UFC featherweight Dan Hooker is willing to give credit where he feels credit is due, even if it’s for Jake Paul’s diss track of UFC president Dana White. Hooker is set to make his octagon return later this year against Arnold Allen on the upcoming UFC London card. He is making the move back down […]
UFC featherweight Dan Hooker is willing to give credit where he feels credit is due, even if it’s for Jake Paul’s diss track of UFC president Dana White.
Hooker is set to make his octagon return later this year against Arnold Allen on the upcoming UFC London card. He is making the move back down to featherweight after an up-and-down tenure at lightweight.
Hooker and many other UFC fighters remain conflicted with their stances on Paul and his persona. Paul has emerged as one of the biggest names in boxing for his ability to market himself.
The Paul-White feud took a turn for the worse when Paul released a diss track on his social media platforms. During an exclusive interview with LowKickMMA’s James Lynch, Hooker gave his thoughts on the video.
Dan Hooker Reacts To Jake Paul’s Diss Track Against Dana White
“I did see that video, I understand what the guy’s doing,” Hooker said. “He puts some serious effort into these things. I can’t fathom spending the money to make a diss track like that, but you can understand why he’s making millions of dollars boxing. His understanding of what people want to click on is next level.”
Paul has attacked White on the issue regarding UFC fighter pay among other topics. White has yet to respond publicly to the diss track.
As for Hooker, he’s looking to get back in the win column after a tough loss to Islam Makhachev at UFC 267. His last stint at lightweight featured wins over Gilbert Burns and Jim Miller.
Paul has become one of the most divisive figures in combat sports today, but Hooker seems to understand the method to his madness. It seems as though the Paul-White feud is just getting started.
Do you agree with Dan Hooker on Jake Paul’s diss track?
Dan Hooker is all systems go ahead of his return to 145 pounds against Arnold Allen on the upcoming UFC London card. Hooker announced the move back to featherweight after his loss to Islam Makhachev at UFC 267. Before that, he had earned a big win over Nasrat Haqparast at UFC 266 preceded by back-to-back […]
Dan Hooker is all systems go ahead of his return to 145 pounds against Arnold Allen on the upcoming UFC London card.
Hooker announced the move back to featherweight after his loss to Islam Makhachev at UFC 267. Before that, he had earned a big win over Nasrat Haqparast at UFC 266 preceded by back-to-back losses to Michael Chandler and Dustin Poirier.
Hooker is looking forward to a new chapter in his career back where it all started. His first run at 145 pounds featured wins over Gilbert Burns and Jim Miller inside the octagon.
“It’s been good and straightforward,” Hooker said. “It hasn’t been very difficult for me. It’s not very hard to do the cut when you’re not in a training camp. The question is how you’re fueling your body in training camp. But yeah, it’s been fine and it’s actually been really well. I’m a month ahead of schedule and it’s not a concern of mine at all just yet.”
Dan Hooker Is Set To Make His Featherweight Return
Hooker will face a tough test in Allen, winner of 10 in a row including most recently over Sodiq Yusuff and Nik Lentz. He has wanted an opportunity like this for a while and could present some challenges to Hooker for his 145-pound return.
The other question mark regarding Hooker’s move is what will happen next for his City Kickboxing teammate Alexander Volkanovski. He was non-committal in addressing the rumors that Volkanovski might be contemplating a future move to lightweight.
Hooker is looking to get back in a UFC title picture and is hoping to get off to a good start to his second stint at featherweight in 2022.
How do you think Dan Hooker will perform at featherweight?
Fan favorite and always-game UFC star Dan Hooker has questioned why fighters who are “young and healthy” turn down bouts. If there’s ever been a fighter down for anyone and everyone, it’s “The Hangman.” Hooker has never shied away from an opponent, from the thankless task of welcoming three-time Bellator champion Michael Chandler to the […]
Fan favorite and always-game UFC star Dan Hooker has questioned why fighters who are “young and healthy” turn down bouts.
If there’s ever been a fighter down for anyone and everyone, it’s “The Hangman.” Hooker has never shied away from an opponent, from the thankless task of welcoming three-time Bellator champion Michael Chandler to the UFC to a short-notice clash with fear-inducing Dagestani phenom Islam Makhachev.
