Athletes
Dan Hooker: ‘Growth Doesn’t Happen In The Sunshine’
Dan Hooker Reflects On His Recent Setbacks Inside The Octagon And How He Approaches Mental Struggles Head On Ahead Of UFC 281: Adesanya vs Pereira
Over the last few years, four losses in five fights shifted Dan Hooker from a promising contender to the outskirts of the UFC lightweight rankings.
Losing to UFC 281 combatants Dustin Poirier and Michael Chandler in the span of seven months, Hooker rebounded with an impressive victory over Nasrat Haqparast and wasted no time throwing himself back in the fire, accepting a short notice bout against Islam Makhachev at UFC 267.
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The newly crowned 155-pound champ found success early, dragging Hooker to the mat before submitting him via Kimura halfway through the first round. And though it wasn’t the result Hooker was hoping for or needed to get closer to the lightweight title picture, “The Hangman” saw a new opportunity in a new weight class.
Top-ranked featherweight Arnold Allen needed an opponent, and having fought at 145 pounds earlier in his professional career, Hooker took the opportunity the second he could. But his stretch of poor performances continued, falling again in just half a round.
“I saw an opportunity to move myself closer to the title or put myself one fight away from a title shot,” Hooker said. “So, when I didn’t get the result in that contest, then there was no need to stay in that weight division.
Dan Hooker | Best Moments
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Dan Hooker | Best Moments
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“We’re in the sport of risk vs reward. If you take no risks, you get no rewards in this game. It’s not a game that rewards people playing it safe, so I can’t say I regret making that decision in any facet.”
Rather than shying away from the losses, he faced them head on. Over the last eight months, Hooker’s been reflecting on those results, reevaluating his decision making and figuring out where things went wrong.
UFC 281 Countdown: Full Episode | Adesanya vs Pereira | Esparza vs Weili | Poirier vs Chandler
“I processed all the reasons behind those mistakes,” Hooker said. “There were errors and mistakes that were made. There were poor decisions. It’s bad decision making. I didn’t try to hide from my losses. I confronted all those problems head-to-head, worked through them and fixed them, and improved them. That’s where [my] confidence comes from.”
Often, fighters reach this point in their career and don’t know where to go. Can they still hang with the cream of the crop or is it time to explore a new journey? For Hooker, these losses are just part of what has built him into the person and fighter he is today, and “The Hangman” is excited to enter a new chapter of his MMA journey stronger and more mature than ever before.
“Motivation shifts as you grow as a fighter,” Hooker said. “When I first got to the UFC, I was 24 years old, and I had no money, I was broke, so I was motivated by making a living for myself. Once you make yourself a comfortable living, you have to continually set new goals and new targets.
“Throughout that whole time, I used mixed martial arts fighting and combat sports as a mechanism to improve myself. That’s the main focus. I’m not so distracted by gold and money and fame, that’s not my motivation in this sport. From those losses and those difficult circumstances, there was a lot of growth. Growth doesn’t happen in the sunshine, it happens when you’re put in difficult circumstances, and they can either make or break you, and it made me. It made me so much stronger.
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“Those developments emotionally, physically and mentally are going to carry on for the rest of my life. It’s not as simple as, ‘They just made me a better fighter.’ It’s not as small as that. The bigger picture is that for the rest of my life I’m more mature and can handle difficult situations as they come, because that’s life. Difficult situations are going to continually happen in life, and I use fighting as a mechanism to practice. [Fighting] is very serious but it’s still not as bad as other difficult circumstances you’ll experience in life.”
There may be things harder than fighting, but an upcoming lightweight bout against Claudio Puelles at UFC 281: Adesanya vs Pereira is the next challenge on Hooker’s radar.
Dan Hooker Fight Week Interview | UFC 281: Adesanya vs Pereira
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Dan Hooker Fight Week Interview | UFC 281: Adesanya vs Pereira
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After a slip up in his UFC debut, Puelles has won five in a row heading into Madison Square Garden on Saturday, with hopes of taking Hooker’s No. 12 spot in the lightweight rankings. While drifting farther and farther away from the title picture, a victory over a promising up-and-comer can help shift the tide back in Hooker’s favor.
“He’s an exciting young kid,” Hooker said. “He’s on a good streak, he’s got a lot of momentum and he asked for this fight. I’m more than happy to oblige for that because obviously after a couple of losses, questions were asked [of me], but questions need to be asked when someone loses a couple of fights.
“It’s an opportunity to prove where I belong in the division. That question got asked, I’m happy to answer the question. Does this kid deserve to be ranked and do I deserve to be ranked, that’s the question being asked and that’s what I’m more than happy to answer. This fight is an opportunity to prove that there’s a skill gap between unranked guys and ranked guys.”
UFC EMBEDDED: Episode 1 | Episode 2 | Episode 3
Even if Hooker doesn’t put pressure upon himself, it’s been laid on him from his coaching staff at City Kickboxing in New Zealand. Competing alongside teammates Brad Riddell, Carlos Ulberg and middleweight champion Israel Adesanya this weekend, Hooker’s coaches emphasize that giving 100 percent doesn’t always earn you a victory, and they expect each of their pupils to reach a highest level of perfection on Saturday night.
“There’s pressure on me from my coaches,” Hooker said, “They definitely bring out the best in us. They demand perfection. Excellence wasn’t good enough. Simply coming out and trying my best is not good enough. You have to strive for perfection and that’s what I’m going to do in the fight.”
UFC 281: Adesanya vs Pereira took place live from Madison Square Garden in New York City on November 12, 2022. See the Final Results, Official Scorecards, and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC Fight Pass!
