Chase Hooper is headed back to the Octagon, and he’s drawn a lightweight on a nine-fight unbeaten run. Hooper will face Chris Padilla in a three-round bout at UFC 335 on Dec. 12 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. MMA Junkie confirmed the matchup through two people with knowledge of the booking, who asked to remain anonymous because the UFC hasn’t made it official yet. Connected MMA had it first.
Hooper (17-5-1 MMA, 9-5 UFC) comes in off a submission win over Mitch Ramirez in July. That one came with an asterisk on the scale, because Hooper missed weight for it. The win did stop a two-fight skid, and MMA Junkie counted it as his fifth submission victory. So he’s back in the win column, though the paperwork from that night wasn’t clean.
Padilla (18-6-1 MMA, 5-0-1 UFC) hasn’t lost in nine straight, a stretch that includes five wins and a draw inside the Octagon. His most recent outing in August ended with Nasrat Haqparast choked unconscious. By any reasonable measure, Padilla is the hotter fighter. Hooper is the one fans know by name.
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The bout lands on the year’s last numbered card, and it’s a stacked one. Charles Oliveira defends the “BMF” title against Diego Lopes up top. Sergei Pavlovich vs. Alex Pereira, Charles Johnson vs. Brandon Moreno and Steve Garcia vs. Yair Rodriguez sit right behind it. Further down you’ll find Quentin Pasley vs. Junior Tafa, Ronald Humphrey vs. Nikolay Veretennikov, Roque Conceicao vs. Nilson Rojas, Shanelle Dyer vs. Angela Hill, Jacqueline Cavalcanti vs. Michelle Montague and Damian Pinas vs. Baisangur Susurkaev. Hooper and Padilla make 11 bouts.
Here’s what I like about the fight on paper. Both men have won by submission recently, which means the grappling exchanges should be live from the first clinch, and neither guy has much reason to be scared of the other on the mat. Padilla putting Haqparast to sleep tells you he can finish from good positions against a durable lightweight. Hooper’s submission game is the whole reason people tune in to watch him.
Now the part I care about. Hooper went 1-2 across his last three, and the one win came after he couldn’t make the weight. Padilla has gone nine without a loss. If the books hang Hooper as a favorite because of his name recognition and his highlight reel, that’s narrative pricing, and I’ll take the guy who keeps winning at a plus number every single time. I’ve lost money on worse logic (ask my bookie about a certain 12-leg favorites parlay I swore I’d never build). The first number I’d actually watch for is Hooper’s weight on Dec. 11. If he comes in heavy again at 155, Padilla becomes my favorite play on the undercard.
