Dan Hooker, the #13 ranked lightweight contender in the division, will face rising submission specialist Claudio Puelles in a lightweight matchup at UFC 281, which will take place on November 12 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York.
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Dan Hooker
Dan Hooker made a brief return to featherweight at UFC London in March of this year, but failed to win his return to lightweight due to a lopsided first-round knockout loss to the hot-handed Ipswitch native Arnold Allen.
Hooker accepted a last-minute matchup at UFC 267 against incoming vacant title challenger Islam Makhachev in October of last year. Hooker lost the fight via first-round kimura submission after losing his most recent lightweight outing.
Dan Hooker, a striker from Auckland who has a record of 21-12 in the professional ring and is a mainstay of City Kickboxing, most recently defeated Nasrat Haqparast by unanimous decision at UFC 266 in September of last year.
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Claudio Puelles
Regarding the Peruvian submission threat, Puelles, the 11-2 grappler, recently defeated Clay Guida at the UFC Apex facility with a kneebar, earning a Performance of the Night bonus in the process. The first to report on Hooker’s return to the lightweight division against Puelles was the Chilean outlet FordewinMMA.
Puelles, a finalist in season three of The Ultimate Fighter Latin America, has won five straight fights since suffering a knockout loss to Martin Bravo in his UFC debut.
Prior to his submission victory over Guida, Puelles defeated Chris Gruetzemacher, Jordan Leavitt, Marcos Mariano, and Felipe Silva.
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Adesanya vs Pereira
The undisputed middleweight title fight between champion Israel Adesanya and challenger Alex Pereira will serve as the main event of UFC 281, which takes place on November 12 at Madison Square Garden in New York. Also scheduled as the co-main event is a strawweight title match between incumbent Carla Esparza and challenger Zhang Weili.
