Dan Hooker believes he doesn’t thrive inside the octagon when he enters boasting confidence and considering himself the best.
Hooker gave fans and media a new perspective on how he excels in chaos and being the bad guy.
This weekend, ‘The Hangman’ will lock horns with Benoit Saint-Denis at the UFC 325 co-main event. Earlier this week, on media day, Hooker discussed his mindset after losses. The 35-year-old last suffered a loss in November 2025 at UFC Qatar, where he was submitted in Round 2 by Arman Tsarukyan.
During the media day sit-down, Dan Hooker confessed that he had his sights set on the title before his fight with top contender Tsarukyan and truly believed himself the best. However, the way he was beaten left him embarrassed.
Hooker then admitted that he doesn’t thrive when he’s chasing a belt. Instead, ‘The Hangman’ says he thrives in chaos, when his goal is to ‘ruin other fighters’ dreams.’ He said:
I went into the Arman fight with like the wrong frame of mind. Like, yeah, I’m the best. I’m the most skillful. This and that. That’s not where I thrive. I thrive… Yeah. I want to ruin his dreams. I said, I want to ruin his dreams. I want to take them from him. Um, and I asked the boys, I said, does that make me a bad person? And they said, ‘No, it doesn’t. No, it doesn’t.’ And I said, ‘They’re going to pay me a boatload of money to ruin people’s dreams, and I’m still a good guy. I found my niche, baby.'”
Check out Dan Hooker’s comments below (4:43):
This weekend, at UFC 325, Dan Hooker will have a chance to get back to the win column and halt Benoit Saint-Denis’ surge, and he wants to enter the octagon with the aforementioned mindset.
If Hooker gets past ‘God of War,’ there is a high probability that he will look to face Paddy Pimblett next, given the feud that’s been brewing between the two.
Dan Hooker wants to see Ilia Topuria vs. Arman Tsarukyan, suggests Justin Gaethje not to fight ‘El Matador’
Despite Justin Gaethje dismantling Paddy Pimblett this past weekend at UFC 324 and dominantly grabbing the interim lightweight title, Dan Hooker believes Gaethje should avoid facing champion Ilia Topuria. ‘The Hangman’ seemingly warned ‘The Highlight’ that the latter would suffer the same fate as Charles Oliveira, Max Holloway, and Alexander Volkanovski if he faces Topuria.
On media day, Hooker also asked the reporters in the room to raise their hand if they thought Gaethje would beat Topuria, and surprisingly, not a single hand went up for the current and two-time UFC 155-pound interim champ.
‘The Hangman’ then pushed for Arman Tsarukyan to get a title shot as he believes this is the perfect time to make this bout happen, as both Topuria and Tsarukyan are in their physical peak. He said:
The sport is all about timing and moment, but it’s just like Arman is in his physical peak, and Ilia is in his physical peak. We want to see the guys that are on streaking, having their moment, compete against each other at this time… One day, Ilia will not have momentum. Guys can get clipped and then they lose their momentum.”
Dan Hooker also added that while Ilia Topuria looks unstoppable right now, time waits for no one. Hence, sooner or later, time will catch up to Topuria, and he’ll get clipped, just like most champions before.
