Dan Hooker expects to be punished by the UFC after accusing Islam Makhachev of using an IV to aid in his UFC 284 recovery.
Makhachev, the promotion’s reigning lightweight champion, earned a unanimous decision victory over 145-pound titleholder Alexander Volkanovski in a closely-contested superfight last month. While some fans believe ‘The Great’ did enough to leave Perth a double champion, the real controversy came after the fight when Volkanovski’s City Kickboxing teammate Dan Hooker accused Makhachev of hiring a nurse to administer an IV as part of his post-weigh in recovery.
Dan Hooker Doesn’t Care if the UFC Punishes Him
After making accusations on Twitter, Dan Hooker spoke with The AllStar’s John Hyon Ko to reiterate his suspicion. However, ‘The Hangman’ doesn’t anticipate the UFC or USADA taking any action against Makhachev. In fact, Hooker believes that he will likely be the recipient of punishment from the promotion for publicly accusing the lightweight champion of cheating.
“The UFC don’t care and USADA don’t care,” Hooker said. “Why do you think I’m the guy that come out and said something? I don’t care. You don’t think that I know there are gonna be consequences for what I said? You don’t think I’m gonna be punished for what I said? I just don’t care.
“Do I think that the UFC is gonna punish me in some way? Yeah, I’m sure they will. I’m sure they’ll give me tough matchups — whoop-dee-doo,” Hooker continued. “Ask the last 10 blokes I fought, they’re all tough matchups. Bring it on. You wanna give me tough matchups? Give me tough matchups… I’m not gonna blatantly see one of my teammates cheated out of a world title and not say anything.”
While IV usage is not expressly prohibited, the USADA rules stipulate that intravenous infusions and injections are prohibited both in-competition and out-of-competition if the volume of the substance exceeds 100 milliliters within a 12-hour period.
Islam Makhachev was quick to respond to Dan Hooker’s accusations on Twitter saying, “You must be held accountable for such accusations.”
Transcription courtesy of MMA News