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Dan Hooker claimed he had a broken nose. Arman Tsarukian Headbutts him before they fight.
November, Tsarukyan defeats Hooker via submission in the second roundas ultimate fighting championship First time event held in Qatar.
Tsarukian crushed the New Zealander with an arm-triangle choke, cementing his status as the UFC’s No. 1 lightweight and ending Hooker’s three-fight win streak.
But there was drama at the pre-fight weigh-in. Tsarukyan, 29, headbutts Hooker, 35. Hooker didn’t talk much about the incident at the time, but now he’s opening up about the impact it may have had on him.
“I actually didn’t deal with it [the loss] Until I woke up in bed this morning,” Hook told The uncrowned king Monday, speaking ahead of Saturday’s game Benoit Saint-Denis exist Ultimate Fighting Championship 325. “I just keep compartmentalizing it.
“It’s not something I’ve really dealt with, and because I had another fight so quickly, you don’t really understand what went wrong. When this guy head-butted me at the weigh-in and broke my nose, it was pretty f*cking.
“It makes me angry, but you can’t be emotional at that stage of the fight. You’re obviously…man, I’m angry. I want to come back, but you’ve got to put it behind you and put it behind you. But I’m angry, man, I’m angry. It definitely puts me off.”
Hooker clarified that he didn’t know he had a broken nose until after the game, saying: “They scanned me after the game and took me to hospital. Their response was: ‘You have a broken nose.'” [I thought:] “C***, that was a weigh-in and had absolutely nothing to do with the competition.”
“Then, for this fight, they were like: ‘You have to prove medically that you’re okay [the nose] For this fight,” I flatly refused, brother. You’ve already made me quarrel with it, and now you’re going to stop me from quarreling with it?
“That was at the weigh-in, man, it had nothing to do with the fight. In what world can you slap a guy in the nose at the weigh-in and then they just… Yeah, he caught me. Hats off to him. I’m not even mad at Oman, that’s what it is.”
Tsarukyan’s emphatic win over Hooker seemed to confirm he was the next challenger for lightweight champion Ilia Topuria, but when the latter Announces temporary retirement from MMAthe UFC booked an interim title fight without Tsarukyan.
Instead, Justin Gaethje took over Paddy Pimblett Interim belt for Saturday, Point out Liverpudlians clashed with Topuria and further delayed Tsarukyan’s potential title bid.
“I feel bad, I like Oman now,” Hooker said. “He’s won me over as a fan. That’s the saddest part: The best years of his career were wasted, man. Wasted.”
“He should fight Ilya. Who doesn’t want to see that? Let’s be honest, everyone wears their honest hats. After watching Paddy vs. Gaethje, who the hell thinks Gaethje can beat Ilya?”
Some thought Charukian was overlooked for Saturday’s title fight because he headbutted Hooker. Meanwhile, UFC President Dana White It is suggested that Tsarukyan’s absence from the main picture is related to an episode from 12 months ago..
In January 2025, the Armenian withdrew from his title fight against Islam Makhachev after one day, citing a back injury. Makhachev then submitted Renato Moicano on short notice before relinquishing the title and moving up to welterweight, where he won more gold. Meanwhile, Topuria knocked out Charles Oliveira to win the vacant lightweight championship belt.
While Tsarukyan’s future as a title challenger is unclear, The same goes for Pimblitt after his one-sided loss to Gaethje. However, some fans may want to see Pimblitt against Hooker next, regardless of Hooker’s performance against St. Denis this weekend.
This month, Pimblett made vulgar comments about New Zealanders’ mothers and Hooker made a similar jibe at one of Pimblett’s late friends..