Allen is currently 8-0 in the UFC, a record that includes wins against Makwan Amirkhani, Nik Lentz, and Sodiq Yusuff, and is ranked #7 at 145 pounds. However, he is yet to breakthrough as one of the bigger names on the roster.
But while that may have led to his downfall at lightweight, for the time being at least, Hooker isn’t planning on changing his strategy.
During a recent interview with John Hyon Ko for The AllStar, the New Zealander said the idea of turning down fights is “unfathomable” to him at this point in his career. While he’s healthy and young, he sees no reason not to accept opponents.
“I get in the gym and I have fun. You’re doing all this training, young and fit, make hay while the sun is shining,” said Hooker. “If I’m healthy I’ll take a fight. Turning down a fight while you’re young and healthy is just unfathomable to me. That’s not something I comprehend. If you’re fit and healthy, you see (some) like, ‘Wait, wait, wait, wait.’
“Man, it’s such a small period of time that you have the opportunity to go out there and be young, and get after it, and really chase goals, and do things. So, I’m just making the most of that. I’m definitely making the most of that,” concluded Hooker.
Hooker’s Remarks Come After Gillespie Was Accused Of Turning Down Fights
Following his first setback in professional MMA, a brutal knockout loss to Kevin Lee in 2019, Gillespie didn’t enter the Octagon for nearly two years. He returned at UFC Vegas 26 last May and finished Brazilian veteran Carlos Diego Ferreira via second-round TKO.
But without a fight booked since, it appears it could be another year gap between fights yet again for the top-10 155lber. While the UFC has to offer its fighters three bouts a year, Gregor Gillespie has fought just twice across the past three years.
In the mind of former UFC star-turned-MMA analyst Chael Sonnen, Gillespie’s inactivity is his own fault. “The American Bad Guy” recently revealed he’d heard talk of “The Gift” turning down multiple opportunities and instead attempting to hand-pick Tony Ferguson as his next foe.
While Sonnen provided little evidence, a callout late last year from Arman Tsarukyan provided some legitimacy to the claim. In an Instagram post, the Armenian-Russian suggested he’d accepted an offer to face Gillespie from the UFC. However, with him now set to face a different opponent, it stands to reason Gillespie turned it down.
Dan Hooker knows that he is not everyone’s cup of tea. Dan Hooker is on a new journey in the UFC. After a successful run in the lightweight division, he is now heading down to featherweight. hooker has his first opportunity at 145 pounds as he was recently matched up with Arnold Allen for the […]
Dan Hooker knows that he is not everyone’s cup of tea.
Dan Hooker is on a new journey in the UFC. After a successful run in the lightweight division, he is now heading down to featherweight. hooker has his first opportunity at 145 pounds as he was recently matched up with Arnold Allen for the UFC London event in March. Hooker’s journey at lightweight ended when he lost three of his last four in the division. Hooker fans may have been looking for an undisclosed reason for the slide, but Hooker has no excuses to give them.
“Nah, it just sounds like excuses at this point,” Hooker told The AllStar. “Excuses, to me, are like, there’s a lot of people that when you lose, fall off the bandwagon, and there’s a lot of people that are half in and half out,” said Hooker. “I feel like your excuses are to try and convince, or not even excuses, but if you give a reason, you’re almost trying to convince the people that are teetering on the edge of whether to support you or not support you, you’re trying to get them back on the bandwagon. That’s not my intention. If you don’t wanna support me, don’t support me.”
Hooker’s run in the 155-pound division wasn’t all bad. He put together a string of eight wins from 2017 to 2020 and put himself in line to fight some of the best in the UFC, including Dustin Poirier and Michael Chandler. This change-up of weight classes will be new hope for Hooker’s title aspirations. However, he is being realistic with his fans.
“I will admit, I will 100% admit, being a Dan Hooker fan is not an easy run, you know what I mean? It’s not like being a Khabib fan. That’s one guy in the history of this sport that has done that,” added Hooker. “Being a Dan Hooker fan is a tough road, and if you wanna be on that bandwagon, we take the bumpy road, we take the off-road; there’s cracks in our road, there’s bumps, there’s hills, but it’s fun. We’re here because we ride rollercoasters. We’re not here for smooth sailing. If you want smooth sailing, there are plenty of other fighters with nice, pretty records and 0s and this and that. That’s not what my story is about, that’s not why I do this, that’s not what I find fun.”
