"We expressed our concerns" - Eugene Bareman admits to initially being skeptical of Dan Hooker's move back to featherweight division

Eugene Bareman has suggested that he was initially skeptical of Dan Hooker’s return to the featherweight division. Hooker, a fan-favorite striking savant, moved up from featherweight (145 pounds) to lightweight (155 pounds) in 2017.

‘The Hangman’ established himself as a high-ranking lightweight, but he’s lately suffered multiple setbacks. He’s 1-3 in his last four fights. Following his latest loss to Islam Makhachev in a lightweight bout at UFC 267 in October 2021, Hooker announced that he’ll return to featherweight.

On the latest edition of The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, Dan Hooker’s coach Eugene Bareman was asked if he’s in favor of Hooker’s featherweight comeback, Bareman stated:

“Look, the truth is the coaches weren’t in favor of it. I’m not sure if he said that. He wanted to do a ’45 move a few fights ago. And we expressed our concerns. And then even for this [upcoming] fight, we said, ‘Look, if you get the proper testing – and you can prove to us that with all the new technology and all the new knowledge that we have around dieting and making weight – you can prove to us that you can perform at 145, then we’ll back you.' And he did some very rigorous testing at the [UFC] PI [Performance Institute]. And, lo and behold, he aced it.”

Bareman noted that tests showed that Hooker can still perform at the highest level without letting the weight cut deplete him. The City Kickboxing gym coach added, however, that Hooker’s test weight cut was simply conducted over the span of a few days.

He pointed out that this was without the headache of of an 8-12 week fight camp. Regardless, Bareman revealed that Hooker is looking much better at featherweight than he used to back in the day.

Watch Eugene Bareman’s conversation with Ariel Helwani in the video below:

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Dan Hooker on his return to the featherweight division

In his first fight back at featherweight, Dan Hooker is set to face Arnold Allen. This matchup will take place at UFC Fight Night 204 on March 19th.

Ahead of his featherweight return, Dan Hooker spoke to Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour and credited the UFC PI’s top-tier facilities and science for helping him in his return to 145 pounds. Hooker said:

“From when I was there in the past and to where I am now, just obviously the science and the people that are a part of the UFC, like Charles [Stull] ‘The Angry Dietician,’ the fight dietician that I work very closely with, and Clint [Wattenberg] and the people at the PI [UFC Performance Institute] have all been — it’s been smooth sailing.”

Check out 'The Hangman's' appearance on The MMA hour below: