Dan Hooker faces Dustin Poirier in his next UFC fight
Kiwi star Dan Hooker was on Ariel Helwani’s MMA show ahead of his clash against Dustin Poirier.
The 30-year-old is on a three-fight win streak and sounded confident ahead of the UFC Fight Night event.
Helwani has suggested that Poirier vs Hooker could be the fight of the year, even though there is no belt up for grabs.
However, Poirier is a former interim UFC Lightweight champion. The Diamond, as he is called, lost that title to Khabib Nurmagomedov and has not fought since.
That took place at UFC 242 and Hooker was asked if he had watched that tape for any tips. Khabib is one of the best in the game and there is always something one can pick up by scouting rivals.
However, Hooker claimed he didn’t watch any of it and said he never watches previous fights:
“Honestly, I didn’t watch that fight. I didn’t watch it. What am I going to get from the way that we approach it, the style match up is completely different.
“I watched it at the time but I haven’t gone back and studied that fight. When I study opponents, I don’t look for witnesses, it’s not something I go and analyze.
“I expect them to go watch their fights and fix that. I don’t expect them to make the same mistake twice, I expect them to correct them.”
Not over analyzing
Hooker added that the analysis part of the job is done by some of his great coaches. However, he warned that he doesn’t over-analyze his rivals else you could freeze in the Octagon.
Hooker went on to say that he watches a couple of the previous fights, but not much of his own.
The Kiwi star also suggested that his game is different to that of Khabib’s and it makes sense that he hasn’t actually seen a lot of those tapes.
However, the Russian is one of the best in the Octagon, and there is always something to learn from him.
Hooker vs Poirier should be an incredible fight, and it will be interesting to see who comes out on top in all this.
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