Dan Hooker Questions Conor McGreogr’s Ability To Fight Without A Crowd At UFC 257

Dan Hooker gives his prediction for the lightweight clash between Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier, and explains what the lack of crowd could mean for the Irishman

Dan Hooker
Photos via Instagram @danhangman @thenotoriousmma

When it comes to performing on the biggest stage and under the brightest lights, few have done as well at that as Conor McGregor. Lightweight contender Dan Hooker seems to think there are some questions about how he will do when he fights Dustin Poirier next month, without having all that energy to feed off of.

Hooker knows as well as anyone, the toughness and durability that Dustin Poirier has at lightweight. The two faced off in one of the contenders for Fight of the Year, and Dan gave everything he had at Dustin. So he expects, as does most MMA fans, that the rematch between Poirier and McGregor will go much differently than their initial meeting in 2014. Conor may still get his hand raised in the end, but this fight is barely being considered a rematch, just because of how different both men are at this point in their career.

 

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Conor McGregor Official (@thenotoriousmma)

 

Dan Hooker Predicts McGregor vs Poirier 2

With the rematch between Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier approaching, Dan Hooker is excited to see these men face off. Speaking in a recent interview, he gave his thoughts on the matchup, and how he sees things playing out. In his mind, Dustin is going to put up way more of a fight this time around, and that this fight will go Poirier’s way if he can figure out how to time his bursts of energy properly.

“(Poirier) is a far different fighter than the first time that they matched,” Hooker explained. “I feel like he’s far more durable at lightweight than he is at featherweight. I feel like he’s one of the most durable guys I’ve ever fought. I hit him with some pretty hard shots and he just continued to push. He has an incredible pace, which matches up well. Conor has his moments early on, and kind of has a little bit of a dip in his energy system, but then it comes back. So it’s whether Dustin can time his push, where he just puts the pedal to the metal and just starts pushing the fight at that perfect time where Conor’s energy systems begin to dip. If he can push the accelerator there, he might have some success.”

 

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Dan “Hangman” Hooker (@danhangman)

 

Will No Crowd Effect McGregor?

One interesting aspect that is different in this fight, compared to all of McGregor’s previous, is the lack of crowd. The UFC superstar is known to feed off of the energy of having a huge audience cheering for him, but he will not have this when he faces Poirier for a second time. Dan Hooker wonders if this will have an effect, especially since Dustin seems to prefer fighting without the crowd.

“Conor’s the best, him and Israel (Adesanya) are the best at dealing with the high pressure situations where they’ve got people jumping at buses in front of them, screaming at them, attacking them, the crowds go absolutely bananas when they’re there. Those guys are cool, calm, and collected, and they handle it like nothing else,” Hooker said. “Dustin, I remember him saying after the fight (with me) that he would be happy to fight without a crowd for the rest of his career. That’s a very interesting, and I’d say for me personally, one of the biggest questions I have. Like, can Conor wake up under those conditions? Because I definitely know that Dustin prefers and likes to fight with the no crowd.”

Dan Hooker brings up some good points about Dustin Poirier’s preference to fight without a crowd favoring him in this matchup. It is going to be bizarre seeing Conor McGregor fight with little-to-nobody in the crowd for the first time. It is just another factor that makes this UFC 257 matchup so interesting to see.

Published on December 16, 2020 at 1:10 pm
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