His first test at featherweight since 2014 will be a tough one. Allen is on a ten-fight winning streak and has not yet lost since entering the UFC. He is ranked seventh in the division, and Hooker will be looking to replace him in the top ten with a win in London.
Do you think Hooker will fair any better at featherweight than he did at lightweight?
UFC fan favorite Dan Hooker is ready to make a splash when he returns to featherweight, starting with an impressive performance against England’s Arnold Allen. Despite his recent run of form consisting of losses to some of the best lightweights in the world, Dustin Poirier, Michael Chandler, and Islam Makhachev, Hooker feels that to remain […]
UFC fan favorite Dan Hooker is ready to make a splash when he returns to featherweight, starting with an impressive performance against England’s Arnold Allen.
Despite his recent run of form consisting of losses to some of the best lightweights in the world, Dustin Poirier, Michael Chandler, and Islam Makhachev, Hooker feels that to remain in contention for UFC gold, he has to make a change.
While he initially targeted dream fights with “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung and Brian Ortega, Hooker has had to settle for a contender outside the top five. Nevertheless, a victory over Allen will certainly insert the New Zealander right into the title picture at featherweight.
Despite going 1-3 in his last four Octagon outings, Hooker isn’t returning to featherweight with the aim of taking easier matchups and rising the ranks slowly. He wants to get straight into the mix at 145 pounds and book dates with the top names in the division.
With Allen, that is exactly what he’s getting. The Englishman is unbeaten in the UFC. Across his unblemished 8-0 promotional record, the 28-year-old has established himself as one of the fastest-rising contenders thanks to victories over Makwan Amirkhani, Nik Lentz, and Sodiq Yusuff.
Discussing how the matchup came together in an interview with The AllStar, Hooker explained why Allen is the kind of opponent he usually accepts, while others tend to turn down.
“He is really good, but not like, a big name. I can see why I got that fight because I generally get the fights that other people don’t wanna take,” said Hooker. “That’s generally how I wind up with opponents… I feel like this is the situation with Arnold Allen, where he’s a super-talented fighter, very technical, well-rounded, and not the biggest name. Those are the difficult fights.”
While others have perhaps shied away from the challenge of defeating Allen, Hooker is excited by the prospect of becoming the first blemish on the #7-ranked contender’s résumé.
“For sure, it excites me to get out there and get the opportunity to stop that run, stop a run like that, undefeated in the UFC, 8-0. That’s a huge accomplishment in itself, to reach that sort of achievement, so the opportunity to get out there and stop it, and to take all of that momentum that he’s carrying off those eight wins and take it for myself, that’s what excites me about this fight.”
While he isn’t taking the task of handing Allen his first loss in MMA’s premier promotion lightly, Hooker is anticipating a place right in the mix among the featherweight elite if he is successful on March 19.
“Without a doubt, he’s #7 and he’s got all that hype,” added Hooker. “I’m not looking past Arnold or anything like that, but yeah, that (victory over Allen) gets you one of those big-name guys in the division, and that’s really like, my main motivation for going down to featherweight and for making the cut, to put myself straight back in the mix.”
Having previously gone 3-3 during his initial stint at featherweight in the UFC, Hooker will be after more consistency when he makes his return to the lighter weight class.
Who do you think will have their hand raised at UFC London, Dan Hooker or Arnold Allen?
Dan Hooker has stood by the comments he directed at Jon Jones, and suggested those who defend the former UFC light heavyweight champion are “f”cking idiots.”
In one of the more unlikely social media feuds in recent times, Hooker, a UFC veteran who …
Dan Hooker has stood by the comments he directed at Jon Jones, and suggested those who defend the former UFC light heavyweight champion are “f”cking idiots.”
After Jones appeared to mock Chael Sonnen’s December arrest and compared it to his own, Hooker defended the former two-division UFC title challenger and, in doing so, slammed Jones’ September incident.
Imagine beating up 5 people and not one of them is your wife. (JJones RN ?) https://t.co/Jzw6oVC640
In response to Hooker’s remarks, Jones suggested the New Zealander was only getting vocal because he was jealous of the former light heavyweight titleholder’s success.
“@danthehangman, every opportunity you’ve had to make a name for yourself and be closer to your boy Izzy, you dropped the ball. You can’t achieve greatness, so you hop online and attack someone who has. Sounds about right.”
