On Saturday night at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Dan Hooker and Dustin Poirier went to absolute warfare, beating each other for five full rounds in the UFC main event on ESPN 12 (check out the highlights here). While Hooker outpointed Poirier statistically in the first two rounds and managed to hurt “Diamond” multiple times during the fight, he dropped a unanimous decision to the Lafayette native with 48-47, 48-47, 48-46 scores.
“It was difficult, man,” Poirier admitted later during his post-fight interview. “Dan came to fight, he’s a tough guy, he’s on the rise. He really thought it was going to happen to me. I talked a lot of crap like I was going to go ahead and fight the champion. But I’m the fucking champion, man.
Both men missed the post-event press conference to be stitched up, but Hooker jumped on Instagram later to give us an update on how he felt after what must have been a bittersweet loss. There is no shame in being part of such an amazing fight and being so close to winning against a tough opponent like Poirier. Still, a win would have changed his career and set him up for a series of big money fights and put him within the surprising range of the lightweight title.
“Hi everyone, I just got back to the hotel with the boys eating,” Hooker said. “They left the hospital, everything is fine. Just a couple of points in the eye. Hey, that’s the game we play, don’t worry. It’s just a little setback and I’ll be back! ”
“Credit to Poirier best man at night, with no regrets, no excuses,” he added in the video. “Minor setbacks are not important to me.”
The loss to Poirier drops Hooker to 20-9 and breaks a streak of three straight wins that led to wins over James Vick, Al Iaquinta and Paul Felder. While defeat certainly won’t bring him closer to his goal of becoming a UFC lightweight champion, the impressive performance against an absolute beast like Poirier certainly raised its value in the eyes of many fans who saw the fight.
And of course the $ 50,000 Fight of the Night bonus doesn’t hurt. However, it begs the question: what kind of bonus does he deserve for the fight of the year and when can he cash in? Because we are halfway through the year and I would say we have a new favorite in that regard.
