Dan Hooker believes if he were to fight Paddy Pimblett he’d make him “look silly”: “I think I do whatever I want to that kid”

Dan Hooker doesn’t think a fight with Paddy Pimblett would be competitive.

As Pimblett is set to face Jared Gordon at UFC 282, many have already thought as potential next opponent,s and Hooker was mentioned. The Kiwi is near the bottom of the lightweight ranks so if Pimblett gets a ranked opponent, it makes sense. Yet, Hooker – who admits he likes Pimblett – believes he would beat the Brit rather easily.

“I think he’s a great guy. I like his persona, I like everything. Very aggressive, puts on entertaining fights. But, let’s all be honest, he’s getting taken care of, you know what I mean? He’s not getting tough matchups just yet,” Hooker said on The Mac Life’s Pub Talk. “I wouldn’t want to fight him, I like him, I don’t want to fight him and make him look silly, I don’t want to burst the bubble and that’s just being honest. I think that’s a bad move [to fight me]. Hand on my heart, I think I do whatever I want to that kid.”

Although Dan Hooker knows Paddy Pimblett has taken shots at him in the past, he still isn’t interested in the fight right now. He says he wants to see the Brit get some wins and continue to add hype to his name without fighting ranked opponents.

Hooker, meanwhile, is coming off a TKO win over Claudio Puelles at UFC 281 to return to the win column. Prior to that, he was 1-4 in his last five with losses to Arnold Allen, Islam Makhachev, Michael Chandler, and Dustin Poirier. The lone win over that stretch was a decision win over Nasrat Haqparast.

The plan for Hooker is to return at UFC 284 in Australia against whoever. But, perhaps in the future, he ends up fighting Pimblett – in what would be a very intriguing matchup.

Would you like to see Dan Hooker vs. Paddy Pimblett in the future?