Despite having just celebrated his 10-year anniversary in the UFC, Dan ‘The Hangman’ Hooker is far from hanging up the gloves as he targets an underdog win in Perth followed by a Top 5 ranked opponent next.
Fan favorite veteran and #11 ranked lightweight Dan Hooker finally returns to action this weekend on the main card of UFC 305 in Perth against a Polish wrestling machine with a ‘sexy’ #5 next to his name.
Dan Hooker targets fight against Top 5 opponent after UFC 305
‘The Hangman’ is one of a handful of Top 15 lightweights on a winning streak and after calling out a whole host of big names for UFC 305 in Perth, Hooker hopes that a viral win this weekend puts him in pole position to fight one of the divisions’ household names next.
Speaking to media ahead of his clash with #5 ranked Mateusz ‘Gamer’ Gamrot, Hooker celebrated the matchup and the possibility of jumping back into title contention: “I love it brother, I love that sexy little number he’s got next to his name – that’s what I’m coming for.”
Should Hooker earn that statement win he’s searching for, especially via another viral finish, he expects that the tables will turn, and it’ll be him being called out by those big-name fighters ranked above him.
“They’ll have to brother, they’ll have to – [a win] that completely changes the direction [of lightweight]. Like a lot of the big names in the division are all coming off losses… Oliveira, Poirier, Gaethje, Chandler – all of these guys are going to want something I have which is a three-fight win streak.
“Who else is there? You ain’t getting a title shot off a loss, if you want to be next in line then what now? Arman’s next in line but who’s after that? It’ll be the winner of this weekend, [the winner] is the next guy.”
Whilst it’s unlikely that Hooker would be matched up against Arman Tsarukyan for the expected interim lightweight title fight later this year, a win over Gamrot could secure him a fight against former champion Charles Oliveira – who is partially responsible for his main card spot in Perth.
Hooker admits fake callout of Charles Oliveira ‘worked out well’ for him
Hooker vs Gamrot was the last fight added to UFC 305 and prior to the announcement, there were concerns that the promotion would choose to keep ‘The Hangman’ on the sidelines and away from action in Australia.
“I didn’t have a single name mentioned to me brother, that’s what my manager for,” Hooker stated, explaining how “I was just hellbent on being on this card, I just said I’ll fight any man on this card, get me the best bloke to put his hands up.”
In the hope of securing a fight in Perth, Hooker would appear on Fox Sports Australia with Alexander Volkanovski and out of nowhere, announced he’d be fighting Oliveira at UFC 305.
Whilst Hooker later admitted that he’d completely made the story up, the traction gained with the fanbase to see him fight in Perth would end with him securing the fight with Gamrot.
“They flew me over to do Volk’s show on Fox Sports, and we were on the show, and they asked Volk if he had anything coming up and he had to be like ‘Nah I ain’t got nothing coming up’, then they asked me and I didn’t want to be boring.
“So, I just kind of spun a bit of a yarn, I said ‘Well actually I do have something to announce’ – I could see the UFC PR team having an absolute panic attack in the corner, but it worked out well.”
Hooker noted that perhaps it was this demand from fans that pushed the UFC into changing their plans for him, sharing how “It might have worked in the end, if it sounds good to me, and it sounds good to the fans then why not?”
Dan Hooker vs Mateusz Gamrot takes place on the main card of UFC 305, scheduled to go down this Saturday live from the RAC Arena in Perth, Australia.