‘You’re already a champion anyway so go there, test the water’ – Henri Hooft reveals what he told Michael Chandler before he joined the UFC
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UFC 262: Michael Chandler vs Charles Oliveira
In just his second fight, Michael Chandler will be fighting for the lightweight title. He takes on Charles Oliveira in the main event of UFC 262 in a couple of weeks time. Chandler announced himself on the big stage as he debuted in the co-main event of UFC 257, against top ranked lightweight Dan Hooker.
‘Iron Mike’ defeated the ‘hangman’ in the very first round of his debut, with an explosive right hand. The win propelled Chandler to number 4 in the lightweight rankings, as he very soon landed a title fight next, since Khabib Nurmagomedov vacated the belt a couple of months ago.
Ahead of his fight against Oliveira, Chandler’s coach Henri Hooft had a lot of praise for the American. He spoke about the time with him, since Bellator, and also about how good a team guy Iron Mike is. Hooft then went to acknowledge the holistic fighting style of Oliveira as well.
‘I really like his style of fighting‘ – Henri Hooft on Charles Oliveira
Speaking in an interview with MMA Junkie, Hooft said, “The last fight with Benson Henderson, when he made up his mind, he said, ‘I want to go to the UFC.’ I was like, ‘If you really want to test yourself and the way you’ve been preforming in your past couple of fights, it’s cool. Go there, you have nothing to lose. You’re already a champion anyway so go there, test the water and see what it is.’” [via MMA Junkie]
He continued, “I’m very happy that we got the shot. Of course, because for me I think it’s the fourth or fifth time where we’ll fight for the belt, and after the welterweight belt, I would love to win a lightweight belt with Michael Chandler, especially with Michael Chandler. A really good guy – he’s really good in the gym, a good teammate and he’s a good guy for the company. He’s well-spoken, he’s a real champion, a family man, but he’s got a really tough fight.” [via MMA Junkie]
Acknowledging Charles Oliveira, Hooft said, “He has all the experience, he fought very tough guys and he beat Dan Hooker, and now we’ve got Charles Oliveira, who’s really respected. I really like his style of fighting – he’s very good everywhere.” [via MMA Junkie]
Oliveira is on an eight-fight win streak!
Oliveira is coming off a massive victory against Tony Ferguson at UFC 256. No one has ever outwrestled and dominated Tony like that in his entire career. But, Oliveira was just too much for ‘El Cucuy’.
It is worthy to note that Oliveira is on an unbelievable 8-fight win streak, with his last loss coming way back in 2017. Exciting times ahead for the UFC’s lightweight division.
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Gerard Crispin
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