The UFC is inarguably the world’s most prominent MMA organization. But it doesn’t have all the sport’s leading fighters, by any means. That said, with the signing of former three-time Bellator lightweight champion Michael Chandler, the UFC landed a big addition.
Chandler is an alternate for the UFC 254 main event between lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and interim lightweight champion Justin Gaethje, which didn’t sit very well with the #4 ranked fighter in the division Dan Hooker, as he explained during a recent interview with Submission Radio.
“It’s hard to know how much stock the UFC is putting into someone that’s coming from another organization, said Hooker. But for him to now be signed to the organization and being the fill-in for the title shot, now I know. Now I’m certain of how much stock. The UFC is putting a lot of stock in on this kid. So, I would love to be the guy to welcomes him to the UFC, knees his chin off, sends him back to the B-Leagues.
If Sean Shelby calls me right now and he says Michael Chandler, UFC two hundred and whatever, we can put that together, we can make that happen. Of course.
I’m 100 percent gonna get back in there before the end of the year. That’s something I’m very set on. I’ve had a good amount of time to recover, I’m back in the gym, I’m fit, I’m training and I’m ready to jump in a camp and get back in there. So, late November, December, my schedule’s wide open. So, we’re gonna book something.
Top pick hands down would have to be Tony Ferguson. That’s a fight that I would love to jump in. Just because of the mystique around Tony Ferguson. I would love to get in there and just compete with the guy. But coming in at a close second, Michael Chandler. You throw him in for a world title, you throw him in first fight as the backup for a world title, that definitely shows the stock that the UFC is putting into that guy, and I would love to get in there and knee him in the face. Third, I keep getting broken translations from random reporters that like ‘Charles Oliveira’s calling you out, Charles is calling you out’. Where? Charles Oliveira, get on a video, say, ‘Dan Hooker, I want to fight you’. It’s not a difficult thing to do. I don’t speak Portuguese, my friend, I cannot understand you. I cannot understand translations. Say it to me, and we’ll put that fight together and we’ll make it happen. Any of those three. Tony Ferguson, Michael Chandler, Charles Oliveira, put your hand up, we’ll get in there. Who wants to get in there and compete?
