Dan Hooker somehow survived until late in the third round in his fight against Edson Barboza on Saturday night after he absorbed an unbelievable amount of punishment from the Brazilian.
Barboza’s offensive onslaught was unreal as he attacked Hooker’s legs in the opening round and then began to extend his assault to the rest of his opponent’s body as time ticked away into the second and third rounds.
After scoring a 10-8 second round from all of the judges, Barboza continued to go after Hooker with all sorts of striking combinations in the final five minutes.
Barboza battered Hooker to the body repeatedly and as tough as he was, the New Zealand native finally crumbled in the third round.
UFC president Dana White said after the fight was over that Hooker refused any help to get back to the locker rooms or the medical area where doctors are on standby to give the athletes a good once over for any injuries.
“There’s a lot of tough guys and girls in this sport, OK? He gets to the back, refuses crutches, refuses help to walk, gets into the area where the physicians look at him and was just so upset with himself. He’s got nothing to be upset about. He showed a ton of toughness tonight, ton of heart,” White said about Hooker on the FS1 post fight show.
As much as White commends Hooker on his durability, he actually feels like the fight should have been stopped earlier when Barboza was absolutely teeing off on him with a series of unanswered strikes.
Hooker simply refused to go down but that didn’t mean he was intelligently defending himself.
“Fight should have been stopped earlier than it was,” White said.
Following back-to-back losses in his two most recent fights, White also commended Barboza on a job well done as he absolutely decimated Hooker over two plus rounds before getting the finish.
“Edson Barboza, wow,” White said. ” That kid came out tonight and made a statement. He’s nasty.”
