Dan Hooker keen to make quick turnaround at UFC 284 in Australia
Dan Hooker recently claimed that he wants to make a quick turnaround and return to action at UFC 284 in Australia. 'The Hangman' intends to build on the momentum following his victory over submission specialist Claudio Puelles at UFC 281.
This past weekend, Hooker won convincingly against Puelles by TKO in the second round after a piercing body kick that dropped his opponent. The lightweight contender plans on competing at UFC 284, which takes place on February 12, 2023, at Perth's RAC Arena.
Dan Hooker win was so satisfying https://t.co/H6VvtgoEjT
Speaking in a recent interview with The AllStar, Dan Hooker stated that he wants to compete against fighters who are on win streaks:
"I went out there and fought an unranked guy [Claudio Puelles] coming up on a streak. Made him look silly and proved to everyone that I'm a caliber ranked fighter and I should be competing against the upper echelon guys of the division."
He further added:
"I want to fight guys that are hungry. I want to fight guys that are on streaks. I want to fight guys with momentum that I can take from them."
Check out the full interview below:
Dan Hooker claims that Claudio Puelles "played possum" in their fight at UFC 281
Dan Hooker returned to the winning column after a two-fight skid with a solid victory over surging lightweight Claudio Puelles. However, his path to victory was a tricky one.
Puelles had three submission victories in his five-fight win streak going into the bout this past weekend at Madison Square Garden. The Peruvian lightweight contender was single-minded in achieving a leg-lock submission and attempted a bunch of them over the course of the fight.
However, Hooker's experience came into play when he snapped his opponent's win streak via TKO in the second round.
Speaking in the aforementioned interview, Dan Hooker claimed that Puelles pulled a bluff in a brief sequence in an attempt to try and lure the Kiwi into his guard:
"I feel like one of them [knockdowns] he was just trying to lure me in. I didn't feel it land clean and he fell down and was like playing possum a bit. Maybe [he] was trying to act more hurt than he was so I would've like followed him down and given him an opportunity. I've hurt enough people to know when someone is faking it."