UFC News: Chase Hooper vs Jordan Leavitt Booked for November

In recent UFC news, it seems that Chase Hooper and Jordan Leavitt will duke it out in November. Both fighters have taken to their Instagram pages and confirmed that this will be the next step in their careers. This is a grappler's delight of a matchup. Both Leavitt and Hooper are phenomenal in the jiu jitsu department.

The lightweight division is probably the most stacked weight class in the UFC. It's quite a feat just to crack the top 15, let alone become a contender. However, when you're as entertaining as both Hooper and Leavitt, it's pretty easy to build a name even without a number by the name.

This is a fight between two young, budding prospects that are still figuring out while fighting at the highest level in one of the toughest weight divisions of all time.

UFC News: Chase Hooper vs Jordan Leavitt all but official

Jul 23, 2022; London, United Kingdom; Jordan Leavitt (blue gloves) is introduced before fighting Paddy Pimblett during UFC Fight Night at O2 Arena. Mandatory Credit: Per Haljestam-USA TODAY Sports/Sipa USA – Photo by Icon sport

While November 18th is far away and we don't know much about the card at the moment, having Jordan Leavitt vs Chase Hooper both on the card is reason enough to mark the calendar. This match isn't officially in the books, but when Leavitt posts about this on his Instagram, along with Chase Hooper, then it seems like this is about as locked in as it gets until the UFC confirms.

Having moved up to lightweight in his last fight, Hooper put on one of his best performances to date back at UFC Vegas 73 when he out-grappled Nick Fiore, who's an incredible grappler himself. Chase, just 23-years-old, has yet to string together a winning streak while in the UFC. However, if he can get passed Leavitt, that'll change.

Leavitt is no easy task. At 4-2 in the UFC with three finishes, he's dangerous and only looking better with each performance. ‘The Monkey King' is a grapple-focused fighter, just like Chase Hooper is. Unlike this weekend's main event, where we've got a striker vs grappler trope going on, this fight is a grappler vs grappler.

Now, fights like this can at times turn into a kickboxing match because the grappling skills negate each other, but this one is almost promised to be one big scramble of a fight until a submission is found or until the final bell sounds.

How do These Two Match Up?

Jun 12, 2021; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Chase Hooper brings down Steven Peterson during UFC 263 at Gila River Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports/Sipa USA
By Icon Sport

AS I said, these are two really good grapplers. But, if this does turn into a kickboxing match, that'll be a lot of fun too. Jordan won his UFC debut via slam, which was the first knockout on his record. His last fight, he won on the feet. Leavitt even surprised himself, saying “I never rocked someone before“.

With both fighters being on the better side of their thirties and showing huge improvements in each fight, this is a fun bout no matter where it goes. Chase Hooper showed some really good boxing in his last fight as well. As we could see early on in his UFC career, Hooper has an incredibly strong chin, but leaning on that too much isn't the best idea. He's now coming into his own in the striking realm and looked like a problem for a lot of the division in his last outing.

November 18th's UFC card has a great base to build off of now that this fight is added to the card. When two fan favorites go at it, it's hard to watch because nobody wants either fighter to lose, but when the skills stack up against one another's like we see in this fight, it's hard not to be super excited for November to arrive.