They were scheduled to fight each other on a local Melbourne card in June, however, TUF Nations fighter Jake Matthews (pictured left) and multiple Trans-Tasman lightweight champion Daniel Hooker (pictured right) have both signed with the UFC and will debut for the promotion in Auckland at ‘UFC Fight Night: Te Huna vs Marquardt’.
Matthews (4-0) takes on another newcomer in Dashon Johnson (9-0) while Hooker (11-4) is rumoured to be meeting Ian Entwistle (8-1) who will also be making his promotional debut. Both fights are expected to take place in the lightweight division. Although Hooker vs Entwistle has yet to be officially announced by the UFC at this point in time, The MMA Corner is reporting that the match-up is good to go.
UPDATE: MMA Corner is now reporting that ‘Although Hooker was targeted to meet fellow newcomer Ian Entwistle at the event, The MMA Corner has learned that bout agreements were never signed. Entwistle’s debut is now expected to come in the featherweight division. Both combatants are currently slated to fight on the card and their opponents will be revealed by the promotion in the near future.’
UPDATE (May 28): The UFC officially announce that Hooker and Entwistle will indeed fight in Auckland with the bout to be contested in the featherweight division.
Following his time as welterweight on ‘TUF Nations: Australia vs Canada’ series, Matthews, 19, made a successful return to action at Kings of Kombat 12 where he out pointed a resilient Stuart Dare. Twenty six year-old Johnson of California is also undefeated in MMA with all but one of his 9 victories ending in a stoppage.
Twenty four year-old Hooker will take a 5 fight win streak into his UFC debut. The Strike Force Auckland trained Kiwi is coming off a third round TKO stoppage of Nick Patterson, which saw him retain the AFC lightweight title at AFC 6. Regarded as one of the UK’s top prospects, Entwistle, 27, enters the promotion with a pro record of 8 wins and 1 loss with his last fight ending in a 24 second submission win over Liam James at Cage Warriors 62.
‘UFC Fight Night: Te Huna vs Marquardt’ takes place at the Vector Arena in Auckland on June 28 and will feature a middleweight tilt between James Te Huna and Nate Marquardt in the headliner.
Fight Card:
- Nate Marquardt vs James Te Huna
- Soa Palelei vs Jared Rosholt
- Hatsu Hioki vs Charles Oliveira
- Neil Magny vs Claudio Henrique da Silva
- Robert Whittaker vs Mike Rhodes
- Jon Delos Reyes vs Richie Vaculik
- Chris Indich vs Vik Grujic
- Jake Matthews vs Dashon Johnson
- Daniel Hooker vs Ian Entwistle
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