Not one to back down, Hooker turned the attention back to Jones’ domestic violence charge.
Life hack: if you don’t beat up your wife, family events will be more enjoyable. Merry Xmas bitch. https://t.co/tc1uQNm8ov
After going back-and-forth with Jones on social media, Hooker appeared to have the last laugh after “Bones” deleted his post. Now, in an interview with John Hyon Ko for The AllStar, “The Hangman” has looked back on his interaction with his UFC peer.
Hooker’s takeaway from the incident? Don’t come for him when he’s at least two beers deep on Christmas Day.
“It is what it is. It’s the internet. Brendan Schaub was right, he’s not wrong. I feel like he (Jones) definitely didn’t receive a lot of criticism for the things he’s definitely done,” said Hooker. “But it wasn’t really until he bit back at me… I didn’t tag him in it or anything like that, then he decides Christmas Day to tag me in. Dan Hangman was drinking some beers on Christmas Day. It’s a bad day to come at me on Twitter. If I’ve had a couple beers, it’s a bad day to come at me because I’m gonna shoot back, and I’m not gonna bite my tongue as most people would.”
Ultimately, Hooker said he completely stands by his words, and while an official fight with Jones wouldn’t make sense, the fan-favorite New Zealander says he’d be open to a car park scrap if Jones still harbors ill will towards him, something he’d never back down from after criticizing someone publicly.
“I said what I said and I stand by it. I would never say anything about someone or to someone and not give them the opportunity to not punch me in the face,” added Hooker. “Do I have any kind of malice or ill will towards Jon Jones? Definitely not, I don’t spend any time thinking about Jon Jones, I couldn’t care less about Jon Jones. Would we have a fight? No, the fight would never make sense. Would I fight him in the car park? If he had a problem with me, of course, I would oblige.
Dan Hooker, Jon Jones
“I would never insult someone and not give them the opportunity to punch me in the face. That’s an entirely different discussion. But do I have any ill will towards Jon Jones? Nah, definitely not.”
Discussing how the exchange came about, Hooker said he was compelled to defend his “mentor” and “good guy” Sonnen after Jones attempted to group the retired fighter’s arrest, which seemingly came after he attempted to defend his wife, with his domestic violence charge.
“I don’t know too much about Jon Jones, you can only see what he’s done… It was more that Chael Sonnen’s my guy. That’s my guy. I view Chael as a mentor… He’s a good dude, he’s a great guy,” Hooker continued. “As Brendan Schaub said, those are two entirely different situations, and the way that Jon tried to portray it with Chael was that they were similar. He goes out his way to share the thing of Chael getting arrested.
“He’s trying to compare them but, there’s like, a definite line. To me, defending your wife from people insulting her is one of the most honorable things you could possibly do. And then to put hands on your wife is one of the most terrible things. This is just my viewpoint.”
I was triggered by your disingenuous attempt to bring attention to Chael’s situation. He was arrested for defending his wife, you were arrested for assaulting yours. ? & ?
In Hooker’s mind, the sides of the coin are simple; either you’re against domestic violence in all forms or you think it’s fine as long as the attacker is good at a sport. For “The Hangman,” those who follow the latter mindset are “f*cking idiots.”
“As far as I’m concerned from what I said, there’s like, only two arguments. that come to it, it’s people that think it’s not okay to physically abuse your spouse, and then the other side of it is people that think it’s okay if you’re really good at a sport. Those people are, excuse my French, those people are f*cking idiots, like, those people are just young and immature and not up to scratch. It’s just not okay… There’s no possible way you could convince me there’s any kind of exception,” concluded Hooker.
With his social media fight versus Jones now behind him, Hooker will turn his attention to his return to the Octagon. He’ll hope to push back towards contention when he moves down to 145 pounds to face Arnold Allen.
While his toughness and willingness to trade blows inside the cage have always been clear, the New Zealand brawler is evidently not afraid to bite back at his fellow fighters on Twitter when he thinks they’re in the wrong.
Dan Hooker is all systems go ahead of his return to 145 pounds against Arnold Allen on the upcoming UFC London card. Hooker announced the move back to featherweight after his loss to Islam Makhachev at UFC 267. Before that, he had earned a big win over Nasrat Haqparast at UFC 266 preceded by back-to-back […]
