Dan Hooker proved too tough for his own good on Saturday night at UFC Milwaukee, as Edson Barboza continued to batter him with body shots, including vicious spinning kicks, before finally putting the New Zealand fighter away in the third.
UFC Milwaukee went down Saturday night, marking the final event on FOX before the UFC moved to its new home on ESPN. The fourth fight on the main card featured a scheduled three round contest between Edson Barboza and Dan Hooker. By the third, the affair had become hard to watch. Though still wildly entertaining.
Barboza entered the night having dropped his last two against the now-UFC Lightweight Champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, and Kevin Lee. Hooker came into the night riding a four fight win streak with his most recent coming at UFC 226 when he KO’d Gilbert Burns.
It was Hooker’s first crack at the top fifteen, and he came out with a pair of leg kicks and continued to look for the low kick. Barboza fired back with his own and two continued to exchange leg kicks. Hooker changed levels and went with a high kick, Barboza fired a right hand in return. Hooker faked a shot and looked to land a hook that just missed. Barboza fired off a hard body kick that hit the mark; Hooker kept moving forward looking to engage.
That would become a theme in the fight. Hooker, taking damage, but moving forward regardless. Barboza threw a combo that he followed with another hard leg kick, and damage to Hooker’s leg was starting to show. Hooker pressed again and Barboza stopped him in his tracks stunning him with hard right hand. ‘The Hangman’ recovered quickly and looked to land a knee but Barboza returned with his own knees to the body. Hooker landed a nice pair of jabs but Barboza fired back with a pair of hard leg kicks to end the round.
Stunned him!
MASSIVE shot from @EdsonBarbozaJR! #UFCMilwaukee pic.twitter.com/v8JxUL1Ydn
— UFC (@ufc) December 16, 2018
Hooker came out quick in the second but was slowed by another pair of leg kicks that caused him to stumble. Looking for an avenue of attack, Hooker pressed to get inside but Barboza kept working the legs. Hooker stayed on him and Barboza looked to be slowing down a little. Hooker attempted a kick and slipped to the mat; Barboza followed and Hooker switched ending up on top. Barboza looked for the submission from bottom but Hooker escaped and found himself in half guard. Barboza exploded out and back to his feet, landing another hard right on Hooker. Barboza landed a combination to the body then followed with another heavy right and landed a big left hand, but Hooker stayed with him. Barboza’s striking, as always, was next-level. Barboza continued to land the jab and punctuated that with a hard uppercut. Barboza followed with heavy right that hurt Hooker, then more leg kicks and a hard kick to the body to end the round.
There was a legit question as to if and when the fight should be stopped as the bout wore on.
Hooker came out again in the third looking to press the action but Barboza greeted him with still more leg kicks and body shots. Hooker shot the single leg and pressed Barboza into the fence. Barboza escaped and landed a crushing spinning back kick to the body that badly hurt Hooker, he followed with multiple kicks to the body but Hooker fired back. Barboza just missed on a spinning heel kick. Hooker moved forward but Barboza backed him up again with another spinning back kick to the body. Hooker continued to move forward and was greeted with knees to the body; Hooker continued on but Barboza again met him with more kicks to the body followed by a final blow that finally, mercifully caused Hooker to drop to the mat, covering up and allowing the ref to end the fight.
Edson Barboza def. Dan Hooker by knockout, Round 3, 2:19
