UFC 281 adds a pair of awesome lightweight matchups including Dan Hooker vs. Claudio Puelles

Dan Hooker vs Claudio Puelles and Brad Riddell vs Renato Moicano have been added to the UFC 281 card, according to MMA Fighting.

UFC 281 is set to take place on November 12 at Madison Square Garden in New York City with the main event seeing Israel Adesanya defend his UFC middleweight title against Alex Pereira. It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, then, that many of Adesanya’s teammates are set to appear on the card – including the aforementioned Dan Hooker and Brad Riddell.

The two men are both hoping to get back in the win column and while many will favour them to do so in these match-ups, it certainly isn’t going to be a walk in the park.

Dan Hooker vs. Claudio Puelles, Brad Riddell vs. Renato Moicano added to UFC 281 lineup at MSG

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Hooker, 32, has lost four of his last five fights which has included stoppage defeats to Michael Chandler, Islam Makhachev and Arnold Allen – the latter of which fame at featherweight.

Now, though, he’ll be heading back up to 155 in order to take on Claudio Puelles. The 26-year-old has been on a tear as of late with a five-fight win streak to his name, three of which came via kneebar. His most recent outing was against Clay Guida back in April which highlights just how much of a step up this is going to be for the Peruvian.

Elsewhere in the division, the aforementioned Brad Riddell and Renato Moicano need to start showing some signs of life after poor runs lately.

Riddell has lost his last two to Rafael Fiziev and Jalin Turner with both men managing to finish him. On the flip side, Moicano’s short notice risk against Rafael dos Anjos didn’t pay off as he was dominated en route to a five-round decision loss.

Which of these two fights are you most excited to see at UFC 281 – Dan Hooker vs Claudio Puelles or Brad Riddell vs Renato Moicano?