- Dan Hooker is taking full responsibility for reinjuring his arm which forced him to pull out from his UFC Austin bout with Bobby Green
- “The Hangman” hopes to be fully-recovered for a possible return, preferably at UFC 300
Dan Hooker was gearing up for a showdown with Bobby Green at UFC Austin when he unfortunately suffered an arm injury in training. “The Hangman” has now been pulled out of the card but he is looking forward to recovering just in time to be possibly included in the much-awaited UFC 300.
It hit the same spot
Speaking to Submission Radio, Hooker expounded on his injury and revealed that it was caused by a kick that he blocked during a hard sparring session. What’s even worse, “The Hangman” said the injured arm was the same arm he fractured following his UFC 290 victory over Jalin Turner in July. However, he will find more after the results of the examinations come out.
“Sparring yesterday, blocked a bit of a kick, went in for an X-ray, she’s casted,” Hooker summed up. “It just broke in the same place. It kind of is what it is. I took a risk. I obviously was coming back a little quicker than… yeah, it’s all on me, brother. I rushed to come back. I wanted to fight and I knew the risk of coming back that quickly and we rolled the dice, we come up snake eyes, baby… I’ve blocked thousand kicks in the last couple of months and just one hit on the right spot and it just… it is what it is.”
“I’m not sure yet [if it’s really the same] like I went and met with a surgeon yesterday… I’m going to hear back today about like what the actual story is so we’ll find out… He said there’s like two things it’s either broken in the exact same spot which means that just the bone didn’t fuse properly. The bone was never fused properly and it was like inevitable that this was going to happen again or it’s a new break,” he added.
Just move on and maybe return at UFC 300
Despite the uncertainty, Hooker remains positive and is even looking forward to his return. If nothing goes south, “The Hangman” is expecting to be fully recovered for a possible UFC 300 booking.
“I was just that close. I could smell it, I could taste it, I could feel the crowd. I was on fire,” Hooker reflected. “When you get that close, you can taste the air of the arena, you can put your being in there, you can feel how it’s gonna play out and to be that close and not get it is … but hey. It just makes you hungrier for the next one.”
“I took a risk, I’ll just go back, get it healed properly, and I’ll be back. UFC 300’s in five months. That’s a good target. Everything happens for a reason. That one wasn’t meant to be. That’s a comfortable target for three months of rehab and the training camp so onto the future,” he added.
Dan feels like he could be the BMF
Prior to the injury, Hooker somewhat created a narrative that his fight with Green was a BMF title eliminator bout. When asked to explain more about it, “The Hangman” admitted that it’s just kind of what he feels about it even though that wasn’t really the case. He also thinks that Green may have been feeling the same thing about it as well.
“That’s the people’s title you know what I mean, like if you call your own shots with a thing like that, I feel like Bobby was thinking the exact same thing I was thinking,” Hooker confided.
Hooker has established himself as one of the most exciting fighters in the lightweight division. With that in mind, it wouldn’t be a surprise if the UFC indeed considers booking him for a UFC 300 bout.
As it stands, Hooker is coming off back-to-back wins and is currently the No. 9 contender in the lightweight division.
Check out Hooker’s full interview below:
