above, as well as our photo gallery below.

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UFC on ESPN+ 26: Make your predictions for Paul Felder vs. Dan Hooker in Auckland

We want your predictions for Saturday’s UFC on ESPN+ 26 event in Auckland, New Zealand.

We want your predictions for Saturday’s UFC on ESPN+ 26 event in Auckland, New Zealand.

Our staff picks feature includes the consensus picks from MMA Junkie readers. Simply cast your vote for each bout below, and we’ll use the official tallies that are registered by Thursday at noon ET (9 a.m. PT).

Those MMA Junkie reader consensus picks will be part of the UFC on ESPN+ 26 event staff predictions we release Friday ahead of the event. UFC on ESPN+ 26 takes place Saturday (Sunday locally) at Spark Arena in Auckland, New Zealand. The event streams on ESPN+.

Make your picks for all six main card fights inside:

Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4, Page 5, Page 6, Page 7, Page 8

Dan Hooker says Paul Felder fight personal: ‘I’m going to fold that boy like a deckchair’

Dan Hooker vows to be the first person to take out Paul Felder when they square off in the UFC Auckland main event.

For [autotag]Dan Hooker[/autotag], his next fight has gotten personal.

Hooker (19-8 MMA, 9-4 UFC) will headline his first UFC show, a five-round lightweight bout vs. [autotag]Paul Felder[/autotag] (17-4 MMA, 9-4 UFC) at UFC on ESPN+ 26 in his home country of New Zealand.

The two engaged in a very intense face-off last month in Auckland, and Felder had some words to say about their upcoming encounter in a recent interview with MMA Junkie.

Among them, Felder mentioned that he plans on knocking Hooker out in front of all his friends and family, and naturally, “The Hangman” didn’t take too well to that. He felt the fight was going to sell out regardless, considering the implications of the matchup in the division.

“It’s definitely crossed that line for me,” Hooker told MMA Junkie. “I didn’t feel that this fight needed any of that. I didn’t feel like this fight needed anything added to it, you know? We’re two of the best, we’re both just brawlers, we love to come in there and throw down.”

“I don’t think it was necessary, but if he wants to start throwing those things out there, I’m not going to sit back and take it. I’m going to retaliate, I’m going to bring the heat and yeah, it’s definitely crossed the line for me, gone into a very personal nature.”

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Hooker has finished five of his last six wins and has only gone the distance twice in his 19 pro wins.

And despite Felder only being stopped once in his career – and that only due to doctor’s stoppage – Hooker vows to be the first one to completely take him out.

“I’m going to fold that boy like a deckchair, I promise you,” Hooker said.

“I think it’s going to be a fast start. Whether it happens in the first or the fifth, I do not care. It’s up to him. It’s when he wants to take those risks, but I’m chinning that boy, I promise.”

While the bout should be fireworks as long as it lasts, for Hooker, being in his first promotional main event also means potentially going 25 minutes for the first time in his career.

The City Kickboxing fighter insists he loves the idea of having a full five rounds to work.

“My style is built around that,” Hooker said. “I don’t hold guys on the ground just to score points. I don’t throw my strikes to score points. I try to take as little damage as possible while taking the guy out as violently as possible, so I would prefer no time limit. So 10 minutes or an extra 25 minutes, that suits me perfectly. That’s just more time for me. I don’t need to touch you once to take you out, so if you give me an extra 10 minutes, woo wee, I’m going to take my time.”

The lightweight picture is slowly starting to unfold with the upcoming title fight between champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson at UFC 249. Meanwhile, a couple of hungry contenders are waiting in the wings.

Hooker is confident that a win over Felder will put him in that top-contender conversation, and he’s already made his intentions clear that he’s ready for the division’s best with his post-fight callout of former UFC interim lightweight champ Dustin Poirier after battering Al Iaquinta in his last outing at UFC 243.

“It gets me a shot at the top-five, without a shadow of doubt,” Hooker said. “We’ve got the Tony-Khabib fight coming up. (Justin) Gaethje’s waiting in the wings; he looks like he’s going to be the next shot or Conor (McGregor). Conor’s on a no-fight win streak at the moment, Gaethje’s on a three-fight win streak. Win over Felder puts me on a three-fight win streak, so that puts me in the same position as Gaethje, so either we fight, or he gets out of my way.”

“Main event, finish over Felder, that puts me in the top-five position. That gives me a crack at one of those big-name guys, 100 percent.”

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UFC on ESPN+ 26 official poster released: Lightweight banger headlines UFC Auckland

See the official poster for UFC Auckland, which features a lightweight banger in the main event.

[autotag]Dan Hooker[/autotag] will headline his first UFC event at home.

Hooker (19-8 MMA, 9-4 UFC) takes on [autotag]Paul Felder[/autotag] (17-4 MMA, 9-4 UFC) in the UFC on ESPN+ 26 main event in Auckland, in what is expected to be a barnburner between two surging lightweights.

UFC on ESPN+ 26 takes place Feb. 22 (Feb. 23 locally) at Spark Arena in Auckland. The card is set to be streamed live on ESPN+.

Having won six of his last seven bouts, Hooker will look to continue riding the momentum of his team City Kickboxing’s success as he climbs his way up the 155-pound rankings. He is coming off arguably his best performance to date, a unanimous decision win over Al Iaquinta, at UFC 243 last October.

