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Eugene Bareman discusses Dan Hooker’s team commitment issues in the past.
The City Kickboxing head coach has created a winning atmosphere in the New Zealand-based gym. With that said, Hooker has fallen on hard times after losing four of his last fights. Including three losses inside the distance is a brutal war against Dustin Poirier.
Earlier in the week, Hooker spoke to Submission Radio’s Kacper Rosolowski and Denis Shkuratov about learning not to take the CKB team for granted. The same duo asked Bareman about those comments, and he had this to say:
"He’s a very important part of our team, and he always has been. But maybe, what he’s alluding to, we just didn’t have his full buy-in. We didn’t have his full buy-in. He was 90% with the team, but it was that extra 10% where he was a rogue. He was a rogue, and he’d make decisions to take fights that I said he shouldn’t take. He would do different things in training with his training that the coaches said that we probably don’t think he should go that way. He was the one guy who often showed a little bit of resistance and a little bit of stubbornness and didn’t give us his full buy-in… Now he kind of understands a little bit more that 10%, where you go rogue, that means everything.”
Eugene Bareman then concluded by saying:
“I honestly think Dan’s ready to show you guys something special… Dan’s a special athlete, special person, and I feel like he’s a guy that needs a big occasion to rise, and it doesn’t get any bigger than UFC 281 in the middle of New York at MSG.”
Hooker has a tough fight at UFC 281 that could change his career trajectory. ‘The Hangman’ takes on rising contender Claudio Puelles, who has won his last five UFC fights. If he loses, the CKB product will be in a weird spot after switching between weight classes and losing three straight.
Watch Eugene Bareman discuss Dan Hooker on Submission Radio below:
Eugene Bareman discusses Dan Hooker’s ‘random training camp’ for Islam Makahchev
Before losing to Arnold Allen at featherweight, Dan Hooker was steamrolled by current UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev. The loss killed the momentum he gained from beating Nasrat Haqparast at UFC 266. During an episode of The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, Eugene Bareman had this to say about Hooker’s training camo for Makhachev:
"There was a fight that he took against Makhachev, where we couldn't get any coaches there. He had to stay in America and just put together some random training camp. It's like, and then he had to fly over with some people that have never cornered a fight, let alone a UFC fight at that level.”
Hooker’s recent fights against Allen and Makhachev validate Bareman’s comments about ‘The Hangman’ taking fights that the coaching staff didn’t want. Regardless of the opponent, the 32-year-old is a dangerous opponent for anyone. However, both circumstances from his last two fights put him in a challenging situation. Luckily, all it takes is one impressive performance to change the status of a fighter’s career quickly.
Watch Eugene Bareman on The MMA Hour below:
