Alex Pereira is so locked in on his fight at UFC 313 that he didn’t even know that the co-main event had fallen through.
Yesterday morning, Dan Hooker and Justin Gaethje’s highly-anticipated showdown was cancelled when Hooker suffered a gruesome hand injury during sparring. There is now major speculation, with Gaethje noting that he will still be fighting on the card.
However, Pereira didn’t seem to fussed, preferring to focus his attentions on the challenge of Magomed Ankalaev. Before sitting down with Bloody Elbow for an interview as a Stake ambassador, it seems he wasn’t even aware that the fight was off.
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Alex Pereira didn’t know that Justin Gaethje vs Dan Hooker at UFC 313 was off
While fans are eager to see Alex Pereira defend his title in his most intriguing defence to date at UFC 313, there was arguably more interest in the co-feature. Justin Gaethje and Dan Hooker were set to go to war over five rounds, with Hooker even noting that he was prepared for a hospital visit already.
However, ‘Poatan’ wasn’t too concerned about it, and when asked for his thoughts during an exclusive chat with Bloody Elbow appeared not to be aware that the fight was off. Speaking as a Stake ambassador, he was asked to give an opinion and noted that he is too locked in to notice.
“I actually didn’t see that,” he said, before explaining his position. “When it’s time for the fight I really kind of tune off out of everything. I’ll end up seeing a fighter during fight week and realize ‘oh that guy’s fighting tonight too!’ I just kind of tune it out to be honest.”
Dan Hooker still wanted to fight Justin Gaethje at UFC 313 despite hand injury
Dan Hooker and Justin Gaethje are both known for their tenacity and willingness to fight through anything. And that was no different even after his hand ballooned to almost most twice it’s regular size due to a fracture in training.
During an appearance on Sky Sport NZ, Hooker said that he ‘would still fight’ despite the injury, and would have worn gloves different sizes in order to compete. However, he joked that it might have been a struggle to get through basic medicals with such a severe ailment.
“I obviously still would fight,” he insisted. “But with the medicals when they squeeze your hands I’d just be there like [cringeing in pain]. We’ll see how it all plays out.”
When co-host Ravinder Hunia joked that he may not fit into the gloves by the time he gets to Las Vegas he might have needed two different sizes. “I’ll be like ‘can I have one large glove and one 3XL please?’ They’ll be like ‘what?'”