Dan Hooker was 'cheating the grind' before Benoit Saint Denis fight
Dan Hooker is especially bothered by his loss to Benoit Saint Denis. Hooker (24-14 MMA, 14-10 UFC) dropped his second consecutive fight to Saint Denis at UFC 325, where he was finished by second-round TKO . His loss prior came by quick submission to Arman Tsarukyan at UFC Fight Night 265.
The loss to Saint Denis was a much more bitter pill to swallow for "The Hangman," who admits his recent focus during training camps has been slacking. "It's the same as Arman. You're giving these guys absolute fits on the feet – but yeah, I feel like I hurt BSD to the body, and he just put the pedal down, and I took it off," Hooker told Submission Radio .
"Like, I hadn't been putting the hours into the gym that I should have been doing, into the boring stuff, into my footwork, into my grappling, into my conditioning. I know exactly what I did wrong, and I was cheating the grind outside of training, outside of fight camp. Doing the same exact work I do outside of fight camp but just cheating the grind when I didn't have a fight, and that obviously shows head and shoulders when you get out there.
"I feel like that pissed me off more than anything. Arman was a bit different because he is a super talented kid. I feel like he should be fighting for the title.
But BSD, that one grinds my gears because losing to people that you're better than, that really f*cks me off. Even watching tape, I'm better than him. And losing because you're not putting the same hours into the gym as you should be putting.