Beaten Hooker back and ready for another shot
Despite being hospitalised after what many are calling the fight of the year, Kiwi UFC fighter Dan Hooker is feeling fresh and already planning his next move, albeit from managed isolation.
Hooker returned to New Zealand on Tuesday after losing a decision to American Dustin Poirier in a five-round war in Las Vegas.
Both men ended up in hospital after the fight – separated by just a curtain, in beds next to one another – where Hooker received stitches over his left eye before being cleared of any serious injuries.
Now back on home soil, Hooker told Stuff he feels ‘‘better than I do after much cleaner fights’’, and is already plotting his next move.
‘‘I think he must have only hit me in both my eyes because other than that, I feel really good [physically],’’ he said.
‘‘I want to fight again this year. Absolutely, and there’s a few fights I can see there – well that everyone can kind of see – that make sense for me.
‘‘[Charles] Oliveira is the fight, that fight really excites me.
‘‘I would assume Dustin [Poirier] will take on Tony Ferguson [ranked three], but now there’s talk Dustin might want to take the year off. I know Tony is ready, so I’d happily take the fight too.’’
Despite the loss on the judges’ score cards, Hooker lost no fans in his clash with Poirier and still sits at No 5 in the stacked lightweight division.
Oliveira is ranked sixth, and currently riding an impressive seven fight win streak.
‘‘If Dustin decides to sit out and Tony Ferguson is ready to go, obviously I will take the higher-ranked opponent,’’ Hooker said. ‘‘But if not, I’d love to fight Oliveira.
‘‘I have fought up [in the rankings] for a long time and coming off a loss, I’d happily take on a guy ranked just underneath me.’’
First things first, though, Hooker has another 13 days of managed isolation to get through, in Auckland’s Ellerslie.
On Tuesday, he posted a touching photo of him and his daughter, separated by fencing.
‘‘Look, it’s hard but honestly it worked out best-case scenario for me,’’ Hooker said.
‘‘It was all very much up in the air coming back. We had heard of people being chucked on buses to Rotorua, Christchurch all that.
‘‘But I’m lucky enough to be about five minutes from my house here, so the family can visit me pretty much every day so, yeah, I can’t complain honestly.’’