Ngāti Maniapoto UFC lightweight Dan Hooker has booked his next fight inside the cage, back under the bright lights of Las Vegas at UFC 285 on March 4.
It's a fight he says has a "100% chance of chaos" when he faces Jalin Turner.
It's his first fight of 2023 following his emphatic second-round TKO over unranked Peruvian fighter Claudio Puelles in New York City last November. On March 4, it's the No. 11 ranked 'Hangman' facing number 10.
His wishes to be part of the UFC's return to Perth were ultimately not granted, after laying down the gauntlet to any fighter to step inside the cage with him on the UFC 284 card across the ditch in February. According to the NZ Herald's Christopher Reive, UFC matchmakers wanted to pit Hooker against a ranked opponent but it was hard to get one to travel so far to Australia.
Turner has faced a City Kickboxing fighter before - and on the same fight card as Hooker in November, beating Hooker's teammate Brad Riddell by first-round submission. It counts towards his six wins out of eight UFC appearances.
Hooker joins another stacked card main evented by a heavyweight title fight between French colossus Cyril Gane and the returning Jon Jones who makes a jump up a division from light heavyweight. It will be Jones' first UFC fight since 2020.
