"They're just playing the game a lot smarter" - Dan Hooker finds it "wild" that Islam Makhachev earned a title shot off two late-replacement fights
Dan Hooker has had a tough couple of years, going 1-4 over his past five fights. An ill-advised last-minute fight against Islam Makhachev and an attempt to compete at featherweight resulted in his last two defeats. Now he's decided he needs to start "playing the game" better.
In a new interview with Submission Radio, Hooker revealed that he was letting his coaches manage everything surrounding who he'd fight next and when. He said:
"When you take care of yourself you can move pretty quickly. All these opportunities come up, and I would jump on all these opportunities. But then you see the guys ahead of you playing the game very smart and getting further. And it's not like they're any more skillful or better or levels ahead of you, bu they're just playing the game a lot smarter. When you've got a guy fighting for a title and he's coming off the back of two good stylistic match-ups on short notice, that's wild... So it's just funny when you step back and observe that and think well, maybe I have all the skills and I just need to play the game like everyone else is playing it."
Watch Dan Hooker discuss 'playing the game' better moving forward:
That last comment was clearly referring to Islam Makhachev, who will fight Charles Oliveira for the vacant lightweight title at UFC 280. Makhachev's last two wins were against Bobby Green, who replaced Beneil Dariush on 14 days' notice, and Dan Hooker, who replaced Rafael dos Anjos on a month's notice. Makhachev and his coach Khabib Nurmagomedov then waged a war on social media to convince the UFC to give him a title shot next, and it worked.
@danawhite you have no other choice but make Oliveira vs Islam fight in AbuDhabi 22 October.
Perfect date, Perfect location,Perfect opponents with perfect winning streaks 10 vs 11.
@MAKHACHEVMMA @ufc
Dan Hooker calls out Tony Ferguson for his lightweight return
Dan Hooker is done with featherweight after his disastrous first-round KO loss to Arnold Allen in March 2022. In a recent series of tweets, 'The Hangman' has called out Tony Ferguson for his return at 155 pounds.
I’ll smash ya face in @TonyFergusonXT https://t.co/ONxCWSxZM9
While speaking to Submission Radio, Hooker explained why he wanted to fight 'El Cucuy':
"That's a big fight. Tony is like, a big fight. A win for either one of us puts the other one right back in the mix. That's where you wanna be. I am not here to make up the numbers, I'm not here just to hunt out easy wins."
Tony Ferguson and Dan Hooker were both at the very top of the lightweight rankings two years ago. They currently sit at No.11 and No.13 respectively. A win wouldn't propel either fighter back up into the top five, but it would be an amazing fight and a great way for the victor to begin clawing their way back into contention.