Coach Eugene Bareman hopes Dan Hooker draws Anthony Pettis for next assignment

Dan Hooker pulled no punches in the Octagon or in his post-fight scrum last weekend at UFC 226.

Following his first-round knockout over Gilbert Burns, Hooker cut a frustrated figure. He told the gathered media that the Brazilian’s weight cut played a big part in Hooker dropping Burns in the sequence that finished the fight.

“The Hangman” was adamant that he should have been matched with a top-10 opponent for the event. Now 4-0 as a UFC lightweight, the Kiwi’s coach, Eugene Bareman, thinks former lightweight champion, Anthony Pettis, would make sense as his next port of call.

“I like the Anthony Pettis fight next, that’s what I was thinking the next day,” Bareman told MMA Fighting.

“I think Dan likes that fight as well. Dan’s a hard man to read sometimes, but I think he’d like that fight. You know how it is, we want top-10 guys, so any of them will do. We just want the opportunity.

“Obviously, I think Dan can beat him,” Bareman added. “I think with Dan’s style against Anthony’s style, there will be a lot of things we can take advantage of. It would be a good fight for the fans and the promotion too. Anthony came out of his fight pretty unscathed too, so I think that fight is a real possibility. Off the top of me head, that’s the only matchup I can think of.”

Bareman pointed to a small detail that he felt was the difference between Hooker and Burns during their final striking exchange.

“When Dan threw the left hook that finished the fight, he showed a great skill that he has,” said the City Kickboxing head coach.

“He dropped his chin and he put his shoulder up. It puts his chin in a nice position so if he does miss his shot he can absorb his opponent’s shot. They both absorbed left hooks in that finishing sequence, but Gilbert didn’t absorb it the same way because he didn’t use that little detail.

“It’s something you only see in high level striking, it takes years to learn those kinds of things. I might be talking to you about something completely different if Gilbert had been striking for as long as he has been grappling.”

The New Zealander believes that Burns’ confidence in his striking was one of Hooker’s biggest assets in the fight.

“[Burns] is primarily a grappler, so I think he’s got to work on fundamentals. Don’t get me wrong, Dan works on fundamentals too, but it’s the finer details that you can’t really address until you’ve got the basics down. Gilbert is a beginner when it comes to striking,” he said.

“From the outside looking in, the problem with Gilbert is the success he has had with his standup has almost taken him away from his grappling. He hasn’t been able to put the success he has had in striking into perspective. Against what level of striking opponent is he having his success? If you’re just throwing a blind overhand right and it’s hitting a guy with his chin up in the air, that’s probably not going to work against a high-level striker. In a general sense, we thought his confidence in his striking was one of our biggest advantages going into that fight.”

Bareman also echoed Hooker’s post-fight sentiment that Burns was hampered by his weight cut.

“When you get to see a guy around the hotel on fight week, you can really get a feel on whether he struggles to make the weight or not, and I agree 100 percent with Dan — the guy cuts too much weight. At a certain point you’re just cutting too much weight and you’re not able to do the things that you’re best at,” said Bareman.

“We identified last year that Dan’s weight cut was having a terrible affect on his performances, that’s why he moved to 155. Gilbert is perhaps a guy that needs to get a better system for his weight management or he needs to move to welterweight. You’ve got to back your skills to win you a fight rather that a weight or size advantage.”