Hooker wanted to fight in Australia so badly he was willing to take a smaller spotlight against a tougher opponent to make it happen.
New Zealand fighter Dan Hooker really wanted to compete on the UFC 305 card in Perth, Australia, and he was willing to give up the main event spot on another card to get it.
The No. 11 ranked Hooker faces No. 5 lightweight Mateusz Gamrot when the UFC returns down under on August 17th. In a new interview with Submission Radio, “The Hangman” detailed the difficulty in getting that fight put together.
“The UFC didn’t want me to fight in Perth,” he said. “No one wanted me. But I was like, nah, I’m not passing it up. I haven’t fought on this side of the world since UFC Auckland against Felder. It’s been so long and nothing beats the Anzac crowd. The Aussies, the Kiwis, once they all get there, nothing beats being on a card with your brothers.”
“So I just stood my ground and I just said ‘Nah.’ They said, ‘You can wait for Beneil [Dariush] and they’ll do a main event,’ or, ‘You can main event the French guy’ I’ve never heard of. And I was just like, ‘I want to fight in Perth.’”
Did Dan Hooker really turn down a main event at UFC Paris against Benoit Saint Denis? Benoit Saint Denis is now set to face Renato Moicano in the UFC’s September return to France. Hooker still did pretty well for himself: Gamrot is way up the rankings and Hooker could find himself at the top of the division with a strong win in August.
For “The Hangman,” though, it’s all about the location.
“I was at the last event, that was probably one of the loudest, best crowds that I’ve ever experienced,” he said. “So I just wanted to be a part of that card.”
UFC 305 also features a middleweight title fight between Israel Adesanya and Dricus Du Plessis, plus a New Zealand vs. Australia battle between Kai Kara France and Steve Erceg.