The top UFC lightweight contender Dan Hooker does not seem to be blown away by Ilia Topuria’s rise. He feels Topuria won the match against Alexander Volkanovski because of the former champion’s haphazard response and unneeded activeness. Many MMA experts share a similar opinion about Volkanovski’s sudden decline; people feel he fought too frequently and perhaps if he hadn’t, the outcomes would be different.
The present scenario is locked around the Spanish fighter’s lightweight debut. The ongoing debate is both against and supporting of Topuria getting a direct title shot against Islam Makhachev.
The UFC has promised the Spanish fighter that his next fight will be for the title; it will be interesting to see how well that promise ends up getting fulfilled.
Dan Hooker on Ilia Topuria
Recently on Sky Sports New Zealand, Dan Hooker explained why Topuria’s win against Alexander Volkanovski doesn’t impress him.
“I feel like he just turned too quickly around from the Islam Makhachev fight, I don’t think Ilia Topuria did anything that incredible. I feel like he just fought [too soon], and I’ve been there. When I fought Paul Felder and then I fought Dustin Poirier kind of back-to-back and then rushed into the Michael Chandler fight. It’s not like Michael Chandler did anything that was lightening incredible. You need to learn that as a veteran fighter, and there’s only one way to learn it, and that’s the hard way”.
Dan Hooker believes Volkanovski lost due to a quick turnaround from the Islam fight, not because Ilia is incredible 👀🥊
— Red Corner MMA (@RedCorner_MMA) April 3, 2025
"I feel like Volkanovski just turned around too quickly from the Islam Makhachev fight. I don’t think Ilia Topuria did anything that incredible—I feel like he… pic.twitter.com/qMeC5dqCrx