Henri Hooft takes us inside his upcoming busy night at UFC 205 in New York

If all goes according to plan for Henri Hooft at UFC 205 on Saturday night, he’ll happily be taking his seat at Madison Square Garden just as the greatest main card in history is about to get underway.

But for the Blackzilians’ head striking coach, that’s a pretty substantial if. As far as the FS1 prelims are concerned, Hooft has a serious evening of work ahead of him.

He will be cornering a trio of his fighters for the first three bouts of the broadcast before Frankie Edgar and Jeremy Stephens close out that portion of the show.

First, welterweight Vicente Luque (10-5-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) takes on Belal Muhammad (10-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC). Then Rashad Evans (19-5-1 MMA, 14-5-1 UFC) makes his middleweight debut against Tim Kennedy (18-5 MMA, 3-1 UFC). Then Michael Johnson (17-10 MMA, 9-6 UFC) looks to be the first man to score a win over Khabib Nurmagomedov (23-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) at 155 pounds.

By any stretch of the imagination, that’s quite the shift.

While all 26 fighters who are scheduled to compete this weekend have frequently expressed what a great honor it is to be the first of their profession to fight in New York City and, indeed, the hallowed Garden, Hooft is not so giddy.

The Netherlands native, who is a former world champion kickboxer and veteran of 111 fights, has graced some colossal venues over the course of nearly four decades in combat sports.

“I fought in and trained people for K1, and we had 80,000 people in the stadiums,” he told MMAjunkie. “For kickboxing, the Tokyo Dome is the biggest stadium you could fight in – so that’s kind of special too.

“I like Madison Square Garden because of the history, but it’s still the same cage and people fight in there. For me, it doesn’t really matter where the cage is, so it’s all good. Once that door closes, it’s back to normal for me.”

Clipping the Eagle’s wings

Hooft also recognizes that for Johnson and Evans, the outcome of their bouts will have serious ramifications for their career trajectories.

In September, Johnson ended Dustin Poirier’s unbeaten run at lightweight with a first-round knockout at UFC Fight Night 94 in Texas, which went a long way in mitigating his chastening unanimous decision loss to Nate Diaz last year, and a victory over Nurmagomedov will certainly catapult him into title contention.

When considering Tony Ferguson’s unanimous decision win over former champion Rafael Dos Anjos this past Saturday, Johnson will most likely have to dispose of the Dagestani inside the distance if he hopes to get the winner of the main-event bout between lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez and Conor McGregor.

Nurmagomedov was briefly thought to be the first challenger to Alvarez’s crown, but the UFC went with the Dubliner, and then paired Nurmagomedov with Johnson.

From previous experience, Hooft is acutely aware of the threat his fellow European poses, particularly in the grappling realm.

“Overall, Khabib is just very strong,” Hooft said. “He fought one of our guys before, Abel Trujillo, and he’s a very good wrestler, but Khabib dumped him 22 or 23 times. Abel got frustrated in that fight because the guy didn’t want to stand up with him. But this is MMA, and people do what they can to win.

“He comes from a very good gym at (American Kickboxing Academy), and they like to mix it up. Hopefully we see a really good with lots of striking, so people can see a knockout or a finish and not just wrestling. But I think Khabib can do it all, he’s very good.”

However, should the fight be played out on the feet, Hooft believes that Johnson can uncork his arsenal at a pace that Nurmagomedov may not be accustomed to.

“Because of his speed, I think Michael has a striking advantage over everybody in the division,” he said. “You saw that with Joe Lauzon, Edson Barboza and Beneil Dariush. He’s just faster than them, and that’s where Michael’s great strength is. He’s also a great wrestler, but in that department Khabib is very strong because of his sambo background.”

When reflecting on the loss to Diaz, Hooft says Johnson now realizes the importance of remaining objective in the throes of a contest, even when subjected to unorthodox weapons such as the “Stockton Slap” and the accompanying slew of profanity. Furthermore, whoever does emerge victorious, Hooft is adamant that he should be rewarded accordingly.

“It was a good for lesson for Michael to learn that never show your emotions and to keep doing your work and whatever you do good, and then you will win fights,” Hooft said. “Khabib had a lot of injuries and he’s come through it, and it will probably be a great fight between him and Michael. The winner of this definitely deserves a bigger fight and a bigger payday.”

Making the drop

At 37, and with just two wins in his past six fights, former light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans has made the bold decision to belatedly drop down to middleweight in a bid to relaunch his career.

Hooft enjoys a special relationship with Evans since he and Tyrone Spong were in the first group Hooft brought to the Blackzilians in Florida in 2011.

Such was the rapport Hooft and Evans immediately developed that Evans convinced Hooft to move from Amsterdam to Boca Raton, and the Dutchman has been there since, imparting a lifetime of knowledge to many of the biggest names in the sport.

Hooft is not entirely enamoured by the prospect of Evans enduring such a sizable reduction to his physique, but recognizes the status quo in the 205-pound division dictates that he at least tries to against the durable Kennedy.

“Rashad is going very good at this moment,” Hooft said. “He has a lot of energy and you can see on his body the change of weight. I don’t really like big weight cuts and would rather see someone at a weight up and be able to fight for a couple of more rounds.

“I don’t think there was a problem at 205 pounds when he was younger, but now that he’s got a little bit older, it suits him a little bit better because the guys at light heavyweight are just so big. He’s looking great. I think he’ll still have a speed advantage and he just needs to pull the trigger in Madison Square Garden.”

Main event

When Hooft does settle in to watch the six-bout main card, which will be aired on pay-per-view, one fight in particular will be of great interest.

Eddie Alvarez (28-4 MMA, 3-1 UFC) spent four years under Hooft’s tutelage as a Blackzilian and to this day, they still discuss matters of combat.

Alvarez will defend his strap for the first time against Conor McGregor (20-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC), the featherweight champion and arguably the most transcendent star the sport has ever had – and likely the most profitable.

Like just about everyone else, Hooft is eager to see how the battle unfolds, and has a clear inclination as to where it will be won or lost.

An admitted admirer of McGregor who cornered Alvarez in all of his UFC fights except when he unseated dos Anjos in July, Hooft believes his former pupil is being unwisely overlooked.

“Eddie is the first guy in the gym and the last one out,” he said. “He’s very underestimated. The guy has fought everywhere, he’s very tough and smart, too. It’s very difficult for anyone to fight Eddie.

“On the other hand, I’m a very big fan of Conor, because every time he puts pressure on his shoulders he performs. He’s technically really good, his stand-up is good. His wrestling, of course, is not the same as Eddie but they’re working on it as a team.”

If McGregor is to prevail, Hooft said, his best chance to do so in the early goings. If the Irishman is unbale to put away the Philadelphian within the opening 10 minutes, then the tide is likely to turn drastically against him.

“In the first two rounds, Eddie needs to be really sharp, but I think he is because that’s the way he trains,” Hooft said. “The longer the fight goes, Eddie, with his style of fighting and mentality, will get the advantage. That big thing that Eddie has – that you can’t train, but only earn – is experience. He’s not worried to fight anybody. For me, the first two rounds will decide who will get the win because Conor is very dangerous at the beginning of the fight.”

While Hooft won’t predict a winner, he has no doubt as to who he wants to leave the “Big Apple” as UFC lightweight champion.

“I want Eddie to win because he’s our guy but, as an outsider, I’m really looking forward to this fight because it’s two great fighters and they both deserve this. Conor had built up that empire and money around him, and Eddie has fought the best guys in the world, so he deserves a real payday and the title he has.”

For more on UFC 205, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.