Dan Hooker was unfortunately on the receiving end of a first-round submission loss to Islam Makhachev at UFC 267 in October. The New Zealand international admits he made many mistakes that led to the stoppage.
Islam Makhachev was able to get the submission quickly after going for the takedown early in the round. The UFC lightweight wasted no time in locking up the finishing sequence.
Dan Hooker recently spoke to TheMacLife about the fight and what exactly went wrong. UFC 267 was an unfortunate ending to a decent year.
“What happened, happened,” the UFC lightweight said via MMANews. “That whole thing’s pretty self-explanatory… I wouldn’t say (I made) one little mistake, it was a series of mistakes… mistakes that, just shouldn’t have been made and that’s completely on me. I’m the one that has to bare the brunt of that, which I will.
“I would just say he’s super patient. He got the takedown, which was obviously my bad, secured the takedown; my bad again. That’s two of the many mistakes. But yeah, he was just quite comfortable waiting there. Again, (I) tried to force it a little bit too much, like, getting back up… I wasn’t comfortable just sitting there and staying there for the next three minutes.”
After the referee put a stop to the bout at UFC 267, Dan Hooker could be seen protesting to the referee. It turns out the New Zealander made a hilarious mistake.
In MMA a ‘tap' doesn't have to be physical, it can also be verbal. If you cry out or scream during a submission, the referee has to step in and call the bout. This is what accidentally happened to Dan Hooker at UFC 267 against Islam Makhachev.
“I thought I’d said it in my head. To be honest I haven’t even gone back and watched the fight. He had my arm wrapped up and I said, I thought I said in my head, I said, ‘Ah fuck!’ [LAUGHS] I thought I said it in my head but obviously, I’ll have to go back and watch it, because obviously I said it out loud… That’s why, I though I’d said it in my head, so initially when the ref starts breaking it up I was like, ‘What? Let it break,’ you know what I mean?”
Dan Hooker made an accidental mistake and paid for it at UFC 267. The bout will serve as an unfortunate lesson that he can grow from going forward.
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