Tag: Dan Hooker

Dan Hooker Takes Impressive Decision Win Over Nasrat Haqparast – UFC 266 Highlights

Dan HookerBack in the winner’s enclosure following a two-fight slide, City Kickboxing staple, Dan Hooker looked back to his sparkling best tonight opposite Hamburg prospect, Nasrat Haqparast en route to an impressive unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26) victory on the preliminary card of UFC 266. Sticking Haqparast to the fence throughout the opening round, Hooker managed […]

Dan Hooker

Back in the winner’s enclosure following a two-fight slide, City Kickboxing staple, Dan Hooker looked back to his sparkling best tonight opposite Hamburg prospect, Nasrat Haqparast en route to an impressive unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26) victory on the preliminary card of UFC 266.

Sticking Haqparast to the fence throughout the opening round, Hooker managed to pin the German-born upstart to the Octagon fence with his pressure mixed in with some well-placed and timed round kicks to the body as the former circled away.

Displaying his wrestling chaps throughout the second and third frames, Hooker managed to lodge an impressive three successful takedowns against Haqparast, establishing just over seven minutes of total control time as well as rather comfortably outstriking his foe.

Following the victory, Hooker offered his condolences to Haqparast and his family following the recent passing of his mother, as well as issuing a callout to surging Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu player, Beneil Dariush for his next Octagon walk.

Below, catch the highlights from Hooker’s impressive unanimous judging win over Haqparast.

Dan Hooker To Relocate To The U.S After UFC 266 Ordeal

Dan HookerDan Hooker went through hell to fight this Saturday, at UFC 266. Due to the hardships of attaining a work visa, getting to the fight was the biggest problem leading up to his fight. Hooker and his opponent Nasrat Haqparast, both had similar issues in the lead up to the fight. Both fighters struggled to […]

Dan Hooker

Dan Hooker went through hell to fight this Saturday, at UFC 266. Due to the hardships of attaining a work visa, getting to the fight was the biggest problem leading up to his fight.

Hooker and his opponent Nasrat Haqparast, both had similar issues in the lead up to the fight. Both fighters struggled to get visas due to the pandemic and the fight was up in the air just days ago. It is fantastic to see both men not only make it over in time for the fight, but also were one of the first fighters to step on the scale and make weight on Friday.

Hooker was in good spirits about the situation and showed up ready to do his job.

“I made the agreement when I signed the fight to make the weight, it’s just no question to it when it comes to me: Show up on weight. I agreed to come on this date, I agreed to be on this weight, I don’t see why changing the travel time would change that.” (MMAjunkie)

Hooker has had problems with COVID-19 and fighting during the entire pandemic. ‘The Hangman’ had to quarantine 6 weeks after his bout with Michael Chandler and was unable to see his family for the whole time. It has been a struggle for Hooker to train as well with the harsh COVID guidelines in New Zealand. When asked about a potential permanent move to the U.S, Hooker had this to say.

“Definitely, We had the discussion as a team now. There’s a lot of people that have been talking about it or thinking about it, myself of making a move stateside. But now we’ve had the discussion as a team. We’re kind of just planning the logistics of it. Obviously it’s going to be left up to our coaches, but yeah, it looks like me and the family will be moving stateside with the team. It has to happen. This last one was getting a little bit crazy.”

For now, it’s just great we get to see Hooker in action again at UFC 266. A permanent move to the U.S would do wonders for him if he is able to.

Are you excited to watch Hooker and Haqparast square up at UFC 266?

Dan Hooker Doesn’t Bite On Arman Tsarukyan’s Latest Callout

UFC lightweight Dan Hooker has responded dismissively to Arman Tsarukyan’s latest callout, which came after the 24-year-old’s victory at UFC Vegas 37. After a constant back-and-forth with Hooker leading up to their respective fights this month, Tsarukyan was the first of the two to be in action. On last weekend’s main card, the surging lightweight […]

Continue Reading Dan Hooker Doesn’t Bite On Arman Tsarukyan’s Latest Callout at MMA News.

UFC lightweight Dan Hooker has responded dismissively to Arman Tsarukyan’s latest callout, which came after the 24-year-old’s victory at UFC Vegas 37.

After a constant back-and-forth with Hooker leading up to their respective fights this month, Tsarukyan was the first of the two to be in action. On last weekend’s main card, the surging lightweight faced Christos Giagos.

Having secured three unanimous decision victories in a row, the Armenian-Russian was looking to establish himself as a contender with his first finish in the promotion. In emphatic fashion, he did just that, stopping ‘”The Spartan” with strikes inside the opening round.

In the build-up to his fourth consecutive victory, much of the talk had surrounded Tsarukyan’s ongoing rivalry with Hooker. The pair’s animosity began after the #13-ranked lightweight answered the 31-year-old’s UFC 266 open callout. Not long after, Tsarukyan’s clash with Giagos was announced.

The Georgian-born fighter then accused “The Hangman” of “ducking” him in an interview with MMA News. Hooker responded by branding his fellow 155–pound contender a “dumbass” for starting a feud with him when he already had a separate fight booked.

Even during his fight week, Tsarukyan kept some focus on Hooker. During UFC Vegas 37 media day, the 24-year-old made his feelings on the #8-ranked lightweight known, suggesting he wanted to “kill” him. It’s unsurprising, therefore, that Tsarukyan had Hooker’s name on his lips in his post-fight interview.

“You know, last four fights I had decisions. Sean Shelby said you have to finish if you want to grow up. Now, I did it and think I can fight top-10 or top-five guys. Let’s go, I’m ready! I want to beat Hooker. Let’s do it.”

