Hooker (34-10) recently claimed that he is gearing up for a return at UFC 305 on Aug. 17 in Perth, Australia. While Hooker was initially hesitant to name his opponent, he later hinted that it could potentially be Oliveira (23-12). While Hooker is “100%” ready to fight Oliveira, he clarified that “do Bronx” is yet to sign the contract.
“My body’s a 100 percent,” Hooker said on the Mainevent YouTube channel. “Everything’s all cleared. I’m training, I’m training hard, I’m training 100 percent, I’m in camp. Getting ready for Perth; not sure if I can really say [who I’m fighting]. Nothing’s official. But obviously I’m 100 percent in. And the old Charlie Olives, I think that’s a fight that the fans over here in the side of the world would love to see. But yeah, let’s see if he takes the cake and signs on the dotted line.”
However, Oliviera seemingly has no knowledge of a potential clash against Hooker being in the works.
“People have been booking fights for me that I’m not aware of. Metaverse fights? Maybe.” When a fan said that they wished the fight rumors were true, Oliveira clearly stated that they are not.
Charles Oliveira lost his strap to Islam Makhachev via a submission at UFC 280 in 2022. While he went on to earn a title rematch with a knockout win over Beneil Dariush, Oliveira was forced out of his UFC 294 clash against Makhachev in October 2023 due to a gruesome cut suffered in sparring 10 days before fight night. The Brazilian has since come up on the short side of a split decision in a title eliminator against Arman Tsarukyan at UFC 300 in April.
Meanwhile, Hooker is riding a two-fight winning streak that saw him bounce back from consecutive losses against Islam Makhachev and Arnold Allen. Hooker hasn’t competed since a violent split decision win over Jalin Turner at UFC 290 in July 2023 due to a lingering arm injury.
Reference: https://www.sherdog.com/news/news/Charles-Oliveira-Denies-Rumored-UFC-305-Matchup-Against-Dan-Hooker-194174
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