Fans hoping to see all-action Kiwi Dan Hooker fight in Perth in late September better brace for disappointment.
The UFC has announced they'll be returning to Western Australia with a non-pay-per-view show on September 28 and Hooker revealed he was willing to fight on the card, despite potentially being underdone following a hand injury.
That was until he had his tickets to UFC 317 in Las Vegas pulled last month.
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“Obviously, it would’ve been cool to fight in Perth and to go back to Perth, headline with Arman [Tsarukyan], but that’s eight weeks…would’ve been a bit of a rush for the hand to be good and ready by then,” Hooker told Submission Radio.
“But I still was going to do it, just because I wanted to do it for the fans and do it for the UFC. I would’ve rushed back and fought when the hand wasn’t ready and still kind of recovering from that injury.”
Having flown to Las Vegas to support City Kickboxing teammate Kai Kara-France in his title fight with Alexandre Pantoja last month, Hooker believes he was punished for missing a UFC event.
“They tried to get me out of bed at 7:30 in the morning - the UFC booked me for some sh*t - which is three in the morning New Zealand time,” Hooker explained.
“I didn’t even go out. I had an early night, but I’m not getting out of bed at three in the morning to do just about anything. I slept in, and I didn’t go to the UFC thing.
“They cancelled my tickets to Kai’s fight and then so it’s like, I’m going to rush back and fight injured for a company that’s going to cancel my tickets to the event when I’ve travelled all the way to Las Vegas? I would have fought injured, but then someone at a desk has crossed my name off a list.
“The amount of blood, sweat, and tears I’ve poured into putting shows on for that company, I thought there would have been a bit more respect there. But there’s not, which is cool, business is business. We can fight on my terms then.
“I’m not going to break my back for a company that doesn’t respect me.”
Hooker, who is currently ranked sixth at 155-pounds, is hoping to face Arman Tsarukyan next, with the Madison Square Garden pay-per-view in November his preferred landing spot.
“The Hangman” also made his position clear with regards to fighting three rounds versus five.
“Twenty grand for an extra ten minutes is the going rate,” Hooker said.
“I’m a logical thinker. In what world do I get a half a million dollars for 15 minutes and then I get half a million dollars and 20 grand for half an hour?
“When I used to work at the bloody kitchen factory, do you think I did an eight-hour day and got paid a couple of hundred bucks and then I’m going to do twice as much work and get a fraction more money.
“If you want me to go to work for twice as long, pay me twice as much, that’s how that works.”