Lightweight contender Dan Hooker suffered the second knockout loss of his career at the hands of Michael Chandler at UFC 257 in January. In a recent interview with the South China Morning Post, “The Hangman” admitted that while that loss was tough to deal with, he’s now itching to get back in the saddle.
“After a loss like that, of course, it’s disheartening,” he said. “That burning flame gets kinda extinguished for a bit and it goes back down to an ember. But the ember slowly starts burning again, and it starts getting bigger and turning into a fire. That’s just like that never-ending cycle of being a competitive martial artist.
“You get disheartened, the flame goes out. The ember burns bright again and turns back into a flame and you’re itching to fight. I feel like I’m in a position now where my body is healthy. I’ve had a good amount of time off. I’ve recovered well. Recovered like real quickly. I’m starting to get itchy.”
With no date yet for his return, the 31-year-old Auckland native already has two opponent names in mind.
“Obviously, there’s only two real names out there at the moment and that’s Gaethje or RDA,” he said. “Gaethje, I feel will sit and wait. His most recent defeat is to Khabib [Nurmagmedov]. Like a lot of people, if you give that enough time, he’ll brush that off.”
“Gaethje right now is in a position for a huge opportunity. It would be dangerous for him to fight a guy like RDA. It’ll be very dangerous for him to fight a guy like me and give me an opportunity to jump the queue again and get in a position like that.”
Hooker made it clear that a fight with Gaethje is his number one priority. If he fails to secure the said matchup, then he will revert his attention to RDA.
“That’s a fight I would like,” Hooker said of dos Anjos. “That’s a former champion. Coming back beating [Paul] Felder. He did incredible in that fight. Behind Gaethje, [he] would be number one on my list.”
The number two-ranked Gaethje hasn’t fought since he was put to sleep by Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 254 in October. The number seven-ranked dos Anjos, meanwhile, is coming off a Fight of the Night win over Paul Felder in November.
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