Dan Hooker walks into UFC 325 with a home-field advantage, and he’s loving every minute of it.
Emanating from Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Saturday’s highly anticipated return to The Land Down Under will be co-headlined by a lightweight clash between Hooker and streaking knockout artist Benoit Saint-Denis.
While he hails from Auckland, New Zealand, the ‘Hangman’ sees fighting in Sydney as a hometown fight without all of the hometown pressure.
“Yeah, I’m looking that this is a hometown fight without the hometown pressure,” Hooker told MMA Junkie. “It’s the support here is absolutely incredible. When Australia and New Zealand go to war, they go to war together as the ANZACs, so it’s like that when we’re taking on the rest of the world… I jumped on this fight because it is here in Sydney and it is close to home and I wanted to be a part of this card.
“I knew Volk was the main event and I wanted to jump on and just be a part of it, and it’s been incredible being here in Sydney. I’m really glad that I did this.”
Dan Hooker expects Saint-Denis to grapple in co-main event clash
A winner in three of his last four, Hooker currently sits as the sixth-ranked contender in the lightweight division. Previously, he rattled off three straight wins before suffering a first-round loss against No. 1 ranked Arman Tsarukyan in November.
As for his opponent, Saint-Denis has dispatched his last three opponents, including an epic 16-second knockout of Beneil Dariush at UFC 322 last year.
“Smart money would say he’s going to try and take me down,” Hooker said of Saint-Denis. “Fights are generally dictated by who can press who against the cage or who can stay out in the open. I obviously want to stay out in the open and keep it on my feet.
“He 100 percent wants to press me against the cage and get some control time and take the fight where he has the advantage. He’s a smart man. I don’t take him as a stupid man. I don’t think that he’s going to come all this way to stand in the pocket and swing punches with me. I don’t think that’s a very smart move to do, and I calculate him as a very smart man.”
