UFC 313 will see the Octagon return to the T-Mobile Arena on March 8, and a huge crowd-pleasing lightweight scrap has already been confirmed for the card.
Longtime 155-pound contenders Justin "The Highlight: Gaethje and Dan "The Hangman" Hooker have signed to face off in a five-round lightweight bout that pits two of the most exciting lightweights in the division head to head.
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"The Highlight" will be looking to return to winning ways after finding himself on the wrong end of 2024's knockout of the year, courtesy of Max Holloway, at UFC 300.
Prior to that defeat, Gaethje knocked out Dustin Poirier with a head kick at UFC 291 to capture the BMF title in July 2023. That win followed hot on the heels of a majority decision victory over Rafael Fiziev in London four months earlier
"The Highlight" lives up to the billing. In his 13 bouts in the UFC to date, Gaethje has earned 13 post-fight bonuses for either Fight of the Night or Performance of the Night.
His penchant for all-action wars inside the Octagon has made him one of the most beloved fighters in the UFC, and now he'll look to return to winning ways against New Zealand's Hooker, who has a fan-friendly fighting style of his own.
Hooker will head into the bout riding the best form of his UFC career. His last three victories have seen him finish Claudio Puelles, then claim hard-earned split-decision victories over fellow lightweight contenders Jalin Turner and Mateusz Gamrot.
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Those wins, along with the Kiwi's fun-loving personality and exciting fighting style, make his fights must-see TV. He's shared the Octagon with the likes of Dustin Poirier, Michael Chandler and Islam Makhachev in losing efforts earlier in his career. But now, with Hooker looking at his fighting peak, he'll be looking to claim the biggest scalp of his career when he faces Gaethje on March 8.
Gaethje vs. Hooker joins a stacked lineup of bouts for UFC 313, which will be headlined by a light heavyweight title bout as champion Alex Pereira puts his 205-pound title on the line against Russian contender Magomed Ankalaev.
UFC 313: Reported bouts
- Alex Pereira (c) vs. Magomed Ankalaev – for light heavyweight title
- Justin Gaethje vs. Dan Hooker – lightweight
- Amanda Lemos vs. Iasmin Lucindo – women's strawweight
- Bruno Silva vs. Joshua Van – flyweight
- Armen Petrosyan vs. Brunno Ferreira – middleweight
- Jhonata Diniz vs. Vitor Petrino – heavyweight
- Carlos Leal vs. Alex Morono
- Chris Gutierrez vs. Jean Matsumoto – bantamweight
- Ozzy Diaz vs. Djorden Santos – middleweight
- Marion Santos vs. Francis Marshall – featherweight
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