2021 City Kickboxing UFC Tracker: Dan Hooker vs Michael Chandler
Consider Dan Hooker vs Michael Chandler the perfect start to 2021 for Aotearoa's City Kickboxing. The fight itself is a glorious match up of the CKB striking and takedown defence going up against a noted wrestler with enough power to shake things up, then we have the fact that Hooker kicks off what will be a enticing period of CKB scraps. No other CKB fighter is fighting on this weekend's UFC 257 card, although with Israel Adesanya moving up a weight division to fight Jan Blachowicz at UFC 259 on March 7th there will be a steady flow of CKB fights to start 2021.
Kai Kara-France is also locked in to fight at UFC 259 and there will be fights for Brad Riddell, Shane Young and Carlos Ulberg to come. The hardest thing for CKB is being available to fight as while the UFC charged through the shenanigans last year, that benefited the fighters who were either in the United States of America already and those international fighters who were availability. In such conditions, not being available is all good but various UFC fighters were able to quickly stack up fights and wins simply by being available.
Tucked away in Aotearoa makes the travel and quarantines niggly, although none of this has slowed down the CKB takeover. Take Ulberg's venture to Las Vegas for the Dana White Contender Series late last year where his coaches were Adesanya and Riddell as the CKB coaching staff couldn't make that specific trip after a hectic 2020 schedule. Ulberg, Adesanya and Riddell were then stuck in USA waiting for their entry back into Aotearoa and made the most of the hand they were dealt.
Now, for a crucial Hooker fight there are no CKB coaching staff for the same reason. There is a Junior Fa bout to prepare for, Adesanya's fight as well as all the rest and so Hooker is cruising around with a few bros with his game plan in his homework book. Availability is the best ability and just to be available to fight, Hooker won't return to Aotearoa until late February and then do the two week jingle. Hooker fights this weekend and will then stay on for a month or so.
The headline fight for this card is Conor McGregor vs Dustin Poirier and Hooker lost to Poirier early in 2020. A win for Hooker in this fight would provide a platter of funky options for Hooker as he could fight the winner of the main event, he could challenge Justin Gaethje who recently lost to Khabib Nurmagomedov and maybe Khabib likes what he sees in Hooker. The lightweight division holds some of the UFC's biggest names, best fighters and Hooker is nicely perched among the division's elite.
Chandler on the other hand is coming to the UFC from Bellator and Chandler's been a staple of Bellator's roster since 2010. This will be Chandler's UFC debut and part of the intrigue for this fight is how Chandler performs in a higher level of competition, or if Chandler dominates that may put a different spin on the balance between Bellator and UFC. Bellator is a respected MMA promotion, it's not quite the UFC though and Hooker is the lightweight who will welcome Chandler to the UFC.
How Hooker deals with Chandler's wrestling will be the key piece to this puzzle. Wrestling is a far bigger sport in USA than Aotearoa, so many MMA fighters start with a wrestling base and then develop the required MMA skills. In Aotearoa, our lineage is in striking and that goes all the way back to boxing in the early 1900's to David Tua, modern kick-boxing heroes and now CKB. This is a sporting culture difference that low key is at the root of this fight.
Chandler ticked all the competitive wrestling boxes at the NCAA level and that is now manifested in Chandler averaging 2.57 takedowns per 15mins. For context, Hooker averages 0.74 and then Adesanya averages 0 and Brad Riddell averages 1. Hooker averages 0.3 submissions per 15mins and Chandler averages 1.5, which when combined with Chandler's 4.08 strikes landed per minute presents a funky challenge for Hooker.
CKB have built in a defensive grappling system to ensure that they don't fall victim to wrestlers and jiu-jitsu wizards, while delivering world-class striking. Hooker defends 79 percent of all takedown attempts thrown at him (Adesanya is 86 percent) and as Hooker won't get too busy in trying to take Chandler down, Hooker will need to be at his best to deal with how Chandler sets up his takedown attempts.
In losing to Poirier, Hooker went too far into 1-outs scrap mode. That makes the fight fun as Hooker stands in the pocket, eats numerous shots and trades shots with his opponent but isn't going to help Hooker win fights against the best of the division. Hooker has all the skills to use his reach (75" vs 71") advantage by picking his shots, establishing the CKB fakes and staying out of range of Chandler's heavy hands and takedowns.
Strikes Absorbed per Minute
Hooker: 4.89.
Adesanya: 2.33.
Riddell: 2.62.
That's the story right there. Hooker doubles the punishment absorbed of his comrades and it doesn't feel sustainable, especially when Hooker can operate more efficiently. The CKB takedown defence will be on display with Hooker and this is crucial to establish moving forward if Hooker levels up, while Hooker also has to show development and growth in the CKB striking department. Do all of that and Hooker is a legit chance to win, setting up a plethora of opportunities for exciting fights at the top of the lightweight division.
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