In two of his last three outings, Hooper has shared the cage with decidedly more experienced, more accomplished foes in Alex Cacares and Steven Peterson. While there was no point in either fight where the Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt stopped battling or looked defeated, he came away on the wrong side of the result each time.
Now this weekend, he takes a step back, sharing the cage with Colares, who is a few years older, but carries the same level of experience and a comparable fighting style, which has Hooper excited to get back out there and show what he’s been working on during these past 11 months.
“It’s fun because I’m fighting a very similar, super-jiu jitsu-heavy guy,” he said of facing Colares, who enters off a unanimous decision loss to Chris Gutierrez and carries a 10-3 record overall. “I’m not going to have to go in there and be too worried about being knocked out or held down. He’s a guy that will try to do a lot of the same things that I do; he’s a little shorter, a little less reach, and I imagine he’s not going to be crazy-big because his last couple fights have been at ’35.
“He’s never been finished, and I’ve never been finished, so I’m expecting a tough guy with great jiu jitsu that is ready to grind it out, and I’m ready to give that back.
“Losing to Cacares and losing to Peterson put the chip back on my shoulder, makes me not be content with where I’m at,” added the featherweight prospect. “It makes me want to keep pushing my levels and I feel like I’ve been doing that.”
