ADELAIDE, Australia – Hatsu Hioki seemed a little too nonchalant about eating Daniel Hooker’s head kicks in the first round of their bout.
In the second, Hooker (12-5 MMA, 2-1 UFC) made him pay with a brutal knockout that left Hioki (27-9-2 MMA, 3-5 UFC) facedown and unconscious on the mat at 4:13 of Round 2.
The featherweight bout closed out the preliminary card of today’s UFC Fight Night 65 event at Adelaide Entertainment Centre in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. It streamed on UFC Fight Pass.
The head kick was there for Hooker early on, but instead of hurting Hioki with it he mostly ended up giving the Japanese fighter a way of taking him down, which Hioki was happy to take advantage of. But even on the mat, Hooker showed quickly that he could hold his own. After getting mounted by Hioki in the first, Hooker escaped with relative ease. He began to shrug off some of those takedown attempts in the second, just as he also began to find his range on the feet.
Late in the second, Hooker managed to put his shin across Hioki’s jaw, stunning him just long enough to allow Hooker to unload with follow-up punches that sent Hioki reeling toward the mat. As Hioki attempted to regain his bearings, a right hand from Hooker laid him flat. Another added insult to injury, though by then Hioki was already out, lying motionless on the canvas.
“I don’t know how I feel right now,” Hooker said. “I’m calm, trying to process what this all means. Hatsu Hioki is a legend of MMA and to beat him is an honor. For this fight, I had to change my mentality. In my last fight, I fought like a premium fighter and I did well. Going into tonight, I fought like the main-event fighter. That change was key. I also made the switch to southpaw, which I don’t think anyone has done like that so early in their career. It worked and helped make the openings.”
The victory bounces Hooker back into the win column after a unanimous decision loss to Maximo Blanco in September snapped what had been a six-fight winning streak. Hioki has now lost five of his last six.
Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 65 results include:
For more on UFC Fight Night 65, check out the UFC Events section of the site.
(MMAjunkie’s John Morgan contributed to this report on site in Adelaide.)
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