It's a similar situation to the one Hooker found himself in last year when he travelled to Las Vegas for his main event bout against Dustin Poirier in June. For that bout, Hooker said he was able to go through the visa process within a matter of days thanks to then-ambassador Scott Brown.
"I thought if it got to this point, [I'd say] this is out of my control, I've done everything I possibly can to stay in this fight," Hooker said.
"Now I'm at that point, I'm not accepting it. I'm just not accepting it – I will try absolutely everyone I can because I know from experience that it's possible; I know the ambassador can get the job done."
It's the latest obstacle to come up on Hooker's road to his next bout. The 31-year-old had been preparing for a fight for some time before he was finally matched up against the unranked Haqparast, and toward the back end of training camp he was twice warned by police for training with teammates – despite having created a bubble at Auckland's City Kickboxing before the level 4 lockdown came into force.
While heeding the warnings of police and taking training to zoom meeting with coaches and working on his fitness, Hooker said he had received many messages from people in Auckland who were looking to him for inspiration through lockdown.
"Trust me, if you live around the suburbs where I live, you would've seen me running around like crazy. Everyone in my local neighbourhood, I think, knows where I live; they're tooting out and supporting me.
"I did a lot of heavy lifting pretty early on; I've been trying to fight for the last five or six months so I've been in the gym really grinding. I feel like I have all of the hard rounds in the bank, I just need to stay fit, stay sharp, and I need to get over there.
"For me to just turn around and quit when I've got all these people looking at me, it's just not an option as far as I'm concerned."
