Dan Hooker insists he is not bothered by the head clash with Arman Tsarukyan that left him with a broken nose and visible facial damage ahead of his UFC return against Benoît Saint‑Denis.
Speaking Submission Radio, released in January 2025, Hooker explained that he had no interest in seeking any medical clearance or using the incident as an excuse after the bout. He recalled how the clash happened during fight week and how he chose to simply move on rather than push the issue with the promotion or commission.
Dan Hooker Dismisses Arman Tsarukyan Head Clash Drama
“I don’t care that he head‑butted me. I don’t care that he broke my nose. I wasn’t going to go to the doctor and get clearance for something. They already let me have one fight with it. I’m not clearing an injury I got at weigh‑in, you know what I mean? If it’s not that big of a deal, it’s not that big of a deal, let’s sweep it under the rug and move on,” Hooker said, referring to the Tsarukyan fight and his willingness to compete despite the damage.
The lightweight contender went into more detail on how the damage actually occurred once the fight began. According to Hooker, Tsarukyan’s knee was not the main cause of the swelling that showed up in post‑fight photos. “To him say the knee hit me… the knee clipped just above my eyebrow and it must have clipped a blood vessel and then that’s where all the swelling came from. It wasn’t really a lot of damage, you know what I mean?” he explained, clarifying that the visuals from the bout looked worse than the real impact.
Hooker also addressed a social media post from Tsarukyan, who shared photos of Hooker’s battered face and framed it as proof of how one‑sided the fight had been. Hooker pushed back on that narrative, pointing out that he is back in camp, booked for a high‑profile fight in Miami, while Tsarukyan is likely facing a longer spell on the sidelines after his title‑eliminator win over Charles Oliveira at UFC 300. Tsarukyan is currently positioned as a top contender in the UFC lightweight division following that win and his controversial title fight loss to Islam Makhachev at UFC 302.
“He shares a post of me busted up and being like, ‘Look at what I did to you. I beat you up so bad that you’re now fighting two months later, probably eight months before I ever get to fight again.’ I’ll probably have two, three fights before I ever… like, I get past BSD, there’s still no one in the division ranked between me and him that’s going to fight him,” Hooker said, highlighting the logjam between Tsarukyan’s rank and his own.
Hooker soon faces Benoît Saint-Denis at UFC 325 in a matchup that could propel him back into the title conversation with a win over the surging French contender.
From Hooker’s perspective, both men remain stuck in a similar spot at 155 pounds despite Tsarukyan’s recent surge. “We’re in the same exact position. That’s why I tweeted him back, I was just like, ‘Yeah, you’re trying to make fun of me, like, look at what I did to you, and in four days’ time I’m going to be closer to a title than you are, bro.’”
