Former featherweight Chase Hooper has traded wins and losses throughout his UFC career, and on Saturday at UFC Vegas 73 was looking to continue that trend against Nick Fiore.
Hooper entered the preliminary card fight off a loss to Steve Garcia back in October, while Fiore, a New England Cartel member, came in search of his first win in the promotion after dropping his debut.
Of note, this marked Hooper’s first fight at his new weight class of 155lbs.
To begin the fight, the two traded punches but that was quickly halted as Hooper grabbed the body of Fiore and subsequently tried to get his grappling going. Hooper gave up his body lock and opted to try and secure another calf-slicer, but Fiore was wise to it. Again Hooper tried to secure a takedown with an outside trip, but Fiore reversed it and finished in top position, looking to get his own grappling going. With the two getting back to their feet, it meant for more striking and sloppy striking at that. Hooper began to try and use his length throwing a few front kicks up the middle, but Fiore was able to evade them. The 23-year-old began letting his hands go and landing around Fiore’s guard, but couldn’t land anything of note. With just 10 seconds left of round one, Fiore looked to be extremely compromised and Hooper read the situation and began putting on a barrage of strikes. Herzog looked at the situation closely, but let Fiore make it into the second round.
Hooper looked to start round two as he finished the first and met Fiore in the middle of the Octagon throwing hands straightaway. Despite that, Hooper looked for another front kick up the middle, but it was caught by Fiore and he secured a takedown and transitioned straight to full mount. The two made it back to the feet where Fiore looked to be extremely fatigued and uncomfortable in the striking exchanges. Hooper began to empty the tank once again but his strikes were landing with little power. Blood began to pour out of the nose of Fiore as Hooper pressed him against the fence looking for some strikes in the clinch. Again, Hooper began to let his striking go whilst in the centre of the Octagon, and with every punch landed, Fiore looked increasingly uncomfortable.
To begin round three, Hooper looked the far fresher of the two with Fiore looking to capitalise straightaway again on a Hooper mistake. Despite finding himself on his back, Hooper looked to stay active with submission attempts, subsequently getting back to his feet. Once the two made it back to their feet, Hooper began to once again land with his punches as Fiore looked extremely fatigued. Hooper’s relentless output of striking didn’t allow Fiore to throw anything of his own and allowed Hooper to just take control of this fight. The fight culminated with Chase Hooper throwing strikes whilst Fiore gave up his back, stamping Hooper’s dominance in his lightweight debut.
Official Result: Chase Hooper def. Nick Fiore via Unanimous Decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-27)
