UFC’s Dan Hooker suggests Justin Gaethje dream fight has undergone rule change

The lightweights’ UFC 313 co-main event could be a fight of the year contender

Dan Hooker has suggested his fight with Justin Gaethje has been shortened from five rounds to three at the latter’s request.

Hooker and Gaethje are due to clash in the co-main event of UFC 313 on 8 March, in what many fans feel is a dream contest – a potential fight of the year contender.

When the lightweight match-up was first announced, it was scheduled for five rounds. Yet Hooker has now hinted it will be set for three, per Gaethje’s wishes.

“They’re trying to give me every disadvantage they can possibly give me, bro, but that’s fine,” he told Submission Radio on Thursday (20 February).

“Everything... He wanted to switch it to three, it’s switched to three. It’s pretty much, he gets... But that’s why I want to fight Justin Gaethje: I want the perks that come with being one of the stars of the division.

“He’s one of the megastars of the division. It’s him, [Dustin] Poirier, [Conor] McGregor, [Charles] Oliveira and the champ [Islam Makhachev]. Those guys are the big names, the ones that will really change your stars.

“I want what he’s got, I want the perks, I want to tell the other guy when to jump, and to tell the other guy when I feel like fighting. That’s why we’re fighting.”

Justin Gaethje (left) and Dan Hooker will meet at UFC 313 (Getty Images)

Hooker, 35, and Gaethje, 36, are widely regarded as two of the most entertaining fighters in the UFC.

American Gaethje is a former interim UFC lightweight champion, who has twice failed to win undisputed gold. In 2020, he stopped Tony Ferguson before failing to unify the belts against Khabib Nurmagomedov, who submitted the “Highlight”. In 2022, Gaethje was submitted by Oliveira while fighting for the title.

Gaethje did pick up the “Baddest Motherf*****” belt in 2023, knocking out Poirier with a brutal head kick to avenge a prior loss to his compatriot. But he lost that title in his next fight, against Max Holloway in April 2024. Holloway, moving up from 145lb, dominated Gaethje before knocking him out in the final second. Gaethje has not fought since.

Hooker, meanwhile, is enjoying a career resurgence. He will enter Las Vegas, where UFC 313 takes place, on a three-fight win streak. The “Hangman” stopped Claudio Puelles in late 2022, before outpointing Jalin Turner and Mateusz Gamrot – in 2023 and 2024, respectively.