Dan Hooker is glad he’s now fighting Arman Tsarukyan at UFC Qatar.
Hooker was supposed to fight Justin Gaethje back in March, but an injury knocked him out of the fight. He will now take on Tsarukyan on Nov. 22 in the main event of UFC Qatar in a pivotal fight at lightweight.
Although Gaethje is more of a fan-favorite than Tsarukyan, Hooker explained why he prefers this fight over Gaethje.
“Justin Gaethje is not that guy, Justin Gaethje doesn’t get me to that guy (champion), Justin Gaethje just gets me a headache,” Hooker said to Sky Sports New Zealand. “Arman Tsarukyan is the path to the title. That’s the path to being the champ. That’s the path to being the best guy.”
The winner of Tsarukyan-Hooker likely does get the next title shot, so ‘The Hangman’ knows the importance of his fight.
Dan Hooker is a big underdog against Arman Tsarukyan at UFC Qatar
Although Dan Hooker is excited to face Arman Tsarukyan at UFC Qatar, he knows the fight won’t be easy.
Hooker is a +310 underdog, but Hooker has confidence in his skills that he can make this a dog fight and pull off an upset win.
“This fight excites me because they feel like he’s a lot better than I am,” Hooker said. “That’s why this fight excites me so much. It’s like anything good that I do. He’s going to start to look like more of an idiot. He was supposed to be this super freak athlete, title contender, the guy to beat Ilia Topuria, they’re hiding the champion from him. This is his story, and now he’s losing to Dan Hooker, the bloke from New Zealand who’s lost a third of his fights. It’s like anything I do, starts to make him look more and more human. I feel like he’s the one that has something to prove in the fight, and that’s a difficult spot for a fighter to be.”
Dan Hooker enters the bout with a record of 24-12. He’s coming off back-to-back split decision win over Mateusz Gamrot and Jalin Turner.
