- Dan Hooker thinks Israel Adesanya’s random antics suggest how the storyline of his fights will end up
- “The Hangman” spoke about the great impact of sharing the fight week with Alexander Volkanovski
The Israel Adesanya vs. Dricus du Plessis title fight is expected to happen at UFC 293 in Sydney on Sept. 10. The way Dan Hooker sees it, Izzy could already see how the storyline would play out in the end, which would center on him defending his middleweight belt against Du Plessis.
Hooker was also delighted to have shared the UFC 290 fight week with now pound-for-pound king Alexander Volkanovski.
Izzy sees what lies ahead
Speaking to Submission Radio, “The Hangman” reminded everybody that Adesanya may act weird leading up to a fight but they would end up realizing what the reigning champ was trying to imply once he gets his hand raised.
“Everything Israel’s ever done or said that at first I’ve been like that doesn’t really make sense,” Hooker said. “… Everything he said was not an accident, like everything he said, every word that came out of his mouth was not like an emotional reaction even though there was a lot of emotion attached to it. Everything he ever does like makes sense when the storyline completely plays out.”
“You’ll see it in the fight when he starts beating him and he starts saying it and then after he’ll sit down at the press conference or in the ring and explain himself and explain where all that emotion is coming from… I think people forget to understand we have to understand, the story in his head has already played out like he visualized Dricus, winning the fight, he’s already visualized how Sydney will play out he’s already visualized what he’s going to say in the press conference after and I think that’s something that people forget,” he added.
Volk’s Impact
Hooker walked away with a stunning split decision win over Jalin Turner at UFC 290. Heading into the fight, “The Hangman” revealed that even the UFC didn’t see him as a top contender anymore but an aging veteran instead.
However, none of that mattered when he stepped inside the cage as his mentality was tougher than his doubters. It was even better that he got to share the fight week with another optimistic and genuine person like Alexander Volkanovski, who also came out victorious at UFC 290.
“Massive. Massive. Like, it’s awesome having him, just the way he approaches everything and like his attitude coming into everything and just his mentality is sick,” Hooker said of Volk. “Nothing’s fake nothing he says is outside of his personality. He’s just one of the most genuine people in the sport like what you see is what you get he actually is that nice.”
“He is that great of a bloke so yeah just to share fight week and you’re this and that and you look over at Volkanovski [and he] still got that same positive attitude and he’s still nice to everyone and still saying sorry for bumping into people and stuff like that… it’s just very refreshing when you’re in a fight week with a guy like that,” he continued.
The win over Turner saw Hooker coming back to the fold. He is now the No. 10 lightweight contender and will hope to continue to fight his way to the top.
