Hooker Vs. Haqparast Added To UFC 266

Dan Hooker will be leaving New Zealand to take on the tough but unranked Haqparast in yet another solid addition to the UFC’s September 25th PPV event.

Dan Hooker will return to action at UFC 266 on September 25th against Nasrat Haqparast. The fight, originally reported by BJPenn.com earlier this week, was confirmed by the UFC during UFC Vegas 34.

The New Zealand fighter has been vocal about wanting to get back in the cage, and who wouldn’t want to after the disappointing way his 2021 started: with a first round knockout to Michael Chandler at UFC 257 in January. Before that, Hooker lost a hard fought decision to Dustin Poirier in June of 2020.

Those two losses have dropped “The Hangman” out of the lightweight top five down to #8 ranking. A lot of fighters are only looking to compete against people higher than them on the ladder, but that doesn’t seem to be the case for Hooker, whose opponent Nasrat Haqparast is unranked and 5-2 UFC (13-3 UFC).

It will be interesting to see how big of a sacrifice it will be for Hooker to head out to Las Vegas for UFC 266. New Zealand is currently trying to stem a breakout of COVID-19 inside their borders, and there aren’t a lot of travel vouchers available to allow Dan back into the country once he leaves.

Following his UFC 257 loss, Hooker was stuck in limbo away from his family for over 50 days. With restrictions only tightening, he may want to hope for a definitive win and quick turnaround stateside rather than a return home.

Hooker’s addition is just an extra cherry on top of a nice sundae for hardcore fight fans. Headlined by Alexander Volkanovski vs. Brien Ortega for the featherweight title, the card also features Valentina Shevchenko vs. Lauren Murphy for the women’s flyweight title and a rematch between Nick Diaz and Robbie Lawler.