Just days after picking up a win at UFC’s September 25th pay-per-view event, Dan Hooker is reportedly already set to compete again – in just a few weeks. The 31-year-old lightweight has stepped in on short notice to face Islam Makhachev at the promotion’s October 30th event, per a report from Brett Okamoto of ESPN.
The matchup joins a card that is expected to happen at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
It was reported earlier this week that Makhachev had lost his previous opponent, Rafael dos Anjos, due to injury. The fight was the promotion’s third attempted at pairing the lightweights since last year.
Makhachev is one of the rising stars at lightweight, having strung together an extensive eight-fight win streak since 2016. He won his first UFC main event bout in July, taking Thiago Moises into the fourth round and finishing him with a rear naked choke.
The short-notice call for Hooker is undoubtedly a hard challenge to take.
Hooker put on a strong performance at UFC 266 in late September, going three rounds against Nasrat Haqparast for a decision win. The bout snapped a two-fight losing streak that he had developed against some of the division’s best.
UFC 267 is currently set to be headlined by a light heavyweight title fight between Jan Blachowicz and Glover Teixeira. Here’s the updated card:
Bout 14: Jan Blachowicz (28-8) vs. Glover Teixeira (32-7) (UFC Light Heavyweight Championship)
Bout 13: Petr Yan (15-2) vs. Cory Sandhagen (14-3) (Vacant Interim UFC Bantamweight Championship)
Bout 12: Amanda Ribas (10-2) vs. Virna Jandiroba (17-6) (Strawweight)
Bout 11: Alexander Volkov (33-9) vs. Marcin Tybura (22-6) (Heavyweight)
Bout 10: Li Jingliang (18-6) vs. Khamzat Chimaev (9-0) (Welterweight)
Bout 9: Michal Oleksiejczuk (15-4) vs. Shamil Gamzatov (14-0) (Light Heavyweight)
Bout 8: Tagir Ulanbekov (12-1) vs. Allan Nascimento (18-5) (Flyweight)
Bout 7: Zubaira Tukhugov (19-5-1) vs. Ricardo Ramos (15-3) (Featherweight)
Bout 6: Magomed Ankalaev (15-1) vs. Volkan Oezdemir (17-5) (Light Heavyweight)
Bout 5: Hu Yaozong (3-2) vs. Alen Amedovski (8-2) (Middleweight)
Bout 4: Damir Ismagulov (23-1) vs. Magomed Mustafaev (14-4) (Lightweight)
Bout 3: Albert Duraev (14-3) vs. Roman Kopylov (8-1) (Middleweight)
Bout 2: Makwan Amirkhani (16-6) vs. Lerone Murphy (10-0-1) (Featherweight)
Bout 1: Islam Makhachev (20-1) vs. Dan Hooker (21-10) (Lightweight)
Knockdown News 