Dan Hooker seemingly throws shade at Israel Adesanya's critics in post about Max Verstappen's latest F1 win

Dan Hooker appeared to hit back at teammate Israel Adesanya's critics while commenting on 2021 Formula One world champion Max Verstappen's Twitter post celebrating his win at the Belgian Grand Prix this past weekend.

In a tweet, Hooker praised Verstappen after his ninth win of 2022, while also appearing to take aim at those who have criticized Adesanya's method of victory in recent times:

"I mean, you’re winning and all, but you’re playing it to safe. If you were really that good you would hit the wall a couple times or at least slow down to let someone else catch up. As a fan it would just make it more exciting to watch."

One fan came to Verstappen's defense, saying that he made the win possible from a very tough position. He tweeted:

Verstappen started on P14 due to an engine change, but moved up swiftly in the grid to finish at the top in a stunning performance. He now extends his lead to 93 points with eight races remaining this year. Hooker's tweet was a sarcastic comment towards fans calling out Adesanya for a perceived 'boring' fighting style, helping him to a similar run of dominance in the UFC.

Some fans replied to Hooker's tweet saying that "boring" fighters should not get paid much if they continue with the same approach.

UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski also weighed in, responding to Hooker's tweet with a bunch of laughing emojis.

Adesanya most recently defended his belt at UFC 276 by beating Jared Cannonier via unanimous decision. However, many fans were spotted leaving the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas before the final round started, with many believing that the fight was not worthy of a pay-per-view main-event.

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Israel Adesanya addresses criticism of "boring" fighting style

Israel Adesanya was criticized after his title clash against Jared Cannonier at UFC 276. 'The Last Stylebender' won via unanimous decision, but received a lot of slack for the manner of his win.

In a recent video uploaded to his YouTube channel FREESTYLEBENDER in July, Adesanya was questioned if his perceived "boring" fighting style will prevent him from becoming a fan favorite in the UFC. 'The Last Stylebender' said:

"We all believe in what we’re going to do. I really know what I can do and I know what I could have done to him and I was trying to do it to him, but it just didn’t happen the way I wanted it to. But again, I’m the one getting flak. There was no bit in that fight where I took my foot off the gas in the sense that I’m coasting. I wasn’t coasting. I was like, I’m going to keep touching him until he falls."

Check out Israel Adesanya's full interview (11:22 onwards) below:

Despite the criticism, Israel Adesanya has defended his title on five occasions since winning the undisputed belt in October 2019 against Robert Whittaker. He also remains undefeated in the middleweight division, with his only loss in the UFC coming to Jan Blachowicz at light heavyweight.

The 33-year-old's approach has come into question by many fans around the world, but Israel Adesanya continues to stay on top of the middleweight division.