Arman Tsarukyan is the odd man out in the UFC’s lightweight title picture but his most recent opponent isn’t buying that a pre-fight altercation between them played some part in him getting passed over.
Dan Hooker returned from a 15-month layoff for a main event fight against Tsarukyan at the first ever UFC Qatar event but ultimately suffered a second-round submission loss. The fight took place less than 24 hours after Tsarukayn headbutted Hooker at the weigh-ins, shattering his nose and sending him into the five-round fight with an unexpected injury.
In the aftermath of that incident, UFC CEO Dana White claimed Tsarukyan dropping out of a title shot during fight week back in January 2025 combined with the headbutt delivered to Hooker kept him out of getting another shot at the lightweight championship.
But even though he was the one who suffered the broken nose from the headbutt, Hooker isn’t so sure that’s what actually cost Tsarukyan his title shot.
“Maybe just no one was getting a title shot off that fight,” Hooker told MMA Fighting. “That leads me to believe that no one was getting a title shot off of that fight. It was just a bit of smoke and mirrors.
“They can’t be that pissed off at him. They gave him a $50,000 bonus for f*ck’s sake. You know what I mean?”
It’s true that Tsarukyan was rewarded with a post-fight bonus following his submission win while Hooker grew frustrated that he had to deal with UFC trying to micromanage the injury suffered before he ever set foot in the octagon.
Hooker revealed that the promotion wanted him to get medical clearance on his nose before booking his next fight against Benoit Saint Denis at UFC 325 but nobody seemed nearly as concerned when he fought with the same injury against Tsarukyan.
“The UFC is like ‘you’ve got to go to a specialist and get it cleared,’” Hooker said. “I was like f*cking shove that up your ass. It was from the weigh-in. I said you’re already letting me have one fight with it, what’s the difference letting me have another fight with it?
“He f*cking full head butts my nose, caves my nose. I get it. You don’t want to check it out. They check it out, they get a doctor to look at it, fight’s off. They lose their main event. I get it. I don’t want it checked out either. That’s why I didn’t say shit. After the fight, you want me to get it f*cking medically cleared, a weigh-in injury. It’s stupid.”
While the broken nose wasn’t ideal, Hooker says it’s really nothing new to him because he’s dealt with that injury in the past and chances are he’ll deal with it again in the future. That’s why it wasn’t a concern accepting the fight against Saint Denis at UFC 325.
“I’ve had so many broken noses, it’s not something huge,” Hooker said. “I think from 18 to 19 years old, I just had a broken nose. It’s never bloody worked. It’s not going to make too much of a difference at all now.”
As far as Tsarukyan being passed over for a title shot, Hooker believes that was already preordained before they ever clashed at UFC Qatar.
Using the headbutt as an excuse to keep Tsarukyan out of the title picture doesn’t make sense to Hooker and he’d prefer the UFC just told both of them a shot at a championship wasn’t in the cards with a win in their fight.
“Just say that the winner of me and Arman was never getting a title shot,” Hooker said. “I’m a big boy. I’ve got very thick skin. Neither of [Justin Gaethje or Paddy Pimblett] want to fight him. You’ve got the runner-up championship for the two guys that don’t want to fight Arman.”
With that fight behind him, Hooker is anxious to get back to action on Saturday and hopefully wipe the bad taste of defeat out of his mouth.
Never one to shy away from a challenge, Hooker didn’t blink when the UFC came calling with an offer to fight Tsarukyan in Qatar but looking back now he can honestly say he was dealing with some ring rust following a long layoff.
Hooker makes no excuses for his performance and he’s not taking away from Tsarukyan’s win but he plans to show a much better version of himself at UFC 325.
“Once I got back into the gym, because we’re a bit long in the tooth now, I usually take a little bit of time off between training camps,” Hooker explaind. “But because I took that fight so quickly, I got straight back into the gym and I’ve just been out so long. It was like a year and a half. That’s the longest I’ve sat out my entire life without a fight. It wasn’t until I got back in the gym for the next camp that I didn’t realize I was a bit rusty. My range was off. My timing was off. I feel like this camp, I’ve been able to find that distance and find that range again, which I hadn’t had.
“When you don’t fight for so long, you just get very impractical ideas about how everything works and then when you get in there you’re like oh, that’s right. It’s just hard and it is what it is. You try to knock some ring rust off against the No. 1 contender in the world, it’s a tough ask but I am who I am and I do what I do.”
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