Chandler Vs. Hooker Official For UFC 257

The Conor McGregor vs. Dustin Poirier card now has a killer co-main featuring two more of the best lightweights in the world.

It’s official: Bellator import Michael Chandler will make his UFC debut against #5 ranked lightweight Dan Hooker in the co-main event of UFC 257 on January 23rd.

The bout, which has been in the works since December 22nd, was unofficially confirmed by Dana White during an interview with nasally newshound The Schmo two days ago. Now the company has caught up with their president and promotion of the fight can begin.

The bout adds some much needed fire to the Conor McGregor vs. Dustin Poirier undercard, which was previously lacking much in the ways of star power or important ranked fights. Before Chandler vs. Hooker was announced, it was looking like a women’s flyweight bout between Jessica Eye and Joanne Calderwood might serve as co-main, which … jeez. When you’re jacking the price of the PPVs up, it doesn’t help sooth fans to begin with such a thin undercard.

Chandler is a three time Bellator lightweight champion and was one of the promotion’s biggest stars for a decade, going toe to toe against the best at 155 including Patricky Freire, Eddie Alvarez, Akihiro Gono, Will Brooks, and Benson Henderson. He departed the organization on a win, handing Benson Henderson his second career knockout loss.

Dan Hooker is just one of the hot fighters coming out of New Zealand’s City Kickboxing alongside fellow Oceanians Israel Adesanya, Alexander Volkanovski, and Kai Kara-France. A fight of the year contender against Dustin Poirier snapped a four fight winning streak but cemented his position amongst the elite of the UFC lightweight division. It will be a tough challenge for Chandler, but also a huge opportunity to step right into the top five rankings with a big win.

And of course, with COVID-19 lurking in the background, there’s always a chance Chandler or Hooker could end up being moved up into the main event due to a positive test. But let’s hope that doesn’t happen. Fight Island certainly seems more secure than the questionable bubble maintained around the UFC APEX, so once fighters arrive in Abu Dhabi we can start breathing easy.

Here’s the lineup for UFC 257 as it stands:

• Conor McGregor vs. Dustin Poirier
• Michael Chandler vs. Dan Hooker
• Jessica Eye vs. Joanne Calderwood
• Marina Rodriguez vs. Amanda Ribas
• Khalil Rountree vs. Marcin Prachnio
• Brad Tavares vs. Antonio Carlos Junior
• Matt Frevola vs. Ottman Azaitar
• Julianna Pena vs. Sara McMann
• Shane Burgos vs. Hakeem Dawodu
• Nasrat Haqparast vs. Arman Tsarykyan
• Umar Nurmagomedov vs. Sergey Morozov
• Andrew Sanchez vs. Makhmud Mruadov

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