Morning report: Dan Hooker reflects on knockout loss to Michael Chandler: ‘You prepare for the worst scenarios, but even that took the cake’

UFC 257 did not go as planned for Dan Hooker. Leaving one of the Fights of the Year in 2020 (defeat by unanimous decision to Dustin Poirier), Hooker sought to insert himself in the lightweight title image with a victory over former Bellator lightweight champion Michael Chandler. Instead, Hooker was eliminated in the first round. Since the loss, Hooker hasn’t talked about exactly what happened until Sunday.

Talking to Submission Radio, Hooker reflected on his defeat to Chandler, and for a man who has just been knocked out in the co-main event of what will be one of this year’s biggest pay-per-views, “The Hangman” seems to be in a good mood.

“To be honest, I had nothing to say,” explained Hooker. “As if a week has passed and what can you say? What can you say? You have good days and bad days. You get into that kind of thing and prepare for the worst scenarios, but even that took the cake. (Laughs). Even so, I was surprised at how bad it was. That was the most surprising thing. So I thought, what can you say? I had no words to describe it. You wake up and you’re like, I just lost four months of my life to it. “

Hooker was equally candid about the circumstances that led to the knockout. Chandler went down with a punch in the body and then threw a hook to the head that knocked Hooker down, leading to the end, and after watching the fight again, Hooker says he just blew it.

“This is funny, zigzagging and should have zagged,” said Hooker. “That’s it. The fight is like a mixture of thoughts and reactions. You are balancing your process thinking and then your reactions. I felt I was calm, I could see everything, I was thinking, it was sharp there. I just trusted my reactions to get out of the way of that punch and he let me down. It is difficult to describe. It is such an obvious and very expensive mistake.

“He changed the level. I think I trusted my reaction time. He sold the level change well. I thought he was a fall, come up with a punch. There are a million things I could have done that would change that. There are a million different reactions that I could have done and it didn’t. But happened. 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 don’t have a time machine. “

Very expensive. Hooker is now in a two-game losing streak in the UFC and his next fight will be extremely important to return to the winning column. Fortunately, he will have a next fight. During the official announcement, Hooker removed his gloves from the cage, prompting the commentary team to speculate whether Hooker was retiring after the loss. But Hooker says it was just a moment of frustration, not a farewell.

“You always get frustrated after a loss,” explained Hooker. “(It was) a balance of everything. Pure frustration, you are disappointed, and at that moment, I thought, ‘I’m done! (Laughter) I’m done with this shit sport! I finished!’ So you go back to the hotel and think about it and you realize that you’re not good at anything else, so it’s like, well (laughs), “I kind of cornered myself a bit here. ‘ (Laughs).

“People think you’re going to be depressed and not get out of bed, but I know what it is. This is a sport that I have been practicing and following since my adult life. It is always a possibility. A loss like that, you are not going into depression, super upset. It is self-explanatory. It is what it is. I can honestly say that I am no more upset than when I lost the fight with Poirier. “

In the grand scheme of things, Hooker seems to be taking this loss as well as expected. There is, however, one thing that seems to bother him a little: the suggestion that Chandler knocking him out is indicative of durability problems.

“Believe me, no one has a good chin,” said Hooker. “You are hit with these gloves – I would not put my chin up and let my wife punch me in the chin. She probably knocked me out. Does that mean she’s a knockout punch? It turns out that people are hit on the chin and don’t hit them. Nobody has a good chin. This is a myth. “

Hooker is currently in quarantine waiting to return home from Abu Dhabi.

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Retirement. Coach Javier Mendez’s advice to Khabib Nurmagomedov: ‘Wait for the GSP or retire’.

155 Patricio Pitbull expects Michael Chandler to beat Dustin Poirier ‘easily’, but he still won’t be the best lightweight in MMA.

Salty. Ilima-Lei Macfarlane moves on after losing the “fucking boring” title to Bellator champion Juliana Velasquez.

Bad Boy. Huntington Beach City Council will consider removing Tito Ortiz as Mayor Pro Tem.

Wrestling. Olympic champion Jordan Burroughs explains why he never went from wrestling to MMA.

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Interview with Kamaru Usman.

New UFC series with Paul Felder and Michael Chiesa.

Sneak peek of emotion and agony.

Bas thinks Khabib is coming back.

Ranking of opponents of Alistair Overeem.

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Severe MMA. Discussing Conor McGregor, Alistair Overeem, BJ Penn and Askren-Paul.

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Small talk.

To call.

Apparently, his hot sauce is really good.

To agree.

Khabib just rolling in slippers.

Dan Ige working on the body.

Explanation.

Tony having another child.

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Ben Rothwell (38-13) vs. Philipe Lins (14-5); UFC Fight Night, March 13.

Chase Sherman (15-6) vs. Parker Porter (11-6); UFC Fight Night, April 17th.

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Great quote from Dan Hooker who didn’t appear at the top:

“I was like, ‘Maybe I’ll drink to my heart’, but then I went to the bars and it costs $ 20 a beer in Abu Dhabi, so I said, ‘Well, that plan was thrown out the window, I’m going back to the gym . ‘

Dan seems like a good way.

Thanks for reading and see you tomorrow.

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