Cormier On Hooker's Gatekeeper Acceptance

Daniel Cormier has taken issue with Dan Hooker's acceptance of life as a lightweight gatekeeper following his first-round stoppage loss at UFC Paris.

Hooker fell to Salahdine Parnasse, a former two-division KSW champion making his UFC debut, via TKO after absorbing a body kick and ground strikes in the opening frame. Before the bout, Hooker told reporters he had no problem embracing the gatekeeper label, a stance Cormier addressed in a post-fight reaction video, as MMA Junkie reports.

Cormier Questions Hooker's Mindset Ahead Of Three-Fight Skid

"When people generally hear that they're a gatekeeper or put in that position, they're mad," Cormier said on his YouTube channel. "They're upset, and they fight that with all that they can. Dan Hooker seemed to be embracing that and said, 'There've been a couple losses, and then moving your way down the rankings, I'm more than happy to play the role that I'm in right now, and the role that I'm in right now is gatekeeping the top 10 of the UFC's lightweight division.' Me personally, I think there's too much acceptance, too much comfort in that."

The New Zealander has dropped three consecutive fights and has not won since his 2024 split decision over Mateusz Gamrot. Cormier believes that mindset contributed to Saturday's result and needs to shift if Hooker wants to reverse course.

"Losing hurts in any way," Cormier added, per BJPENN.com. "You cannot accept that. When you hear a fighter do that, it just isn't good because you do that before the fight, and then the fight goes in the way that it did. That's not good."

Reported via:

• BJPenn — Daniel Cormier criticizes Dan Hooker’s acceptance of gatekeeper role following UFC Paris loss: “Too much comfort in that”