Dan Hooker has struggled to find the words to describe his disappointment at his loss to Michael Chandler, but he is intent on moving forward.
Dan Hooker has had a week to process his first-round TKO loss to Michael Chandler at UFC 257 and has addressed the media for the first time following the event. Hooker has also not published any public statement after the event, which has become commonplace after a loss. It has been nothing but radio silence from Hooker as he has taken the time to process things in his own way. And really, there simply wasn’t anything to say.
“To be honest, I had nothing to say,” Hooker said with a laugh in an interview with Submission Radio. “A week went past and, like, what can you say? What can you say? You have good days, bad days. You go into these kind of things and you prepare yourself for worst-case scenario, but even that took the cake.
“Even then, it surprised me how bad it went. So I was like, what can you say? What can you say? I had no words to describe that. You come to and you’re just like, ‘I’ve just wasted four months of my life for that, you know?”
Did Dan Hooker Consider Retirement?
As Michael Chandler was being proclaimed the winner of the fight, Dan Hooker could be seen removing his gloves. This is a gesture that often precedes a retirement. So with Hooker being silent in the aftermath of the fight, many were left to speculate whether or not UFC 257 was the last we would see from him.
Hooker admits to being carried away by the moment and says that it didn’t take long for him to snap out of it.
“In that moment, like, I’m done! I’m finished with this shitty sport.’ I’m done,” Hooker said. “Then you get back to the hotel, and you sit down, and you think about it, and you realize you’re not good at anything else, either,” Hooker said with a laugh. “So it’s like, well, shit, I’ve kind of painted myself into a bit of a corner here.
“A loss like this, you’re not rolling around in depression super upset. It’s self-explanatory and it is what it is. And I can honestly say I’m not any more upset than when I lost the Poirier fight.”
Dan Hooker believes that the best way to get over a loss in this sport is to simply get back in the win column, and The Hangman made it clear that this is exactly what he intends to do when given the opportunity.
Who do you think makes sense as Dan Hooker’s next opponent?
