Dan Hooker had the guts to call out Paul Felder to his face, and it was actually awesome

So, Dan Hooker is standing there in the cage, doing the whole post-fight interview thing after his first-round knockout of Jim Miller at UFC Fight Night 128, and he gets hit with the inevitable question from Paul Felder, a UFC commentator who also happens to be a fighter in his weight class.

And what does Hooker  (16-7 MMA, 6-3 UFC) do in this situation? Well, he very calmly tells Felder (15-3 MMA, 7-3 UFC), straight to his face, that he’d like a chance to beat him up next.

Somehow, he made it sound a lot more respectful than that.

“I want a ranked opponent next, and I just so happen to be standing across from a ranked opponent without a fight,” Hooker said. “So if you’ll do me the honor next, we could get (UFC matchmaker) Sean (Shelby) to match it up.”

To his credit, Felder seemed appreciative of the fact that someone was finally willing to call him out on live TV, and he responded accordingly.

“I’ve been waiting for somebody to actually have some guts and stand here in front of me and say that they wanted to fight me,” Felder said. “So if Sean Shelby talks to me tonight and tells me that he wants me to fight you, you’re a tough opponent, and I think you deserve someone higher ranked than that.”

And lo, did we encounter the rare instance where a sweaty, shirtless man stands within bro-hugging distance of a man in a well tailored suit and asks to fight him, and somehow it ends with both parties affably agreeing that this is a good idea.

While the practice of using current UFC fighters as occasional UFC commentators is not without its downsides, this is an example of one of the unique opportunities it affords us. It also highlights how you don’t need a ton of acrimony to make an interesting fight.

Hooker? He’d like the honor of fighting Felder. And Felder? He admires the guts of a guy who can stand there and ask to fight the guy with the microphone.

We’ve definitely heard worse ideas.

For complete covearge of UFC Fight Night 128, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

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