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

UFC 257 is not going as planned for Dan Hooker. Hooker, who won one of the fights of the year in 2020 (a unanimous decision loss for Dustin Poirier), was adding himself to the lightweight title photo with a win over former Bellator lightweight champion Michael Chandler. Instead, Hooker was knocked out in the first round. Since the loss, Hooker has not spoken until Sunday about what exactly happened.

Talk to Presentation radio, Hooker reflected on his loss to Chandler, and to a man who was just knocked out during the main event of one of the biggest pay-per-views this year, ‘The Hangman’ seems to be in a good mood.

“To be honest, I had nothing to say,” Hooker explained. ‘Like a week has passed and what can you say? What can you say? You have good and bad days. You go to these kinds of things and prepare for the worst case scenarios, but even that has taken the cake. (Laugh). Even then, I was amazed at how bad it was. That was the very surprising thing. So I was like what can you say? I had no words to describe it. You come after and then you’re just like, I just wasted four months of my life for it. ‘

Hooker was equally candid about the circumstances that led to the knockout. Chandler went low with a jerk to the body, and then walked a hook to the head that hooker floored, leading to the finish line, and after watching the fight again, Hooker put it down that he was just screwing has.

“It’s like the funny thing, fit and should have struggled,” Hooker said. “That’s all it is. Fighting is like a mixture of thinking and your reactions. You balance your process thoughts and then your reactions. I felt I was calm, could see everything, think, was sharp inside. I just relied on my reactions to get out of the way of the blow and it let me down. It’s hard to describe. This is such a clear mistake 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 removal, coming upstairs with a fist. There are a million things I could do that would change that. There are a million reactions I could do and that did not happen. But it did. What can you do? I definitely do not 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. ‘

Indeed expensive. Hooker is now in a losing battle of two fights in the UFC and his next fight will be extremely important to get back in the winning column. Fortunately, he will wage a next battle. During the official announcement, Hooker took off his gloves in the cage, prompting the comment team to speculate whether Hooker will retire after the loss. But Hooker says it was just a moment of frustration, not a farewell.

“You’re always frustrated after a loss,” Hooker explained. “It was a balance between everything. Just frustration, you were disappointed and at that moment I was like, ‘I’m done! (Laughs) I’m done with this sport! I’m done!” Then you come back to the hotel and you think about it and you realize that you’re not good at anything else either, so it’s good (laughs): ‘I painted myself a bit in a corner here.’ (Laughs).

‘People think you’re going to roll around in depression and not get out of bed, but I know what it is. It’s a sport I’ve kept and followed all my adult life. This is always a possibility. A loss like this, you do not roll around in depression, super upset. It goes without saying. It is what it is. I can honestly say I am no more upset than when I lost the Poirier battle. ”

In the grand plan, it seems that Hooker can accept this loss just as well as can be expected. However, there is one thing that wants to bother him slightly: the suggestion that Chandler is KOing for him suggests sustainability issues.

“Believe me, no one has a good chin,” Hooker said. ‘You are beaten with the gloves – I can not put my chin in the air and let my wife hit me in the chin. She’s probably going to knock me out. Does that mean she’s a knockout? It’s just that people get in the chin and people do not get in the chin. No one has a good chin. This is a myth. ”

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

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Erge MMA. Discuss Conor McGregor, Alistair Overeem, BJ Penn and Askren-Paul.

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Trash talk.

Call out.

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Agree.

Khabib does not roll a flip flops.

Then Ige the body works.

Explanation.

Tony gets another child.

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

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Big quote from Dan Hooker who did not make it on top:

“I was like, ‘Maybe I’ll drink my pain away,’ but then I went to the bars and it’s $ 20 a beer in Abu Dhabi, and I said, ‘Well, the plan is out the bloody window, I’m go back to the gym. ‘

Then looks like a good hang.

Thanks for reading and see you tomorrow.

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