Dan Hooker believes he can stop Dustin Poirier but Justin Gaethje isn’t convinced.
Hooker has made some noise since ditching the featherweight division in favor of 155 pounds. The City Kickboxing bruiser has gone 7-1 since returning to the lightweight division. He’s riding a three-fight winning streak and is coming off a split decision win over Paul Felder. He is now scheduled to meet former interim UFC lightweight champion Dustin Poirier on June 27.
Hooker Feels He Can Stop Poirier, Gaethje Disagrees
In an interview with MMAFighting ahead of UFC on ESPN 12, Hooker expressed his belief that Poirier won’t be able to withstand his offense for long.
“That’s the thing — he’s definitely going to have to adjust his game a little bit,” Hooker said about Poirier. “I feel like pressuring me, taking a shot, giving it, taking a shot, giving a shot is just not the way to best approach it. I don’t feel like Dustin can take a shot as well as Paul Felder can. From watching the tape of both of those fighters, I don’t think Poirier has the chin Felder does.
“I feel I can put Dustin away. If I keep touching him, there’s no way that Dustin’s going to be able to eat those shots and be able to recover from the damage I’m generally able to inflict on opponents.”
Gaethje, who suffered a TKO loss to Poirier back in April 2018, caught wind of Hooker’s comments and he isn’t sold.
“This dude is getting merked.”
If Hooker can pull off a victory, especially in the fashion he’s predicting, it’ll be a huge feather in his cap. A win over Poirier would undoubtedly be the biggest in the pro MMA career of “The Hangman.” Poirier sits at the number three spot on the UFC lightweight rankings, while Hooker holds the fifth spot.
UFC on ESPN 12 will be held inside the UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada. Be sure to join us on fight night for live coverage of the event. We’ll be bringing you live results, highlights, and post-fight tidbits.
