Athletes
Chase Hooper Finally Knows He Belongs
After Overcoming Imposter Syndrome Earlier In His Career, Chase Hooper Knows He's Where He's Supposed To Be
Hailing from Enumclaw, Washington, less than an hour's drive from Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, Chase Hooper is excited to walk out in front of his home fans for the first time in the UFC as he bids to continue his rise up the lightweight division at UFC Fight Night: Adesanya vs Pyfer.
Hooper has gone 5-1 since moving up to the UFC's 155-pound division, and is looking forward to competing in the heart of a city that is still buzzing from the Super Bowl success of their beloved Seahawks.
Hooper said he hopes to draw on some of that positive energy when he competes on Saturday night.
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"The last time they won the Super Bowl, I was, I think, a freshman in high school," he recalled.
"Everybody skipped school to go do the parade and stuff for that. But yeah, it bodes well having the home team doing so well. It just kind of gives you the right type of energy.
Chase Hooper Submits Viacheslav Borshchev | UFC St. Louis
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Chase Hooper Submits Viacheslav Borshchev | UFC St. Louis
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"Fighters are weird and, yeah, little stuff like that can just set you in the right energy and be like, 'Oh, OK, well, if these guys won, then it's kind of setting me up on the right trajectory, you know? Maybe the stars are aligning or whatever.' But, yeah, it's been cool."
The atmosphere at Lumen Field is well known around the country for Seattle's raucous fanbase – The 12s. And Hooper is expecting a similarly electric atmosphere inside Climate Pledge Arena as Seattle's sports-mad fans pack the stands for a rare UFC visit.
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"Going to places that they don't go as often, the fans ... they have so much more energy to give than like in Vegas, where they just show up for the pay per view," said Hooper.
"Here I'm expecting a lot more hardcore fans that really want to be there from the start of the event, and are going to be giving us good energy the whole night. And yeah, I'm looking forward to it quite a bit."
Hooper's homecoming will see him fight in Washington state for the first time since April 2018, when he competed at a local event and captured the promotion's lightweight title before getting a shot on Dana White's Contender Series. He may have been an undefeated prospect at the time, but the way everything played out left Hooper feeling decidedly nervous when he stepped out to compete in Snoqualmie at Combat Games 61.
"Yeah, actually, I'd already had that fight scheduled before I signed for Contender Series," he recalled.
"I took a two-hour-notice fight, and I won that, and then UFC hit me up like a week or two later, offering me a spot on Contender, and I said, ‘yes.’ I was like, 'Hey, but I already have this one more fight scheduled. I can cancel it if you want.' And they're like, 'No, no. Do that fight, and then we'll go from there.' There was so much pressure going into that fight. I was like, 'Dang, if I lose, there's no way they're gonna just throw me on Contender Series after.' So, a ton of pressure!
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"But, yeah, it's a different atmosphere, getting to fight at home, at those local venues where it's all people that you know. (It's) kind of a similar thing now, but obviously it's a massive venue, a huge arena. It's cool having that homecoming and getting to put on another good performance for the home team."
Hooper took full advantage of his developmental deal as he captured successive wins in the Cage Fury, Island Fights, and Titan FC promotions to finally earn himself a shot in the big show, and a bout against hard-hitting Swede David Teymur at UFC 245. For some, it might have been a nerve-shredding opportunity. But after battling to prove himself across multiple fights to get there, Hooper was just determined to make his opportunity count.
"My debut fight, I had no pressure on me," he said.
Chase Hooper TKOs Felipe Colares | UFC Fight Night: Holm vs Vieira
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Chase Hooper TKOs Felipe Colares | UFC Fight Night: Holm vs Vieira
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"It was kind of awkward, because the Contender Series is obviously a ton of pressure (and) I was really disappointed I didn't get signed. Initially, they gave me a developmental deal, and then my mindset was like, 'Do not make Contender Series the peak of my career. I want to get past that.'
"Then, once I made my UFC debut, that pressure was off for that fight. And then, once I won that fight, (it was) kind of like a, 'What have I gotten myself into?' type of moment.
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"My debut was on the card for Max Holloway vs Alexander Volkanovski 1. So it's like, watching that fight, and then comparing myself to that, it's like, 'How am I in the same sport, the same division, the same roster, as these guys?' There's obviously that imposter syndrome. But I've stuck around this long. I've proved to myself that I belong here, which is the biggest part. And yeah, we're just making headway. I feel like I'm in the prime of my career, and I'm just looking forward to the next challenge, next fight."
That next fight comes against Lance Gibson Jr, a former Bellator veteran who lives and trains just across the border in British Columbia. Hooper has crossed paths with him a few times over the years, but this will be the first time they've faced off in competition.
"He's a local guy, actually, I've shared the back room with him before, some of my teammates were on the card with him, and, yeah, I've seen some of his fights in the local circuit, watched some of his Bellator stuff back in the day – just keeping an eye on other local guys," he said.
"I would say the nice part is we aren't buddies or anything. It's like, more of a professional courtesy, I guess, when we've seen each other. But yeah, it makes it easier to just be like, 'OK, I guess we just got to fight.' But that's the business."
For a fighter that for so long has been seen as a young up-and-coming prospect, Hooper is now a fully established, tenured UFC athlete with a dozen Octagon appearances under his belt and five wins from his last six fights. It's given him a feeling of belonging on the big stage, though he admits it's taken him a little time to reach that state of contentment and comfort at this level of the sport.
"It is crazy to think back and be like, 'Oh, I've been fighting for this long, or, you know, I've been with UFC for this long,'" he said.
"I'm very fortunate. And I made it a lot further than I ever thought I would. So, yeah, it's crazy.
"I went from hating the sport and just kind of competing, because that's kind of where I was at. I was like, 'Oh, I'll go until I lose.' And then, just making it to this level. And now I've just been able to adapt. Obviously, physically, I've grown so much, but it's been a huge mental change in myself.
"I used to always be thinking about, 'Oh, I can't wait till I'm done fighting, then I can just be on the coaching side, and the pressure will be off of me,' or whatever. But now I'm kind of feeling like I'm more in my prime for that, and I'm like enjoying the competition aspect.
"I'm enjoying the fact that it's like a puzzle that you spend months preparing for, and you only get one attempt at it, and it's either a pass or fail. So it's such a cool thing to get to experience, and to be able to be like, 'Oh yeah, that's my job.' And yeah, take a lot of pride in it, for sure."
And on Saturday night, he plans to add another performance to be proud of has he looks to claim career win number 17 when he takes on Gibson at Climate Pledge Arena. Having scouted his opponent, he's confident that he has a clear path to victory, and it involves his primary weapon – his grappling.
"He's not bad. I would say he's decently well-rounded," he said.
"I'll obviously try and use my jiu-jitsu against him. I think my jiu-jitsu…I've been training around a little bit. I've been training with some of the, some of the best gyms in the world. I've been able to travel through and train with these high-level guys. And once I am getting these guys on the ground, it's like so much one-way traffic.
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"It was just kind of a good reminder for me of, like, 'Oh yeah, I am a jiu-jitsu guy. Why am I doing any striking stuff?' Obviously, like, (I need to) get better at it and progress a skillset, but just do that enough to get the fight to where I want it to be, and then the rest is history."
UFC Fight Night: Adesanya vs Pyfer took place live from Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, Washington on March 28, 2026. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!
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