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UFC 325’s co-main event winner gutted out a win thanks to some crafty judo and punishing ground and pound. Here we talk about how he turned the tide in the fight and what it means for the future of the lightweight division.
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Now let’s get into it.
Table of Contents
Dan Hooker and Benoit Saint-Denis (BSD) gave us 10 electric minutes of violence this weekend. The fight had everything you could want.
Crisp striking to a variety of targets, a touch of sloppy brawling, and a clear shift in the momentum thanks to surprising toughness.
The first quarter of the fight was scary for the French contender. Hooker had clever counters that made BSD think twice about his overzealous offense.
DAN HOOKER’S DEFENSE:
Move The Head, Move The Body
The first round started as a perfect representation of Hooker’s plan. He used the threat of a guillotine that earned him the nickname “The Hangman” to counter BSD’s takedown attempts.
Hooker throws two right body kicks before BSD tries one of his own. Hooker feints several punches but only lands kicks. BSD rushes in to get a takedown. Hooker reads it and threatens a guillotine. BSD has to roll to escape. Hooker circles to the center and gets back to kicking the body.
Dan Hooker - BSD
The guillotine served two purposes for Hooker. It legitimately threatened to end the fight and it disrupted BSD’s posture. Watch how Hooker uses the guillotine to pick BSD up before reaching for under hooks to get BSD off of his hips.
BSD catches Hooker’s body kick for a takedown attempt. Hooker threatens another guillotine. He uses it to pull BSD off his hips. Hooker lifts BSD’s chin with his left while his right opens BSD’s left hand. Hooker escapes to the center of. Hooker feints with his left before a hard straight right and another body kick.
Dan Hooker - BSD
Shortly after this sequence Hooker gave us a mini masterclass on how to steal initiative. As soon as he got separation he walked BSD backward so he could keep stabbing his stomach with his front kicks. Watch BSD try to hide his crumpling over.
BSD is driving into another takedown. Hooker doubles up on BSD’s left hand to open the grip. Hooker gets double under hooks to turn off of the cage. Hooker drives his forehead into BSD’s chin, knees him, and breaks out. Hooker throws a body kick. BSD doesn’t like it. BSD tenses, bends over, and almost ducks into a head kick from Hooker.
Dan Hooker - BSD
After watching these three sequences you might be confused.
What happened? How did Hooker let this fight slip away?
Shortly after the first half of the first round passed, Hooker gave the initiative back to BSD.
Hooker has double under hooks. He walks into BSD so BSD looks at a harai goshi before trying an uchi mata that sends them to their knees. They stand up and Hooker walks BSD to the fence. As they walk off of the fence BSD blocks Hooker’s leg for an ashi guruma.
Dan Hooker - BSD
You might be wondering why the last throw worked so well. It all comes down to the head and the hips.
Hooker’s head is driving into BSD’s jaw, making it hard for BSD to get in and get his hips under Hooker’s effectively
Hooker’s hips are back
Hooker is standing straight up, making it easier for BSD to pull him forward
BSD pulls Hooker forward and blocks his leg from stepping to throw Hooker
Hooker was able to get back to his feet in this round. Then he threw it away in the second.
JUDO JUMPS AHEAD
BSD Bashes Hooker On The Floor
When the second round started we got more of the same. BSD ran at Hooker to get a hold of his hips and drag him to the floor. This time Hooker stayed engaged for too long and ended up in one of the worst places you can in a fight.
BSD is shooting on Hooker. Hooker stops it with another guillotine. BSD springs up to hang on Hooker’s head and hit him. One more takedown thwarted by one more guillotine(!). They clinch and Hooker tries tripping BSD(!!). BSD puts Hooker on his back with an uchi mata from the knees.
Dan Hooker - BSD
BSD spent the rest of the round mounted on top of Hooker. He alternated between punches, elbows, and arm triangle attempts before getting his stoppage.
