Former UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski has insisted Mateusz Gamrot won't have it all his own way in the grappling department against Dan Hooker this weekend.
Hooker will mark one of many Oceanic natives taking to the Octagon close to home at the upcoming UFC 305 pay-per-view event, which goes down inside the RAC Arena in Perth, Australia.
The lightweight fan favorite had long been calling for a spot on the high-profile card, and he got his wish alongside a major opportunity to climb back up the ranks.
"The Hangman" is set to fight six places up the ladder against Gamrot, the #5-ranked contender at 155 pounds. The Polish fighter has been on a charge in the division, using his smothering wrestling game to get the better of names like Arman Tsarukyan, Jalin Turner, and Rafael dos Anjos in recent years.
In Hooker, though, Volkanovski thinks Gamrot will run into a hurdle too tall...
During a video recently uploaded to his YouTube channel, Volkanovski broke down and provided his picks for the major matchups set to play out at UFC 305 in Perth this Saturday (Sunday morning local time).
Among a number of Volkanovski's frequent training partners over at City Kickboxing set to compete at the event is Hooker, who will enter his matchup with Gamrot as the underdog.
The brawling striker has long had wrestling pointed to as a deficiency in his game, with champion Islam Makhachev being the last to expose it back in 2021. But while "Gamer" has shown a strong ground game, Volkanovski believes it takes more than what he can offer to get past Hooker's defenses.
Gamrot is obviously gonna be coming for them takedowns. He's a very, very, heavy wrestler, grappler," Volkanovski said. "Look, Dan Hooker is hard to take down. Dan Hooker is no joke when it comes to wrestling defense and then submissions as you're trying to take him down. You've seen the work Dan Hooker can do.
I swear, even the last times I've been training with him, he's still got it. 10 years in the UFC and I think he looks better probably now than he did before. The last time I trained with him, he was looking good," Volkanovski continued. "Last time Dan Hooker faced someone like (Gamrot), it was Islam Makhachev. Remember, short notice, and I feel Islam's a little more trickier with takedowns. ... Gamrot's gonna be more aggressive with the wrestling ... I just feel like Hooker can do enough to make that hard. ... Hooker has got incredible timing for the takedown defense. ... Hooker might find the finish here.
Hooker will look to prove Volkanovski's prediction correct come fight night Down Under. And should he accomplish that feat, a return to the lightweight top five and title contention should be on the cards for the veteran New Zealander.
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