Dan Hooker wanted to call out Paul Felder to his face instead of being a 'little Twitter thug'

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – Dan Hooker had a very good reason for turning the tables on Paul Felder during their post-fight interview at UFC Fight Night 128.

After Hooker (16-7 MMA, 6-3 UFC) scored a first-round knockout of Jim Miller (28-12 MMA, 17-11 UFC) in a lightweight bout on Saturday’s FS1-televised card at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J., “The Hangman” changed the narrative of his post-fight interview with Felder (15-3 MMA, 7-3 UFC), who was on commentary for the event.

Hooker said he feels deserving of a top-15 opponent after going 3-0 since moving up to the lightweight division, and Felder gave the New Zealander props for calling him out face to face. When explaining his thought process during his backstage interview, Hooker said he wouldn’t have done it any other way.

“I said that before this fight, ‘I wanted a top-15 guy,'” Hooker told MMAjunkie. “I know that I deserve a top-15 guy, and that’s what’s next for me. And if I’ve got one standing there in front of me, I’m going to ask on the spot. I’m going to deal with it face to face instead of getting on Twitter and being a little Twitter thug and calling people out when I had him standing right there when I win.

“Any of the top-15 guys standing there I would have called them out, but I feel like a fight with Paul Felder is good, man. We’re both exciting guys; he’s top-15. He want the fight too, so he sure knows what to do.”

Hooker entered the event off the high of a submission win over Marc Diakiese at UFC 219 in December and a highlight-reel knockout of Ross Pearson at UFC Fight Night 110 in June. His finish of Miller was arguably more emphatic and significant than either of those performances, but the 28-year-old barely celebrated after the finish.

He explained why.

“I just shoot from the hip,” Hooker said. “If I felt like (celebrating more) I would do it. I would have done it if that was my reaction, but I shoot from the hip, and that’s my reaction.”

Although he didn’t get too excited about it, there’s a trend showing within Hooker’s performances. Not only has he stopped his opponent in all six of his UFC wins, but he’s scored finishes stemming from knee strikes in his past two. Hooker said he’s dangerous everywhere, and the knee is simply just one weapon he can use to finish a fight.

“That’s just one of my tools,” Hooker said. “That knee is one I’ve hit a couple times in my career. But that’s just one of my tools.”

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