Mark Eddiva Of Team Lakay To Fight Daniel Hooker Of New Zealand In UFC Return

To put himself back into the winning column. This would be the goal of Mark Eddiva when he flies to Brisbane, Australia this coming March for his return fight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Eddiva was victorious in his UFC debut against Jumabieke Tuerxun in March of 2014. He then lost his two succeeding fights. A technical knockout loss to Edimilson Souza in May 2014 and a split decision loss to Levan Makashvili in May 2015.

Eddiva has been penciled to share the Octagon with New Zealand-native Daniel Hooker. Hooker has a record of two wins and two losses in the UFC. His most recent outing under the promotion was a losing effort against Yair Rodriguez in the undercard of Daniel Cormier vs. Alexander Gustafsson (October 3, 2015).

Experience-wise, Hooker has the advantage. Although he turned professional three years later than Eddiva, he has notched more fights. His record currently stands at 12 wins and 6 losses. Eddiva's record is 6 wins and 2 losses. Hooker also possesses significant height and reach advantages over Eddiva. He is 9 centimeters taller and his reach is 17 centimeters longer.

Eddiva trains under the Team Lakay banner. Hooker, on the other hand, trains at Elevation Fight Team, the same training ground for big UFC names like TJ Dillashaw, Brandon Thatch, Neil Magny, and Matt Brown.

Hooker told Sports Rants that he expects to dominate the Filipino fighter. "Have you ever tried to fight your big brother?! That’s how I see this fight playing out. I see myself beating him to the punch, bullying him in the grapple and squeezing the life out of him, “big brother style”", Hooker told the sports news website. He also posted on his Facebook page that the fight won't go past the first round.

UFC Fight Night: Brisbane will be headlined by a heavyweight match between Frank Mir and Mark Hunt. The event will be held on March 20 at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre. Also in the card are Hector Lombard vs Neil Magny, Ross Pearson vs Abel Trujillo, Seo Hee Ham vs Bec Rawlings, James Te Huna vs Steve Bosse, Brendan O'Reilly vs Alan Jouban, Daniel Kelly vs Antonio Carlos Jr., Jake Matthews vs Johnny Case, Richard Walsh vs Viscardi Andrade, and Chad Laprise vs Alan Patrick Silva Alves.





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