Tomorrow night in the co-main event of UFC 325, we are going to see an absolute banger in the lightweight division. “The Hangman” Dan Hooker (24-13) will be taking on Benoit Saint-Denis (16-3).
Starting with BSD, he enters this fight with a ton of momentum. He was on the cusp of a title shot in 2024, but then he suffered two really bad losses. As bad as 2024 was, 2025 was incredible for him as he went 3-0 and capped off the year by knocking out Beneil Dariush in just 16 seconds.
While BSD has won three in a row, Dan Hooker just had his three-fight win streak snapped. We saw Hooker back in November against Arman Tsarukyan in the main event of UFC Qatar. Hooker just had no answers for the grappling of Tsarukyan and he was submitted in the second round. Prior to that, he had won three in a row including a decision over Mateusz Gamrot.
UFC 325 Prediction
This is going to be a very good fight and it’s one that I wish would be five rounds. If this was a five round fight, I’d really favor Dan Hooker because I think that a deep-water fight is one that would favor Hooker. With it being three rounds, I think you’ll see BSD really lean on his grappling.
Hooker has really struggled with keeping fights on the feet and if he struggles again at UFC 325, I think you’re going to see him either get submitted or lose a lopsided decision. That said, I can’t shake this gut feeling about Hooker winning this fight.
I might sound crazy, but I think Saint-Denis is going to get tired near the end of the second round. I think Hooker is really going to start landing and I think he comes on strong in the third round. I’m going out on a limb and I’m going to say Hooker pulls off a third round TKO. I might be dead wrong with this, but it’s just a gut feeling pick.
Prediction: Dan Hooker by TKO
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