On Saturday, Chase Hooper entered the octagon as an underdog, but he didn't seem like an underdog.
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Chase Hooper won easily against Felipe Colares at UFC Vegas 55, bouncing back from a poor decision defeat in his last bout. Hooper not only dominated Colares for most of the fight, but he also earned a $50,000 performance bonus by ending the fight with good ground and pound with two minutes left in the third. Following the victory, Hooper acknowledged the 11-month break with an increase in talent and a new sense of confidence.
Post fight Chase said to Daniel Cormier, “My first few fights I felt like I was being walked out to my execution. But in the back tonight I felt great, everything felt on point and I’m glad it showed out here.”
During the UFC Vegas 55 post-fight news conference, Hooper elaborated on that point saying, “I showed a lot of improvements and I proved a lot to myself out there. Just really working that confidence and not necessarily seeing myself as the young guy and underdog in all these situations.”
“The guys that I’m fighting have just as much anxiety about stepping in there with me as I do with them. So it’s trying to shift that mentality from ‘He’s got to fight me, not the other way around,’ and I feel like that was a huge step up for me tonight.”
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“I’m just going to go back and look at the things I did right, look at the things I need to improve on,” Hooper said. “The past 11 months I haven’t just been training for this fight, I’ve been training for the rest of my career. I’ve been training to be good enough for the next three or five fights. So it’s just continuing to make those improvements and wait for that call from the UFC.”
“Hopefully, I impressed the only people that matter in this sport right now and that for me is Dana White, Sean Shelby, Mick Maynard. Those are the guys that keep my bills getting paid and allow me to live this lifestyle that I do.”
Chase Hooper didn’t identify who he wanted next, instead suggesting that he’d prefer to follow Sean O’Malley’s lead and take things slowly. He said, “I’ve never been one to call people out. The O’Malley approach is always a great one: fight the lowest ranked guy for the highest amount of money on the highest spot on the card.”
Stephen Thompson declines the quick turnaround fight and wants Usman next.
