‘Truthfully, he may be one of the saltiest, nastiest, toughest challenges’ – Michael Chandler feels that Dan Hooker will be his toughest challenge at lightweight

‘Truthfully, he may be one of the saltiest, nastiest, toughest challenges’ – Michael Chandler feels that Dan Hooker will be his toughest challenge at lightweight
Michael Chandler

Michael Chandler is expected to take on Dan Hooker at UFC 257, although it is yet to be made official. The former Bellator champ will be making his debut, after being raked in by the UFC last year. A win for Chandler will even probably earn him a shot at lightweight gold.

More recently, speaking to Brett Okamoto of ESPN, Michael Chandler revealed that he was quite surprised that he wasn’t matched with an opponent from the top 5 in the lightweight rankings. However, Chandler maintained that Dan Hooker would surely be the toughest opponent he would face at 155lbs.

“Dan Hooker wasn’t on the radar” – Michael Chandler

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Michael Chandler was quoted as saying, “Dan Hooker wasn’t on the radar, or the highest run of the radar, mainly because of the pecking order of the UFC’s rankings, Obviously, when I came in, the UFC wanted to give me a test right away – throwing around names like Ferguson, like Poirier, and Oliveira, who are No. 1, 2, 3 and 4 in the division. Obviously, aside from Khabib, because he’s semi-retired right now, we’re not sure what he’s doing yet. But these were the names that they were trying to get me booked against, so it wasn’t that Dan Hooker wasn’t a formidable opponent.”

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Despite being surprised that he didn’t get to face a top 5 ranked opponent for his UFC debut, Chandler believed that Hooker will probably be his toughest challenge at lightweight. Speaking of which he said, “Truthfully, he may be one of the saltiest, nastiest, toughest challenges both physically and with his attributes inside of the octagon than any of (the top-ranked fighters). I think that I match up better with Poirier than I do Hooker. I think I match up better with Gaethje then Hooker. I think I matchup better with Ferguson than Hooker. So at the end of it all, I signed with the UFC to get to the top. In order to get to the top, I have to have a fight, I have to get inside the UFC octagon.” [via MMA Junkie]

Michael Chandler has had a glorious career in Bellator MMA, will he able to recreate the same in UFC, against the New Zealander who is known for fighting wars?

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