PERTH, Australia – There’s a very simple reason [autotag]Dan Hooker[/autotag] loves the matchup he has Saturday.
It’s a numbers game, and as far as Hooker is concerned, he wants to play the Mateusz Gamrot game because there’s nothing stupid about the prizes that could result from a win.
Hooker (23-12 MMA, 13-8 UFC) takes on Gamrot (24-2 MMA, 7-2 UFC) in the featured bout spot on the UFC 305 (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+) main card at RAC Arena in Perth, Australia, and there’s no mistaking his intentions.
“I love him, bubba,” Hooker said at Thursday’s media day for the event in Perth. “I love that sexy little number he’s got next to his name. That’s all I’m coming for.”
Gamrot currently sits at No. 5 in the UFC’s official lightweight rankings. Hooker is back in the middle of the pack at No. 11. Arman Tsarukyan will take a shot at champ Islam Makhachev next, and the usual suspects like Charles Oliveira, Justin Gaethje, Dustin Poirier and Michael Chandler are among the 155-pounders lurking at the top.
If it seems like Hooker has been around the UFC proverbially forever, it’s because he practically has been. He passed the 10-year service mark in the company earlier this year. And while he’s long been a contender, he hasn’t gotten over the hump in the big ones yet.
Case in point, after a four-fight winning streak of finishes in 2017-2018, he lost to Edson Barboza. He built back up with three more wins, but then dropped fights to Poirier and Chandler. after a bounce-back against Nasrat Haqparast, he lost to Makhachev on his way to the title, then Arnold Allen.
But in late 2022, the New Zealander thrilled the crowd at the Madison Square Garden combat sports mecca with a body-kick knockout of Claudio Puelles. And in July 2023, he took a split call from Jalin Turner in a fight he kept despite Turner’s missed weight.
Because he feels like he’s had very little introduction to high-level MMA before he was thrown into the deep end, Hooker thinks the world is about to see the puzzle pieces finally in place.
“I’ve had to do my development against the best guys in the world,” Hooker said. “You’re obviously trying new things … I’ve just constantly been working on things, and I feel like everything’s just coming together now where where I can showcase a finished product.
“I feel like I just got good in the last year. So it’s like, ‘Well, I’m going to quit now when I just got good’ – it doesn’t make any sense.”
That’s why Hooker didn’t let a broken arm late last year derail him too much, since it happened right after he had a mostly full training camp for King Green. To run his winning streak to three and stay in the picture without a setback, though, he’ll have to come through as a bigger betting underdog than he’s ever been.
Check out Hooker’s full media day interview above.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 305.