Dan Hooker lands a punch against Paul Felder. Photo / Photosport
Dan Hooker lands a punch against Paul Felder. Photo / Photosport
Dan Hooker remains unbeaten in the UFC in Auckland.
The Kiwi lightweight went through five brutal rounds against American counterpart Paul Felder, coming away with a split decision on the judges' scorecards.
A potential fight of the year contender in the eyes of many fans and experts, Hooker and Felder did not disappoint, throwing everything in their arsenals to try to finish the fight as soon as possible.
Hooker did his work early, battering Felder in the first two rounds with a pinpoint jab and peppering him with calf kicks. Felder's face showed the damage Hooker had amounted, with his right eye all but closed over by the end of the second round.
But, as he's become known to do, Felder found his footing in the third round and took the fight to Hooker.
Loading up his powerful right hand, Felder connected with a number of good shots. At the end of the round, it was Hooker who was showing the signs of wear with a protrusion in his cheek indicating he likely suffered a broken jaw or cheekbone.
It was a similar case in the fourth round. Felder came forward, walking through Hooker's jab and unloading his right hand, while also adding his trademark array of spinning strikes.
Heading into the final round, both had everything to fight for, having traded rounds through the first four.
With both having their moments, it appeared the judges would have the final say. However, a takedown from Hooker inside the final two minutes of the fight saw him finish on top and earn the win.
With the win, Hooker continues his rise through the lightweight rankings and is now firmly cemented in the division's elite. Felder, a fan favourite, announced after the fight that it could have been his last inside the octagon, noting how much he misses his four-year-old daughter when he leaves his home in Philadelphia.
The bout was the end to a card that gave fans plenty to get excited about, with five of the 12 fights being won by stoppage.
Dan Hooker beat Paul Felder in the main event at UFC Auckland. Photo / Getty Images
While Hooker got it done in the main event, his teammates from Auckland's City Kickboxing gym got the job done early for the hometown contingent. Rising flyweight star Kai Kara-France put on a clinical display of striking, coupled with solid defensive work to take a unanimous decision win over Hawaii's Tyson Nam, while lightweight Brad Riddell claimed a split decision win over Russian Magomed Mustafaev.
For Kara-France, it was a win that saw him bounce back from being on the wrong side of the decision in his last fight. The 26-year-old was the more active and efficient fighter throughout the contest, with Nam looking to load his powerful right hand.
Kara-France, for the most part, circled away from the right hand of Nam and worked his jab well to set up a bigger shot. While Nam did connect at times – stinging Kara-France right at the end of the first round – the Kiwi fought a smart fight and took the win 30-27 on all three scorecards.
Riddell had to settle for a split decision win against Mustafaev, despite being the more dominant and successful fighter. Riddell dropped his opponent early in the first round and from that point Mustafaev looked to avoid exchanges on the feet and work his grappling game. Speaking after the fight, Riddell said the early knockdown changed Mustafaev's approach to the fight completely.
While the Russian held Riddell on the cage for plenty of time, he did very little work with his cage control aside from trying to keep Riddell against it.
The work that actually took showed in the third round and Riddell had his way with Mustafaev, before having his hand raised.
Australian-based Kiwi Ben Sosoli's bout against Brazil's Marcos Rogerio de Lima gave the fans plenty of excitement for as long as it lasted, however the "Combat Wombat" was on the wrong side of a first-round stoppage.
With the UFC's return to Auckland now over, the next Kiwi inside the octagon will be middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, who defends his title against Cuban powerhouse Yoel Romero in Las Vegas on March 8 (NZ time).
UFC Auckland results
- Priscila Cachoeira beat Shana Dobson via first-round knockout (punch) - Angela Hill beat Loma Lookboonmee via unanimous decision (29-28 x2, 30-27) - Kai Kara-France beat Tyson Nam via unanimous decision (30-27 x3) - Song Kenan beat Callan Potter via first-round knockout (punches) - Jake Matthews beat Emil Meek via unanimous decision (29-28 x3) - Jalin Turner beat Joshua Culibao via second-round TKO (punches) - Zubaira Tukhugov beat Kevin Aguilar via first-round TKO (punches) - Brad Riddell beat Magomed Mustafaev via split decision (29-28 x2, 28-29) - Marcos Rogerio de Lima beat Ben Sosoli via first-round TKO - Yan Xiaonan beat Karolina Kowalkiewicz via unanimous decision (30-26 x3) - Jimmy Crute beat Michal Oleksiejczuk via first-round submission (kimura) - Dan Hooker beat Paul Felder via split decision (48-47 x2, 47-48)