During a recent appearance on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour, Hooker responded to Tsarukyan’s latest callout. The New Zealander said he’s too focused on his upcoming fight against Nasrat Haqparast to think about what comes next for him after UFC 266.

“Yeah, well, I will say man, I have been in a bit of a whirlwind. Yeah, I saw the callout and I was just like man I got enough on my plate. I have got enough on my plate to… I don’t have time to kind of think about what’s happening next. So yeah, I will get in there with Nasrat. That’s my hundred percent focus at the moment.” (h/t Sportskeeda)

It seems the state of the pair’s rivalry will be determined by Hooker’s clash with Haqparast at UFC 266 this weekend. The fight had been in jeopardy after “The Hangman” had to take to Twitter in a desperate bid to have his US visa approved in New Zealand.

Thankfully, the 31-year-old sorted his issues and looks set to arrive in Las Vegas for the pay-per-view later this week. But with Haqparast facing his own issues over in Germany, it doesn’t appear that the matchup is out of the woods just yet.

Would you like to see Dan Hooker and Arman Tsarukyan collide inside the Octagon?

Continue Reading Dan Hooker Doesn’t Bite On Arman Tsarukyan’s Latest Callout at MMA News.

Dan Hooker Pleads With US Ambassador to New Zealand for Visa Approval for UFC 266

UFC lightweight Dan Hooker reached out
to Kevin Covert, the charge d’affaires at the United States Embassy
in New Zealand, seeking help with his visa so he can…

UFC lightweight Dan Hooker reached out
to Kevin Covert, the charge d’affaires at the United States Embassy
in New Zealand, seeking help with his visa so he can…

Arman Tsarukyan On Dan Hooker: “I Wanna Kill This Guy”

UFC lightweight Arman Tsarukyan has further fueled his feud with Dan Hooker by suggesting he wants to “kill” the New Zealander. Despite having separate fights booked, the two 155-pound contenders have continued to go back-and-forth over social media and through interviews. Tsarukyan is set to be in action first out of the pair. He’ll meet […]

Continue Reading Arman Tsarukyan On Dan Hooker: “I Wanna Kill This Guy” at MMA News.

UFC lightweight Arman Tsarukyan has further fueled his feud with Dan Hooker by suggesting he wants to “kill” the New Zealander.

Despite having separate fights booked, the two 155-pound contenders have continued to go back-and-forth over social media and through interviews. Tsarukyan is set to be in action first out of the pair. He’ll meet Christos Giagos inside the Octagon on this weekend’s UFC Vegas 37 main card.

Tsarukyan, who is the #14-ranked man in the lightweight division, has racked up three consecutive wins since his defeat to Islam Makhachev in 2019. After starting 2021 with a decision victory over Matt Frevola, the Georgian-born Russian will be hoping to jump closer to the top-10 with a win on Saturday night.

Despite having an opponent in front of him, Tsarukyan still appears to have one eye on Hooker. After accepting the 31-year-old’s open challenge on Twitter, the surging lightweight accused Hooker of ducking him during an interview with MMA News‘ own James Lynch last month.

After being branded a “dumbass” in response, Tsarukyan has now revealed how personal their feud has become. While speaking to reporters at UFC Vegas 37 media day, the 24-year-old took a page out of Sean Strickland’s book by suggesting he wants to “kill” Hooker.

“I want to fight with Dan Hooker if he wins next Saturday. I want to beat this guy. He speaks a lot of bad words to me and I want to kill this guy. He’s a bullshit guy.”

Aside from wanting to fight Hooker because of the rivalry they’ve developed, Tsarukyan added that the matchup would be valuable for his progression up the lightweight ladder.

“It’s a good fight for me because he’s famous, he’s ranked, and if I beat him, I can get top-five, and from there, it’s easy to get a title shot.”

After clamouring for an opponent that would fight him at UFC 266, Hooker finally secured his place alongside his City Kickboxing teammate Alexander Volkanovski on this month’s pay-per-view card. On the prelims, “The Hangman” will face unranked German Nasrat Haqparast. Since a defeat to Drew Dober last January, the 26-year-old has won two straight against Alexander Munoz and Rafa Garcia.

On a stacked card that features Volkanovski, Brian Ortega, Valentina Shevchenko, Jairzinho Rozenstruik, Curtis Blaydes, and Marlon Moraes, Hooker will be hoping to rebound from his loss to Michael Chandler in emphatic fashion. If he does so, perhaps the animosity he shares with Tsarukyan can be settled inside the Octagon.

Would you like to see Dan Hooker and Arman Tsarukyan fight if both men win their fights this month?

Continue Reading Arman Tsarukyan On Dan Hooker: “I Wanna Kill This Guy” at MMA News.

Dan Hooker Believes Khabib’s Record & Résumé Will Never Be Duplicated

UFC lightweight Dan Hooker doesn’t believe anyone will be able to replicate the success of Khabib Nurmagomedov inside the Octagon. Khabib is widely regarded as one of the greatest fighters to have ever graced the sport of MMA. After arriving in t…

UFC lightweight Dan Hooker doesn’t believe anyone will be able to replicate the success of Khabib Nurmagomedov inside the Octagon. Khabib is widely regarded as one of the greatest fighters to have ever graced the sport of MMA. After arriving in the UFC in 2012 with a 17-0 record, “The Eagle” maintained his undefeated streak, […]

Continue Reading Dan Hooker Believes Khabib’s Record & Résumé Will Never Be Duplicated at MMA News.