Dan Hooker will be stepping up on short notice as he will fight Islam Makhachev at UFC 267 in Abu Dhabi.
According to ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, who was told by Dana White, Hooker has agreed to face Makhachev on a month’s notice at UFC 267 on October 30 in Abu Dhabi. Of course, Makhachev was supposed to fight Rafael dos Anjos but the Brazilian was forced out of the bout due to an injury.
The news is surprising to many as Hooker had to fly back this week to New Zealand to do his two-week quarantine and he has been vocal that there are no more rooms for the rest of the year. However, there is a chance he decided to not go back and will remain in Las Vegas for the next month to train. However, this is a fight many have wanted to see, as Makhachev fans have claimed Hooker was ducking him.
Islam Makhachev (20-1) is coming off his first UFC main event where he submitted Thiago Moises in the fourth round. Prior to that, he submitted Drew Dober at UFC 259. The Dagestani native is currently on an eight-fight winning streak and is 9-1 inside the Octagon with his lone loss coming at UFC 192 where he was knocked out by Adriano Martins.
Dan Hooker (21-10) returned to the win column just last weekend at UFC 266 as he beat Nasrat Haqparast. It was a hectic week for Hooker as he had visa issues and did not arrive until Thursday night for the fight. The victory snapped his two-fight losing skid where he suffered a first-round KO loss to Michael Chandler at UFC 257 and a five-round decision loss to Dan Hooker. Before the setbacks, he was on a three-fight winning streak where he beat Paul Felder, Al Iaquinta, and James Vick. He also holds notable wins over Gilbert Burns, Jim Miller, and Ross Pearson.
With the addition of Islam Makhachev vs. Dan Hooker, UFC 267 is as follows:
- Light Heavyweight Title Bout: Jan Blachowicz (c) vs. Glover Teixeira
- Interim Bantamweight Title: Petr Yan (c) vs. Cory Sandhagen
- Magomed Ankalaev vs. Volkan Oezdemir
- Islam Makhachev vs. Dan Hooker
- Marcin Tybura vs. Alexander Volkov
- Khamzat Chimaev vs. Li Jingliang
- Shamil Gamzatov vs. Michal Oleksiejczuk
- Virna Jandiroba vs. Amanda Ribas
- Ricardo Ramos vs. Zubaira Tukhugov
- Damir Ismagulov vs. Magomed Mustafaev
- Makwan Amirkhani vs. Lerone Murphy
- Alen Amedovski vs. Hu Yaozong
- Allan Nascimento vs. Tagir Ulanbekov
- Albert Duraev vs. Roman Kopylov
Who do you think will win, Islam Makhachev or Dan Hooker?
