Dan Hooker (right) currently sits at No8 in the UFC lightweight rankings. Photo / Getty Images
Dan Hooker was at a crossroads.
With a voucher to get into a managed isolation and quarantine facility on October 4, the Kiwi UFC lightweight contender was firmly set on making his return at UFC 266 in Las Vegas on September 26.
But when he asked for an opponent, the UFC matchmakers struggled to find a fight that made sense for Hooker – who is currently ranked No 8 in the division. Hooker put the call out.
"I had heard from the UFC that they were struggling to get me anyone in the rankings, so I put it out there," Hooker explained. "I said 'this is the date. It's the UFC, man; it's the whole world, there's got to be someone'.
"So, I put it out there – 'top five, top 10, top 15, unranked, I couldn't care. I'm fighting on that date; who wants to get after it?'"
He received a reply from Nasrat Haqparast – an impressive, but unranked, UFC fighter out of Germany. With a 5-2 UFC record (13-3 overall), Haqparast is a strong striker who has been on the verge of cracking into the top 15 of the division in recent years.
"I set that date 10 weeks out from that fight. I went around and told everyone I could possibly tell that I was fighting on that date and the reason it's happening is because I made it happen. That's the only reason this fight has come together.
"I searched top to bottom in the rankings; no one with a ranking was, let's say free, or were washing their hair or something like that, so I've got Nasrat who is unranked, but definitely has the calibre of a ranked fighter. He has the skillset to compete with any of the guys in the division so I'm excited to get out there and compete."
For Hooker, who last fought in January, it became a choice between two risky options: put his place in the rankings on the line against an unranked opponent, or release his MIQ voucher back into the pool and wait for a ranked opponent to be free, with the hope of lucking into an MIQ voucher later in the year.
It was an obvious choice.
"It would have been very dicey had I not got that fight. The likes of [UFC flyweight] Kai [Kara-France] who is going over in December, he doesn't have a voucher to return home, and you're reading stories about Kiwis getting stuck overseas for months trying to return home, burning through money on accommodation and living overseas. That's not a risk I wanted to take, so I'm thankful this fight came together and it's all locked in now.
"That's another one of the boxes ticked. At the stage we're at now, we're pretty much halfway through training camp so I have put a terrible amount of time and effort into preparing for a match up and making sure I've got no stone left unturned. So, I feel confident and now to have the name, to have to contract and to have everything locked in, it's a new boost of energy for the training."
Hooker is deep into training camp, with the bout now just a month away. With New Zealand going into a Level 4 lockdown this month, Hooker and a number of other fighters and coaches from Auckland's City Kickboxing committed to living in the gym in order to continue their preparations without issue.
The same setup was implemented last year when the country went into alert Level 4 while Israel Adesanya, Kai Kara-France, Brad Riddell and Shane Young were preparing for UFC bouts of their own.
"When the lockdown got announced, Euge (City Kickboxing coach Eugene Bareman) put the call out for anyone that could lend a hand and were willing to be away from their family, if they could come in and help myself and a couple of other guys who have fights coming up; bubble up at the gym, make that commitment to the team.
"Lucky enough there was a good group of guys who obliged and have given up time with their families to come in here and help me prepare for my fight."