Dan Hooker reveals why he wants to fight Justin Gaethje over UFC new signing Michael Chandler

Dan Hooker seems ready to get back inside the Octagon. It's been a few months, with his last outing against Dustin Poirier ending in a unanimous decision loss. The fight did, however, prove that Dan Hooker could stand toe-to-toe with one of the most elite Lightweights in the world.

Dan Hooker recently called out Justin Gaethje on Twitter while stating his respect for him. Speaking to MMA Junkie, Dan Hooker elaborated on why a fight against Justin Gaethje "lights a fire" under him, while also admitting that UFC newcomer Michael Chandler lost his mystique by declining to fight Tony Ferguson:

“Hands down, I want the Gaethje fight,” Hooker told MMA Junkie. “Just to me, as a fan of the sport, watching it from the outside, having Chandler turn down the Ferguson opportunity in December kind of takes away a lot of that gung-ho mystique off of him. He was coming into the UFC from another organization saying, ‘I’ll fight anyone, I’m ready to go, I’m ready to step in for the title.’ He stands on the scale and essentially makes weight and that rules him out of a fight against Tony Ferguson which, you beat Tony Ferguson, you pretty much position yourself as that next guy in line for a title shot.

Dan Hooker tore into Michael Chandler for not fighting Tony Ferguson and said that it took the hype away from him, which is why it isn't in an interesting fight for him:

“For him to turn down that opportunity because he stepped on a scale and made weight, like how tough is it for this guy to make weight? For me, it’s not a difficult thing. Making weight for me is fairly straightforward, fairly easy. So that, to me, kinda takes a lot of the mystique off the guy. Him saying he’s ready to go, he’ll fight anyone, ‘Oh wait, I don’t want to fight Tony Ferguson.’ So even for me, fighting Chandler, it takes a lot of the hype that’s behind Chandler away, so it makes him less appealing to fight.”

Why Justin Gaethje vs. Dan Hooker is the fight to make

Dan Hooker is still in the Top 5 rankings, and given that Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor are fighting at UFC 257, he makes the most sense for Justin Gaethje to face coming off a loss.

One could argue that Gaethje is an even more dangerous match-up stylistically for Dan Hooker than Dustin Poirier was, but if there was any lesson to be learned from his last fight, it would be to not count Dan Hooker out of anything. Justin Gaethje suffered a quick submission defeat to Khabib Nurmagomedov, so it wouldn't be surprising to see him have a quick return to the Octagon.