Dan Hooker and Gilbert Burns Agree to Fight

Dan Hooker’s frustration in finding an opponent may have just led to his next fight.

Winner of three straight fights via stoppage, Dan Hooker (16-7), is arguably the hottest lightweight currently sitting without a ranking. Well aware of his current non-position, Hooker has been very active in finding his next opponent from the moment his last fight against Jim Miller concluded. In the post-fight interview with Paul Felder, Hooker called out Felder himself in one of the more memorable post-fight interviews of the year and a true first in UFC history. With Paul Felder ranked #15, it seemed a wise and realistic callout and that the fight might just be made. But much to the chagrin of Hooker, Felder would be booked to face James Vick instead at UFC Boise.

Not one to be discouraged, Hooker would then engage in a Twitter spat with Alex Hernandez and openly beg Sean Shelby to make the fight:

This week, however, it was reported that Hernandez was slated to face Olivier Aubin-Mercier at UFC on Fox: Calgary. When made aware of this news, Hooker couldn’t help but share his dismay with social media:

This tweet would get a swift response from another available lightweight without a fight, in Gilbert Burns:

Burns was scheduled to face Aubin-Mercier at UFC on Fox 28 in February. Unfortunately, that fight was scrapped when the Florida Athletic Commission intervened in Burns’ weight cutting and deemed it unsafe for him to cut any additional weight. So with both men’s would-be opponents now facing the other’s, it only makes sense for the two to face one another, right? Dan Hooker certainly thought so:

There’s just one problem. Thursday morning, Oliver Aubin-Mercier informed MMA Twitter that the report of his fight with Alex Hernandez is not set yet:

If Burns and Hooker prefer to face Mercier and Hernandez respectively, there still may be time to act before the fight is finalized. Or perhaps they will abide by the sanctity of the sacred Twitter contract and go through with the fight they have agreed upon.

How would you match-make Hooker, Burns, Hernandez, and Mercier?

Related News

Top Stories

UFC Store

Dana White Shares What Gets People UFC Contracts, And It’s Not “A Personality Like Conor And Ronda…”

UFC is the biggest MMA promotion in the world, by far. Because most competitor...

‘Coolest Thing Ever’ – Dricus Du Plessis Reveals Fighter Who Got Him Into Fighting Instead Of Rugby

UFC Middleweight Champion Dricus Du Plessis has had a long and amusing path to...

Debuting Aleksandre Topuria ‘Not His Brother’, Says UFC 312 Opponent

Colby Thicknesse is vowing to show the difference in ability between Ilia Topuria and...

Dana White Reacts To Dricus Du Plessis Admitting He’s Prepared To Kill A Man In Front Of His Family

Dana White recently reviewed the bone-chilling mentality of Dricus Du Plessis that spread like...

UFC 312: Coach Predicts Dricus Du Plessis vs. Sean Strickland 2 Will Be A ‘Violent Chess Match’

Sayif Saud, head coach at Fortis MMA, anticipates an all-out war between Dricus Du...

UFC 312: Dricus Du Plessis vs. Sean Strickland 2 Weigh-In Results: One Fight Canceled

UFC 312 takes place tomorrow night, and MMA News is here to bring you...

Throwback: Dricus Du Plessis Claims Conor McGregor Who Fought Alvarez Would’ve Beaten Khabib Nurmagomedov

In one of his most popular interviews ever, Dricus Du Plessis claimed that the...

Dana White Highlights Boxing’s Edge Over MMA Using Ronda Rousey Example

While looking back at Ronda Rousey's loss to Holly Holm at UFC 193, Dana...

UFC Legend Dominick Cruz Announces His Retirement After Having Plans For Final Fight Derailed By Injury

Fans won't be seeing legendary former UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz back in the...