Dan Hooker is still ‘upset’ about a loss he suffered six years ago and has explained his ‘hate’ for the Brazilian veteran who handed it to him.
Dan Hooker went through a recent rough patch in his UFC tenure where he couldn’t seem to put a run of wins together and struggled to build momentum.
Despite that, he has managed to pick up wins in his last two fights, scoring back-to-back wins for the first time since 2020.
His last outing came in July last year against Jalin Turner – who fights Renato Moicano this weekend at UFC 300 – where he picked up a split decision win, despite breaking his arm in the first round of that bout.
What could be next for Dan Hooker
‘The Hangman’ was scheduled to take on Bobby Green last December, but a reoccurrence of his arm injury ruled him out of that fight. Bobby Green went on to fight Jalin Turner on short notice where he was brutally finished.
Bobby Green takes on Jim Miller at UFC 300 on April 13th in a history-making appearance for Miller. If ‘King’ Green wins that fight, the UFC may look at rebooking Green and Hooker, as that is a fight the fans were excited about when it was originally announced.
Talking on the Free Stylebender YouTube channel, Hooker said: “I’ll fight him if he beats Jim (Miller) at UFC 300 and he gets on that microphone (and calls me out) I’ll fight him. It doesn’t make sense for the rankings which I don’t give a f*** about the rankings anyway but I feel I owe that one to the fans. We can fight at International Fight Week in June.”
Another possible opponent for the 34-year-old New Zealander is Renato Moicano. With a win over Jalin Tuner at UFC 300, ‘Money’ Moicano would be looking for another fight up the 155lb rankings, and Hooker is a name that may make sense for the Brazilian.
Dan Hooker still upset over 2018 loss to Edson Barboza
Despite the lightweight rankings including possible fun matchups for Hooker, he is still extremely upset about his loss to Edson Barboza back in 2018.
‘Junior’ Barboza scored a third-round stoppage over the 34-year-old, after putting on a dominating performance over the first few rounds.
‘The Hangman’ has mentioned how that is a fight he wants back, and has vowed to ‘kick his f****** chin off’ if the Brazilian ever returns to lightweight. Following his win over Hooker, the 38-year-old went on to lose his next to fights at 155lbs and decided to move down to featherweight where he has been ever since.
“F*** Edson Barboza, if he ever wants to fight again I’ll kick his f****** chin off. Every couple of months I message him ‘f*** you’. If you (Barboza) ever want to come back to lightweight I’ll knock your teeth out. I hate him because he beat the s*** out of me, of course I’m upset about it.” Hooker said on Israel Adesanya’s YouTube channel, Free Stylebender.
Although that is a fight Hooker wants back at some point, Barboza is scheduled to fight Lerone Murphy in the main event of the promotions Fight Night event on May 18th, and it’ll be the Brazilian’s seventh featherweight fight in a row.