The best and worst from UFC Fight Night 128

#3 Best: The Hangman keeps on rolling

Dan Hooker knocked out Jim Miller in vicious fashion

New Zealand’s Dan Hooker wasn’t expected to develop into a contender when he debuted in the UFC back in 2014, but 9 fights into his UFC career and it looks like he might be getting there. He’s now won three fights in a row – all via finish, too – and last night’s vicious knee knockout of veteran Jim Miller might’ve been his most impressive showing yet.

Sure, Miller is past his prime now and probably ought to consider retirement, but he’s still unbelievably tough and prior to last night, he’d only been stopped via KO or TKO once, by Donald Cerrone in 2014. For Hooker to turn his lights out like that was a real eye-opener, and it tells me that the Kiwi ‘Hangman’ might be one of the most dangerous Lightweights on the UFC roster right now.

His post-fight call out of announcer and current Lightweight contender Paul Felder made a lot of sense, too – Felder is without an opponent right now and while he’s ranked, he isn’t the biggest name in the division and so he’s a realistic opponent. And the UFC loves their fighters to call someone out by name – it makes the fight much easier to build.

Assuming they do book Hooker against Felder, it’d be the type of fight that could easily co-main event a smaller Fight Night show – especially if it’s in Hooker’s home territory of Australia or New Zealand. Beat Felder and Hooker would be a legit title contender – something that nobody expected to happen. In a night of many winners, he was one of the biggest for sure.