Dan Hooker Reflects On UFC 257 Loss: No One Has A Good Chin
Dan Hooker suffered a devastating TKO loss to promotional newcomer Michael Chandler in the UFC 257 co-main event, but he’s ready to bounce back.
Chandler stalked Hooker throughout the opening two minutes of the fight, landing a number of body shots as the two circled the cage, before landing a big straight left followed by a barrage of strikes to put the New Zealander’s lights out.
As Chandler celebrated his spectacular win in his UFC debut by performing a back flip off the top of the Octagon, Hooker was helped back to his feet by his corner men and referee Marc Goddard.
Thanks to his massive win at UFC 257, the former Bellator champion now sits at number four in the lightweight rankings, and has put himself in a strong position to fight for the title. Hooker on the other hand, has slipped two places down to number eight.
‘No Words’
Speaking to Submission Radio (as transcribed by MMA Fighting), Hooker opened up on his loss to Chandler, saying that he doesn’t have words to describe his disppointment.
“To be honest, I had nothing to say,” Hooker said. “Like a week went past and what can you say? What can you say? You have good days and bad days. You go into these kind of things and you prepare yourself for worst case scenarios, but even that took the cake (laughs). Even then it surprised me how bad it went. That was the very surprising thing. So I was like, what can you say? I had no words to describe it. You come to and then you’re just like, I’ve just wasted four months of my life for that.”
Fatal Mistake
UFC 257 was the first time in his career that Hooker was finished in the first round. In part because Chandler played his cards perfectly, but the Auckland native also believes he made some obvious mistakes that led to his downfall.
“That’s like the funny thing, zigged and should’ve zagged,” Hooker explained. “That’s all it is. Fighting is like a mixture of thinking and your reactions. You’re balancing your thought process and then your reactions. I felt like I was calm, could see everything, was thinking, was sharp in there. I just relied on my reactions to get out of the way of that punch and it let me down. It’s hard to describe. It’s such an obvious error and such a very costly mistake.
“He changed levels. I think I relied on my reaction time. He sold the level change well. I thought he was going for a takedown, comes upstairs with a punch. There’s a million things I could’ve done that would’ve changed that. There’s a million different reactions that I could’ve done and that not happen. But it did. What can you do? I certainly don’t have a time machine. I think Floyd Mayweather has a time machine. If anyone has a time machine, Floyd Mayweather has a time machine. I do not have a time machine.”
Not Retiring
Hooker removed his gloves as Bruce Buffer declared Chandler the winner on the night, forcing many to speculate that he was retiring from the sport. However, he now explains that it was all in the moment, and he has no plans of bowing out of MMA anytime soon.
“You’re always frustrated after a loss,” Hooker revealed. “[It was] a balance of everything. Sheer frustration, you’re disappointed, and in that moment I was like, ‘I’m done (laughs), I’m finished with this s***ty sport! I’m done!’ Then you get back to the hotel and you think about it and you realise you’re not good at anything else either, so it’s like well (laughs), ‘I’ve kind of painted myself into a bit of a corner here’ (laughs).
“People think you’re gonna be rolling around in depression and not getting out of bed, but I know what it is. This is a sport I’ve been doing and following for my entire adult life. It’s always a possibility. A loss like this, you’re not rolling around in depression, super upset. It’s self-explanatory. It is what it is. I can honestly say I’m not any more upset than when I lost the Poirier fight.”
‘No One Has A Good Chin’
The 30 year old is taking his loss to Chandler on the chin, but he does have an interesting response for those questioning his durability.
“Trust me, no one has a good chin,” Hooker said. “You get hit with those gloves on – I wouldn’t stick my chin in the air and let my wife punch me in the chin. She’d probably knock me out. Does that mean she’s a knockout puncher? It’s just that people get hit in the chin and people don’t get hit in the chin. No one has a good chin. That’s a myth.”
Who do you want to see Dan Hooker to fight next?
See also: