History of Trading Hooks (Patreon)

By Paul

When Israel Adesanya knocked out Robert Whittaker with a counter left hook, it sent shockwaves all over the middleweight division. Whittaker is known for his left hook, and it’s hurt plenty of other 185 pounders or just straight up put them to sleep. Adesanya has talked openly about how no one makes Whittaker pay for his technical mistakes when throwing this strike, and he took full advantage of this slip up by throwing a left hook of his own while leaning back just enough to stay out of danger. “Don’t hook with a hooker” is an old boxing adage, and it’s mostly true to this day. There are lots of great examples of this in boxing and kickboxing, but MMA has its fair share of thrilling hook exchange knockouts. Sometimes it comes down to the smallest of details, whether it’s the speed of the punch or the placement of the blow. Here are some of my personal favorite examples of when single hooks were the determining factors in a fight.

Carlos Condit vs. Dan Hardy

At UFC 120, Carlos Condit was riding high on a small win streak and was looking to add the scalp of Dan Hardy to his impressive welterweight resume. Condit made his UFC debut a year prior to this bout and lost a close split decision to Martin Kampmann. As the last WEC welterweight champion, Condit had a lot of high expectations coming into the UFC, but it wasn’t the entrance he wanted to make. Despite this setback, Condit jumped right back in and won back to back fights against Jake Ellenberger and Rory MacDonald, handing the latter his first professional loss. Condit was looking to add a few more impressive victories to his resume so he could challenge then champion Georges St. Pierre. Speaking of GSP, Dan Hardy was coming off a loss to him and was looking to rebound and jump back into title contention. Who better than the last ever WEC champion? Condit and Hardy squared off in London, England in the co-main event of a pretty lackluster pay-per-view card. Towards the end of an exciting first round, both threw right hands that missed their marks by a wide margin but was actually a set up for their left hooks. Condit and Hardy connected at the same time, but Condit was able to land his flush with his palm facing towards his face whereas Hardy only managed to land a glancing blow to Condit’s jaw. Given that Condit was in hostile territory, he didn’t exactly get the raucous approval of the crowd. There’s actually a pretty fun moment in the background where Guy Ritchie, Jude Law, and Robert Downey Jr. are cage-side for this fight and Downey is the only one to spring up to his feet and cheer. Go America!

Wanderlei Silva vs. Kiyoshi Tamura

Back when Silva ruled the middleweight division (205 pounds) in PRIDE, the promotion couldn’t find enough challenges fast enough for him to run through. Do they give him Sakuraba again? Balloon up another pro-wrestler as a sacrificial lamb? Tell him to move up to heavyweight? They chose the second option and asked Kiyoshi Tamura to put on the pounds and try his hand at the Silva sweepstakes as the main event of PRIDE 19. Although Tamura has often been considered a can by PRIDE fanboys back in the early 2000’s, this is a gross judgement of his career and doesn’t truly reflect how good he is. Yes, he had a decent amount of losses, but consider the fact that he is probably a guy who walks around 180-something pounds, and factor in that he’s facing guys who are 200+ pounds and often compete at heavyweight. Tamura took on Frank Shamrock when he was an absolute juggernaut and arguably beat him before having the fight scored as a draw. He beat guys like Dave Menne (first UFC middleweight champion), Renzo Gracie, Pat Miletich, and Jeremy Horn. From a skills standpoint, he was definitely one of the better fighters to come from Japan but was horribly mismatched and put up against guys like Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Bob fucking Sapp. Unfortunately for Tamura, he was fighting Silva when Silva was at his prime, and he decided to stand and trade with the Axe Murderer and see if he could hurt him. Towards the end of round 2, Silva and Tamura both throw jabs with their heads off center. At this point, whoever can come across with the hook first will land cleanly on the other. Silva already had his right hook locked and loaded and the moment his jab missed, the hook was already on its way to Tamura’s head. Tamura ate the shot flush and landed on all fours, with the referee stopping the fight just seconds before Silva followed up with a soccer kick.

