There is some seriously unfortunate breaking news that came out this morning regarding UFC 313. The highly anticipated five-round war featuring Dan Hooker (24-12) and former interim lightweight champion Justin Gaethje (25-5) is off. Australian MMA reporter Benny P reported the news and Hooker confirmed the news on his daughter’s YouTube page.
Hooker sustained a hand injury that has forced him out of the highly anticipated matchup. In addition to being an insane matchup on paper, this fight had title implications. With both men ranked inside the top five, there was an expectation that the winner would be right in the mix for a title shot, especially Hooker considering had he won it would’ve been four in a row.
UFC 313
At this point, it’s not entirely clear whether or not Gaethje will stay on the card. With less than two weeks to go, I’m not sure they’ll find an opponent that Gaethje will be good with in this short window. Rafael Fiziev has already volunteered his services after him and Gaethje had a banger of a fight back in 2013.
UFC 313 was very top heavy on paper with the main and co-main events being the big ticket fights that fans were clamoring for. Losing Hooker – Gaethje is a huge blow so it’ll be interesting to see what the pivot is.