BSD is trying to walk Hooker’s arm up for the arm triangle. He gives up to slide his knees higher into Hooker’s arm pits. He drops a few elbows so Hooker covers up. BSD switches to punches. Hooker turns on his side. BSD threads the needle between and around Hooker’s arms until the ref stops it.
Dan Hooker - BSD
BSD used his time on the mic after the fight to call for a shot at either the BMF Belt or the actual lightweight title. The easy choice is Arman Tsarukyan. BSD said his name and everyone’s name ahead of him except for the man he should actually fight next. Paddy Pimblett.
Hear me out.
European MMA is exploding. Promotions regularly put on stadium crowds in central Europe and everyone over performs in France specifically. Both the PFL and UFC have sold out Paris fight cards in minutes.
The UFC has already planned a return trip to Paris in September. If they strapped BSD and Paddy onto the card that sell out trend will continue. Plus that fight gives Paddy the chance to redeem himself or moves BSD right into title contention behind Justin Gaethje, the BMF Belt holder, and Arman Tsarukyan. It’s an easy fight to capitalize on two burgeoning stars in a rapidly growing region of MMA.
If BSD doesn’t fight Paddy next, Paddy should fight the man BSD just beat, Dan Hooker.
Hooker and Paddy spent a good portion of the past few weeks talking trash to one another. Why not just keep their jaws moving and let them settle their differences in the cage?
Since Paddy turned himself into a star, it’s starting to look like all roads to lightweight contention will involve him.
Before we get out of here, let’s take a look at BSD’s arm triangle to see where he went wrong.
HELP DESK UPDATES:
What Makes A Good Arm Triangle?
I think the arm triangle is the most undervalued submission in MMA. You can get it in half guard, finish there, or use the position to pass all the way to the back while threatening strangulation the whole time. Plus you don’t give up anything when you attempt to take the submission.
BSD spent a lot of the second round trying to secure the strangle but never quite synched it up.
BSD lands an elbow on Hooker before reaching around his head and arm for an arm triangle choke. He immediately slides off to the side while keeping his leg between Hooker’s to prevent him from turning away. Hooker pushes on BSD’s knee while opening his shoulder in the choke so he can breathe.
Dan Hooker - BSD
There are two major things we could fix here.
If BSD reached in further with his left arm, his primary choking arm would have been in a better place to choke.
If BSD backed his body up to keep his forehead lower under Hooker’s arm, he would have had more counter pressure on the choke.
If you want to further your understanding of the arm triangle you have to check out the latest section I added to the Help Desk.
If you want to learn how BSD could have fixed his arm triangle and better understand all submissions upgrade your subscription here to access the the Help Desk. The Help Desk comes with:
A library of technique gifs and explanations
Lesson plans to help you train and study jiujitsu
Regularly updated articles on techniques, athletes, and principles of fighting
LINKS, INSTRUCTIONALS, AND MORE MATCHES TO STUDY:
What Are We Talking About Today?
BSD’s best throw in this fight was his ashi guruma. If you want to learn what ashi guruma is as opposed to a harai goshi watch this.
If you want more judo in MMA you have to study Karo Parisyan
THE MOST IMPORTANT NEWS (you might have missed)
A couple of weeks ago I wrote an article on why jiujitsu should be helpful for people’s mental health and why it is not. The inspiration for this article came from a string of recent controversies the sport can’t seem to escape. That trend hasn’t stopped.
ATOS’s founder Andre Galvao has been accused of sexual misconduct. Now one of his students is pressing charges and many of his affiliations are dropping ties to him.
For what it’s worth, Galvao responded claiming the allegations stem from someone else who has a personal vendetta against him. Sounds like total bullshit to me but I guess we’ll have to watch how this unfolds.
In news from another sport, we have some early revenue numbers for Zuffa boxing. Allegedly their Paramount+ deal alone is worth $100M. That’s almost all of Matchroom’s entire 2024 revenue.
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