Dan ‘The Hangman’ Hooker (Ngāti Maniapoto) has knocked out hometown favourites before and is ready to play hometown spoiler again against one of England’s best featherweights, Arnold Allen, in the co-main event of UFC London this Sunday morning [NZ time].
Not only will it be the UFC’s first return to an international fight night event since pre-Covid-19 but it’s a return to his debut weight class for the Hangman as he goes from lightweight to featherweight.
Hooker hasn’t been in that class since 2016 and it's now stacked with big fight names like octagon veteran Max Holloway, fan-favourite Brian Ortega and fellow City Kickboxing teammate and featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski.
Ipswich’s “Almighty” Arnold Allen is ranked #7 in the featherweights and is riding an eight-fight win streak since his UFC career.
The pair met in one of their few face-offs for fight week yesterday, shaking hands before what will be an explosive showdown for fight fans on the weekend.
KO, 15 minutes, banana peel, or outclass
During his sit-down interview with the press yesterday, Hooker said, with the benefit of experience, he was “absolutely ready” for this fight to happen, no matter which way it goes.
“If it’s a knockout, drag-out to 15 minutes, I’ve been in a few of those, I can handle that. Whether I slip on a banana peel, if I’ve gotta go through some adversity, I can deal with that. Whether I go out there, as I’m expecting, and just purely outclass him – I’m prepared for that as well.”
The City Kickboxing fighter also acknowledged Arnold’s impressive win streak, which is currently the second-longest featherweight win streak behind Max Holloway’s 13 wins and icon Jose Aldo’s seven.
“He [Arnold] just hasn’t had that name. The guys that he’s beating are obviously world-class and incredibly talented but they still don’t have that drawing power.
“It’s a win-win situation for the UFC. You get a guy on a win-streak that beats someone with some name value, or they get a guy with some name value who takes that win streak.
Playing the villain
In the three UFC events that have been held in Auckland before, Hooker has played the hometown hero for his fights, which adds a crazy amount of pressure, he says. Of course, with this weekend, it's quite the opposite as he’s the villain in London.
“It’s a crazy amount of pressure like you wouldn’t believe. After the [Paul Felder fight] one I was like ‘I ain’t doing it,” he laughs. “When you’re the villain, you can go out and there’s no pressure. Everyone wants to see you lose so you can go out there, be free, be loose, be sharp and really be yourself.
“It does bring out the best in you, all of that pressure. Training is a lot more focused, you make a lot more, faster, mental jumps throughout that training camp, You’re squeezing every last drop that you can physically get out of it.
“But being at home, from experience, with 10,000 people that you know, you’ve met all of those people, you’ve got your friends, your family, you ain't ever gonna live that down. [If] you get sparked, flat, cold, in front of all of those people, you ain’t ever gonna live that down.
“That’s one hell of a lot of pressure, that’s gone well for me. But I’m surely glad it ain’t me sitting in that spot.
“Better him than me.”
It’s pressure for both fighters. Does the streak continue for Allen? Or does Hooker make an emphatic return to featherweight, conquer in enemy territory and end Allen’s record? Find out this Sunday morning, with the main card starting around 9am, NZ time, on ESPN.