Ilia Topuria receives praise from Dan Hooker ahead of UFC Qatar

UFC lightweight champion Ilia Topuria has received praise from contender Dan Hooker ahead of the latter’s fight at UFC Qatar tonight.

As we know, Ilia Topuria is one of the best fighters in all of mixed martial arts right now. He has been able to achieve some incredible things throughout the course of his career, and as we look ahead to the future, it certainly seems as if he has some big things planned. For now, though, the focus is on tonight’s UFC Qatar main event that will go down between Arman Tsarukyan and Dan Hooker.

While not 100% confirmed, it certainly feels like the winner could be in line for a UFC lightweight title shot against Ilia Topuria. Tsarukyan is widely considered to be the favorite, but Hooker isn’t the kind of guy who is going to lie down and let you walk all over him – far from it, in fact.

Hooker is a pretty chilled out guy who is more than happy to let the world know what he thinks, and in a recent interview, he made it known that he respects what Ilia Topuria has accomplished up to this point.

Dan Hooker praises Ilia Topuria

“Incredible streak. Incredible run at featherweight and then obviously coming up and doing what he did to Charles, he’s been on one heck of a streak,” Hooker said about Topuria. “Anyone wearing that belt, the contenders in the division have their eyes on and are hunting down and chasing. The future looks exciting.

“I feel like I match up well stylistically with Ilia. I feel like that’s a good fight, that’s an exciting fight. That’s obviously the fight that I want after this fight. So the UFC is going to do [Max] Holloway and Oliveira, that will probably end up being for the ‘BMF’ title, so the undisputed title, the door’s wide open for that. There’s a lot of movement in the division at the moment. It’s a very exciting time to get a No. 1 contender fight next to your name.”

“It’s a fight that I like,” Hooker said. “I feel like I have more tools on the feet, I’m versatile, but you’ve got to just take it one fight at a time. I’ve got a huge test in front of me in Arman Tsarukyan.

“I feel like he is the best in the division, it is the hardest fight, and that’s why I want this fight. My focus is definitely on Arman at the moment.”

Quotes via MMA Fighting