2021 City Kickboxing Tracker: Dan Hooker Fights Again
Dan Hooker fights on Sunday. He's probably in the process of leaving Aotearoa and arriving in Las Vegas as I write this on Friday morning. From Hooker dipping down to the prelim portion on UFC 266 to the logistical nightmare, Hooker's fight vs Nasrat Haqparast in the UFC's lightweight division tells you all you need to know about how 2021 has generally looked for Team City Kickboxing.
Here's hoping that Hooker vs Haqparast actually happens. Haqparast has faced more adversity than Hooker in the lead up to this fight with the passing of his mother, while also battling visa issues like Hooker. That makes assessing this fight tricky, all we can do is assume these blokes show up in right banging mindset to throw down. The thing that should make Aotearoa proud to have Hooker as the Team CKB captain is that we know Hooker's ready to throw down and he's brushed off all logistical niggle with typical CKB stoicism.
Strikes Landed per Minute
Hooker: 4.95.
Haqparast: 5.81.
Striking Accuracy
Hooker: 48%.
Haqparast: 47%.
Average Takedowns per 15mins
Hooker: 0.72.
Haqparast: 0.18.
Throw down. Expect a fun striking battle and if Hooker’s in that zone he won’t need to try takedown his opponent. Hooker will have a chance to showcase the CKB arsenal of varied strikes and faints, thus opening up the CKB theme of freezing their opponent and shutting down their attacks. Think strikes coming from any where, stances switching and fakes mixed in.
After three wins, Hooker was able to shine in a loss to Dustin Poirier before an unfortunate first-round loss to Michael Chandler. That's why Hooker is likely to be fighting on ESPN prior to the pay-per-view in Aotearoa. Hooker is the penultimate fight of the prelim section, so he'll be fighting in the 2-3pm bracket on Sunday afternoon. This signals a dip down the lightweight pecking order after two losses, with the positive twist for Aotearoa as this fight is not on PPV.
This is not the first fight where a CKB fighter has had an extremely niggly preparation. That's been every fight since the pandemic swooped in and we most recently had Genah Fabian fighting in the Professional Fighting League with minimal CKB coaching support with here. Fabian essentially moved to USA for her PFL campaign, while CKB has previously locked down in the CKB marae - as Hooker tried to do this time around.
Hooker was kicked out of the CKB marae and his own gym by the coppers during Auckland's most recent lockdown. Some folks thought that spreading love and light meant stalking and snitching on Hooker's training at his own gym The Combat Academy. Then came the visa issues that have Hooker arriving a day or two ahead of a fight he really needs to win to stay in the lightweight upper echelon.
Hooker will need to make weight for this fight as he rushes through airports etc. Many CKB fighters are stepping up their media game (Israel Adesanya's Youtube is massive, Junior Fa does vlogs) and Brad Riddell has consistently been low key sharing wisdom. Here's a recent yarn with Riddell and The Fight Dietician, which is relevant here because TFD will be helping Hooker make weight through the chaos.
Whether it's the no fuss kiwi vibe, or how CKB are finding high quality support (food, breathing, strength and conditioning etc) to bring the best out of everyone; there is a lot to learn from observing Team CKB. They have quietly built a contender for best Aoteaora team culture and right now we are getting a prime example of how to push through adversity, get the job done and further develop mana.
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