"It's not a mentality I understand" - Dan Hooker explains why he thinks it's 'silly' that Islam Makhachev called out Rafael dos Anjos

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Rafael dos Anjos (left), Dan Hooker (center) and Islam Makhachev (right) [Photo via @danhangman on IG]

Dan Hooker doesn't understand why Islam Makhachev tried to discredit Rafael dos Anjos ahead of their supposed bout.

According to Hooker, fighters don't gain anything by downplaying their opponent's talent. In that respect, he doesn't comprehend the reasoning behind Makhachev's social media jabs against the former UFC lightweight champ. In an interview with Helen Yee, the Kiwi fighter said:

"I kinda thought it's silly when fighters talk to their opponents and try to like downplay their skillset. This is what I'm saying about RDA, he called him out and he said, 'Oh, you're an old man and washed and you're injured.' It's like, why do you want to fight that guy? It's not necessarily a mentality that I understand. I wanna fight the best guy that I can fight. Like I look at this guy and I can see that, 'Oh man, this guy is really talented.' That challenges me and that gets me excited and that makes me wanna fight them. If I watch someone and thought I could beat them, I probably wouldn't even call them out."

For the third time, Islam Makhachev vs. Rafael dos Anjos has been booked only to be canceled after. The bout was nixed after the Brazilian suffered an unspecified injury. The original matchup was initially to take place at UFC 254, but RDA was forced to withdraw after testing positive for COVID-19. The second time, Makhachev had to pull out of UFC Vegas 14 due to a staph infection.

Fortunately, Dan Hooker stepped up on short notice to replace the injured veteran at UFC 267. 'The Hangman' confirmed his availability just days after his UFC 266 victory in September.

Check out Dan Hooker's interview below:

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Dan Hooker believes beating Islam Makhachev will earn him a title shot

Dan Hooker is convinced that the winner between himself and Islam Makhachev will find himself in the UFC lightweight title picture. In an interview with MMA Junkie ahead of UFC 267, Hooker said:

“Without a doubt, [with a win], you put yourself in that title picture. You’re like one in a two-man conversation. It’s here after this fight and then it’s the [Justin] Gaethje-[Michael] Chandler winner. It’s like, how the title fight plays out, it’s like, well, if Oliveira wins and Chandler wins then do we really want to see that again? A lot of different things can happen. But yeah, you’re one of two guys that could get a title shot from this. Of course, it’s a very real possibility.”

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