Felder was able to avenge his loss to Edson Barboza as he edged a bloody, back-and-forth battle at UFC 242 in Abu Dhabi. He has won five of his last six, with his lone loss coming via split decision to Mike Perry in July 2018.

Check out the official poster for UFC on ESPN+ 26:

The UFC on ESPN+ 26 lineup includes:

  • Paul Felder vs. Dan Hooker
  • Marcos Rogerio de Lima vs. Ben Sosoli
  • Jake Matthews vs. Emil Meek
  • Magomed Mustafaev vs. Brad Riddell
  • Karolina Kowalkiewicz vs. Xiaonan Yan
  • Jimmy Crute vs. Michal Oleksiejczuk
  • Shana Dobson vs. Rachael Ostovich
  • Kevin Aguilar vs. Zubaira Tukhugov
  • Kai Kara-France vs. Tyson Nam
  • Song Kenan vs. Callan Potter
  • Jamie Mullarkey vs. Jalin Turner

The Blue Corner is MMA Junkie’s blog space. We don’t take it overly serious, and neither should you. If you come complaining to us that something you read here is not hard-hitting news, expect to have the previous sentence repeated in ALL CAPS.

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Paul Felder plans to knock out Dan Hooker ‘in front of all his friends and family’ at UFC Auckland

Paul Felder will be entering the octagon against Dan Hooker at UFC on ESPN+ 26 with some bad intentions.

WASHINGTON – [autotag]Paul Felder[/autotag] will enter the octagon against [autotag]Dan Hooker[/autotag] at UFC on ESPN+ 26 with some bad intentions.

Just days after their lightweight headliner was booked for February, Felder (17-4 MMA, 9-4 UFC) traveled to New Zealand for media obligations and a faceoff with Hooker (19-8 MMA, 9-4 UFC). There was serious intensity between the two during the staredown, and it left “The Irish Dragon” all kinds of fired up.

Felder said there was nothing fabricated about the heat with Hooker, and he thinks it’s because the stakes of the matchup are so high.

“As far as intensity, that was real,” Felder told MMA Junkie. “I went down to New Zealand expecting a little bit of that from Dan because of how we interacted on social media. We kind of went back-to-forth a little bit. But that’s what it’s all about. We’re two guys that are trying to rally for a title shot after this one. We’re in each other’s way. That’s how it should be, that’s how it’s supposed to be when you’ve got a five-round main event with a guy.

“I’m invading into his country. My whole plan is to knock his ass out in front of all his friends and family and take that money and get out of there and go on to a title shot.”

Felder, 34, said he’s taking his opportunity against Hooker very seriously. He has been pushing hard for a big fight in the lightweight division after winning his past five bouts in the weight class, and now he gets his wish.

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UFC on ESPN+ 26, which takes place Feb. 22 at Spark Arena in Auckland and streams on ESPN+, will mark Felder’s first UFC main event appearance. He said he felt the promotion wasn’t all that keen to put him there, but intends to prove the right choice was made with his performance.

“I either wanted a really high ranked opponent or I wanted a main event,” Felder said. “I made that really clear to my manager, to Sean Shelby, to Dana White that, ‘Look, this is what I want.’ For some reason it seemed Dana was a little reluctant to give me that shot, to kind of give me that chance to step in there. I don’t know what it is about my style that is any question you wouldn’t want to have in a five-round fight.

“They finally trusted me, they gave me that opportunity and they gave me that shot. That’s what I want. I didn’t care that Dan’s the one ranked behind me, that stuff doesn’t matter. He’s been on an absolute killing streak right now. So if I take him out, that just sets me up for one more fight potentially until fighting for the belt.”

Despite the tense faceoff, Felder said he doesn’t have any true disdain for Hooker, other than the fact he’s the man standing in the way of achieving career goals. That’s all he needs to get his focus fully dialed in for fight night, though.

“We got some bad blood right now,” Felder said. “Obviously I’m trying to hurt this man. He’s trying to hurt me. But I respect his skillset, I know what he offers, I know what he brings to the table and he knows, based on that staredown, he knows what I’m coming with, too. He knows what he’s in for.”

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Goosebumps! Paul Felder, Dan Hooker engage in intense staredown outside Spark Arena in Auckland

UFC Auckland headliners Paul Felder and Dan Hooker engaged in an intense staredown outside Spark Arena in New Zealand.

If their first faceoff is any indicator of what we’ll get on Feb. 22, then we’re in for a banger.

[autotag]Paul Felder[/autotag] (17-4 MMA, 9-4 UFC) takes on [autotag]Dan Hooker[/autotag] (19-8 MMA, 9-4 UFC) in the main event of UFC Auckland, and the two faced off for the first time outside Spark Arena in New Zealand ahead of their fight.

Gauging from the intensity of the staredown, both guys mean business. On paper, this should be a good one.

The promotion also announced that tickets are officially on sale for UFC Fight Club members, in a card that will feature multiple fighters from the Australasian region such as Tyson Pedro, Jake Matthews and Ben Sosoli.

UFC Auckland takes place Feb. 22 (Sunday, Feb. 23 locally) at Spark Arena in Auckland. The card is likely to stream on ESPN+.

The Blue Corner is MMA Junkie’s blog space. We don’t take it overly serious, and neither should you. If you come complaining to us that something you read here is not hard-hitting news, expect to have the previous sentence repeated in ALL CAPS.

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