Georges St. Pierre (GSP) vs. Michael Bisping

Although the fight ended with a rear naked choke, the setup to this sequence started with a flush left hook so it makes the cut on this list. Bisping was riding on a high, having captured the middleweight title after 10 years and over 20 fights in the UFC. After beating Anderson Silva, knocking out Luke Rockhold to win the title, and defending his belt (while exacting revenge) against Dan Henderson, Bisping figured he can claim an easy payday and title defense against a returning GSP. GSP had famously walked away while on top, winning a closely contested split decision against Johny Hendricks. He made hints throughout his time away from the sport that he would return when he was good and ready, and there was something about Bisping’s title reign that GSP found intriguing enough to return. After four years away from his last UFC appearance, GSP returned to try and do something no athlete has done before: move up and win a title in his first fight back. Fighters move up in weight and challenge for titles in their new division all the time, but GSP was attempting this after YEARS away from active competition against someone who was clearly bigger, stronger, and arguably just as fast. However, in preparation for this fight, GSP enlisted the help of Freddy Roach and got him to be a cornerman in the match itself. Roach is no stranger to GSP, the two have worked together for years on and off. What made this so special was that Roach had never cornered someone in an MMA fight before (and has yet to return to it). In between rounds 2 and 3 of their main event fight at UFC 219, Roach specifically told GSP to throw the left hook after Bisping’s right straight since he doesn’t bring up his guard fast enough afterwards. Lo and behold, GSP’s left hook lands flush while Bisping caught with his right hand is low. Bisping is sent reeling to the mat and GSP’s ground and pound is as vicious as ever. After exposing his back, GSP latches on a tight rear naked choke and becomes the new UFC middleweight champion, a title he promptly vacated just 34 days after winning it. It was still a hell of a left hook.

TJ Dillashaw vs. Cody Garbrandt (1st Match)

On the same night that GSP won the middleweight title against reigning champion Michael Bisping, the bantamweight title also changed hands (and hooks). There had been a lot of bad blood brewing before this fight, and I don’t have enough space to describe the entire Dillashaw-Ludwig-Team Alpha Male drama in this column. To give the abridged version, Dillashaw won the bantamweight title while still under Team Alpha Male, but he left the team soon after to form his own team with Duane Ludwig over in Colorado. Feeling betrayed and used, Team Alpha Male threw Dillashaw under the bus and accused him of being a horrible teammate and threw in some allegations of steroids for good measure. The most vocal critic of Dillashaw was Cody Garbrandt, a rising star in the division and widely considered a future superstar. Fresh off a scintillating victory of Dominick Cruz, Garbrandt left no stone unturned in attacking his former teammate, and the two got to settle things in a title fight. A wild and exciting first round almost sealed the deal for Garbrandt, as he threw a perfect overhand right as a straight from Dillashaw slightly missed. The bell saves Dillashaw and Ludwig does some great cornering during the break. Capitalizing on Garbrandt’s vulnerability during exchanges, Dillashaw opted to trade in the pocket and threw tight hooks in quick succession when he knew that Garbrandt couldn’t resist swinging back wildly. Garbrandt might have more power than Dillashaw, but speed kills in the lighter weights and Dillashaw’s technical brilliance and discipline really shone in this fight, allowing him to re-capture the title and do all the EPO he wants, allegedly.

Wanderlei Silva vs. Rampage Jackson (2nd & 3rd Matches)

Silva makes another appearance on this list, but c’mon, this guy’s entire fighting style was hooks and Thai clinch into knees. During his incredible PRIDE run in the early 2000’s, no one has been able to intensity and power. Enter: Rampage Jackson. When Silva and Jackson met for the second time, it was in the main event for PRIDE 28. Their first contest was a year earlier in the finals of the middleweight grand prix, where Silva faced off against Olympic gold medalist Hidehiko Yoshida and Jackson got matched up against UFC representative, Chuck Liddell. Jackson got the harder matchup between the two, and claims to have faced Silva in less than ideal conditions. In their second fight, Rampage was a man on a mission and wanted to do nothing more than knock Silva out and return the favor. This was still Silva in his prime, and a quick right hook in the second round landed on Jackson cleanly, sending him stumbling back. From there, Silva unloaded some more vicious knees and left Jackson literally hanging off the ropes, bleeding into the white canvas. When they met for the third time, it was in the UFC and a lot of things had changed. Silva looked far more human once he started fighting in the Octagon, and Rampage finally became a world champion in the promotion. Silva was coming off a vintage win against Keith Jardine while Jackson had just lost his title to Forrest Griffin. When the two faced off for the third time at UFC 92, they picked up right where they left off. This time around, wear and tear had caught up to Silva and Jackson had been focused on working on his boxing religious with Juanito Ibarra. Silva was still swinging wildly (Chute Boxe) style, but Jackson had tightened up his hooks just in time to get his revenge. The score was now 2-1 Silva, but it’s not like anyone wanted to see some old timers go at it again for nostalgia purposes. Just kidding! Scott Coker brought them back for a 4th time where Jackson evened the record to 2-2. Let’s hope bare knuckle boxing doesn’t get any ideas and clamor fans for a fifth matchup.