Dan Hooker had sworn off featherweight in the past after moving up to lightweight. Now the UFC fighter is looking to make some changes and is set to fight Arnold Allen at featherweight in London.

The weight cut is big but Dan Hooker has figured out how to make it in a healthy way. He wants to get his UFC career back on track and stay a title contender.

“That’s the real motivating factor to go down to featherweight, is that I didn’t want to tread water at lightweight,” Hooker told MMA Fighting ahead of UFC London. “You want to be a world champion. That’s your goal, so you want to get there as quickly as you possibly can. This is the quickest path for me. If I would have stayed at lightweight, I would have had to kind of sit there and gatekeep the top 10 for the next 12 to 18 months.

“At this stage of my career, it doesn’t give me as much motivation as moving yourself towards a title. To just move down to a weight class where I feel I’m quite comfortable making and be straight back into the mix, is a big motivating factor.”

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There were some concerns from Dan Hooker’s coaches but they ultimately agreed with his decision. They did think he still had a chance to compete with the best at lightweight.

“They [didn’t] necessarily resist,” UFC featherweight Hooker said on The MMA Hour. “They just believed that I can compete and beat the best guys in the world at 155. For me, personally, I just feel like 145 is the weight class where I feel the best competing at that level.”