‘The Hangman’ will have to wait a bit longer before looking to continue his lightweight resurgence in recent times.
Dan Hooker withdrew from his clash with Justin Gaethje at UFC 313 after announcing that he had suffered a hand injury during his training camp.
Whilst Hooker is certainly no stranger to overcoming injuries, he was expecting an all-out war with ‘The Highlight’ in their five-round co-main event on March 8.
It was devastating news for fight fans when the bout fell apart but it’s also the smart decision for the 35-year-old at this pivotal moment in his career.
Hooker did receive criticism from the likes of Arman Tsarukyan for pulling out but as he showed during a recent interview, his left hand was significantly swollen.
Dan Hooker says he hopes to be back for International Fight Week in June
During a recent appearance on Sky Sports New Zealand’s UFC show, Dan Hooker detailed the injury after the news had broke.
A lot of the talk on February 25 was about who could possibly replace ‘The Hangman’ to face Justin Gaethje in just over a week with several options putting their hands up.
Of course, the UFC could pull Gaethje from the card as well in order to rebook the fight at a later date and whilst Hooker doesn’t expect to be out long, he doesn’t think that ‘The Highlight’ will also stay on the side lines until he’s back.
Hooker said that he hopes to be back in time for International Fight Week in the summer which would give him four months to recover and go through another training camp.
This year, International Fight Week in Las Vegas will build to UFC 317 at the T-Mobile Arena on June 28 which currently doesn’t have any bouts announced.
“I don’t know if they’ll, Justin Gaethje is probably not going to wait that long. They might have found him my replacement by now but yeah, I’ll be back good to go International Fight Week. That’s June, back in Las Vegas, so that’s not too far away.
“I was expecting to take some pretty hefty damage in this fight and be recovering for quite a while so by the time International Fight Week comes around, it’s just a small fracture in my hand and we’ll get it sorted ASAP and be back in there in no time.”
Who could Dan Hooker face at UFC 317?
The option that the fans would probably vote for if Dan Hooker is going to fight on UFC 317 would simply be to rebook the Justin Gaethje fight because frankly, it doesn’t get much better than that.
Though the quick turnaround might rule this one out, there’s also the winner of the upcoming clash between Paddy Pimblett and Michael Chandler in April at UFC 314.
Even outside of these names, there are at least four other potential candidates that would make for huge fights against a returning ‘Hangman’.
A Dustin Poirier rematch would seemingly be off the table with ‘The Diamond’ targeting New Orleans for his last dance but first-time clashes with either Arman Tsarukyan, Charles Oliveira or Max Holloway would all be great matchups for one of the biggest cards of the year.