Hooker keen to return to work
He may have just taken part in one of the toughest fights of his career, but Kiwi UFC star Dan Hooker is looking to get straight back to work.
Hooker overcame American lightweight Paul Felder in a gruelling fiveround war at Spark Arena on Sunday, taking the splitdecision victory in the main event of the UFC’s return to his hometown of Auckland.
Both fighters sustained plenty of damage – Felder’s left eye was swollen shut while Hooker had a badly swollen jaw
– and were taken to hospital after the fight for observation. But after being cleared of any serious injury, ‘‘The Hangman’’ was already thinking about returning to the gym.
‘‘I’m good. We both went to the hospital, got all checked out, all scanned, nothing’s broken, nothing serious,’’ he told ESPN. ‘‘Just a few bumps and bruises and I’ll be back to training by the end of the week by the looks.’’
Following the bout, Hooker shared a photo of him and Felder together in hospital with the caption: ‘‘At the end of the day we are just a couple dads putting bread on the table’’.
After a sometimes hostile buildup, the Kiwi said there was now nothing but respect between the pair. ‘‘We just wished each other luck for the future.
There was no animosity. It’s different when you get in there with a guy for 25 minutes, we earned each other’s respect.’’
Hooker was one of three Kiwis to win on the day, all from Auckland gym City Kickboxing. Flyweight Kai KaraFrance recorded a unanimous decision over Tyson Nam before team-mate Brad Riddell claimed an entertaining split decision against Russian lightweight Magomed Mustafaev.
The main event was a close contest with Hooker taking an early lead before Felder surged back.
Revised UFC stats showed Hooker edge the significant strike count 122-110, while completing a crucial takedown in the final round.
He praised Felder’s toughness but after watching the replay he was confident the judges had made the right decision. ‘‘I’m comfortable that I got the win . . . I thought I won the first, second, third and the fifth round.’’
Hooker has won seven of his last eight fights and is expected to move into the top five of the lightweight division. He set his sights on No 4-ranked Justin Gaethje immediately following Sunday’s bout. However, with Gaethje rumoured to be closing in on a date with Conor McGregor, Hooker felt Dustin Poirier, who is coming off a failed title shot against Khabib Nurmagomedov, was the other option.