Despite being one of the most successful professional fighters in the Ohio Valley at lightweight, Rob Hanna (6-0) is planning on dropping to the featherweight division in the near future.
With the success that he has shown at 155 pounds, Hanna hopes and plans to replicate and expand on those accomplishments at 145 pounds.
The 30-year-old Bellator veteran hasn’t lost since his amatuer days in 2011, and he has racked up six straight wins to kick off his pro career since making the jump in 2012.
After starting off 2-0, Hanna made his Bellator debut on the undercard at Bellator 78 in Dayton, where he earned a unanimous decision over Rocky Edwards. Hanna has doubled his record since then, with wins over fellow Bellator vet Joey Holt and Todd Bevan.
When he won the Gladiators of the Cage lightweight title with a hard fought victory over Mike Wilkins at GOTC 18 in August, Hanna realized that facing bigger fighters in the lightweight division would eventually catch up to him and decided to make the drop.
Hanna recently annouced the career change on his Facebook page:
Topology rankings for Ohio, Pennsylvania, Northeast and Midwest all have me respectively ranked in the lightweight division (146-155 lbs). I am pretty sure these are active fighters not signed with UFC or Bellator, also that are not top 100 ranked in the world for the respective weight class.
Also I would like to announce that I’m making my move to down to the featherweight division (136-145 lbs) beginning this fall. [I’ll] probably do a test run at a catch weight of 150 to begin the journey.
Also my next few matches are not contracted out yet but I feel that I owe it to my friends and family to try keep them as close to home as possible. I haven’t fought at home field since the fall of 2012 but I managed to win my last 3 outings out of state against all top level guys in their regions.
According to Tapology, Hanna is ranked as the No. 3 lightweight in Ohio, No. 5 lightweight in Pennsylvania, and the No. 28 lightweight in the Midwest. Hanna is also ranked as the No. 356 lightweight in the world and No. 152 lightweight in the United States by FightMatrix.
Photo credit: Keith Mills