Chase Hooper | New-Found Confidence

Cutting weight is no joke and Hooper seems to have found success in his journey to lightweight with three straight wins, all by submission. 

“I feel normal, which is a good thing,” Hooper confesses, “I think it lets me train a lot healthier.”

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Coming into the UFC at a young age and not fully matured, it was almost a given that Hooper would move up weight classes. Now, at 25 years old, Hooper is entering his prime at the perfect time. With a win over veteran Clay Guida in the first round via submission his last time out, Hooper faces a similar test. This time it will be the always dangerous Jim Miller.

When asked about the task at hand, Hooper stated, “It’s a huge opportunity to put a feather in my cap against a veteran and prove I’m ready to move my way up the division.”

“The jiu-jitsu is what got me here anyways and helped me stick around,” Hooper states, “You see some of these grapplers that come in and are like, ‘Now I’m trying to knock guys out.’ Do that if it happens, but you still have this fallback of this great skillset, and that’s been my emphasis for this camp, and all of them, really. I’m just keeping an emphasis on what got you to the dance.”

This is the evolution of Hooper that many have been asking for and he is turning into the UFC veteran that understands that he has to double down on what works and mitigate risks in the Octagon. The 20-year-old Hooper and 25-year-old Hooper are two completely different fighters. With upgraded confidence and the experience he lacked prior, this new and improved Hooper is ready for all the smoke in the lightweight division.

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“I am not going in there to have a kickboxing fight with Jim Miller, I am going to grapple him up; he knows that,” Hooper begins, “I think the nice thing is that I don’t imagine he will have crazy respect for my grappling.”

Hooper states that he will, “Try not to lose, that’s my main goal.” If this were Hooper’s first fight at lightweight, this fight may have some recency bias in who may win, but Hooper has all the tools to prove that he deserves to be here.

The skills were always there since his debut, but his last three fights after moving up to 155 pounds can be attributed to his growing confidence.

“Just knowing I belong here; I am one of the best in the world and I am here to prove it. That confidence helps me let it all go in the cage and not feeling scared anymore of what will happen,” Hooper tells UFC.com, “I will be there regardless, and I get to go home the next day. If you lose, you’ll still live to fight another day”

A win against Jim Miller would send shockwaves through the lightweight division. This would officially put Chase Hooper in the eyes of lurking lightweights and Hooper knows this.

“It’s a huge win and I think it gets me right outside the top 15. I am definitely not looking past Jim, but I think it definitely boosts me up to getting close to that number next to my name.”

Adversity is never something that Hooper runs away from, but this fight  can be a springboard for a potential ranked fight. Hooper was top five of all active fighters in submission average per 15 minutes at featherweight. Hooper has only gotten better with each fight. Three back-to-back submissions at lightweight just helps his case for the insane output he has on the canvas.

Hooper is riding confidence, momentum, and an unnerving ability to finish fights as he steps into the Octagon for UFC 314 this Saturday. A clash of styles and generations is set for this weekend and I wouldn’t want to miss it.