“You naturally expect your arm to come up and protect your head, so I was surprised. But that’s the blessing of experience; I’ve been in that exact position before and you just know to keep your wits about you and keep your composure about you. The storm passes.”
Hooker will undergo surgery on his forearm on Thursday in the States before returning home at the weekend. He is yet to learn just how long the injury will keep him out of action for.
While his arm needs an operation, his broken orbital bone will not need to be repaired surgically. It is expected to heal naturally over the next six weeks.
“There’s a lot up in the air, but taking lessons from experience, I just won’t rush that time as I have done in the past,” Hooker said.
“I’ll just take my time to heal and make sure I’m back to 100 per cent before I get in there again.”
The head kick was a moment in the fight that could have swung things for Turner, it instead lit a fire under Hooker as he knew he had to get it back. He did, with a flurry on the feet before ending the round with Turner locked in a fight-ending chokehold when the bell sounded.
Hooker looked to finish the fight in the third, dropping Turner early, but said in the process he felt his broken ulna completely go out of place. He played it smart from there, controlling Turner on the ground to earn the decision.
The win saw Hooker move back inside the top 10 of the UFC lightweight rankings, squashing any suggestion of the 33-year-old being on a downward trend.
“I’m not surprised. It’s just to go out there and prove to everyone else what you know you’re capable of. I was fairly confident coming into the fight that that’s how the result would’ve been – getting my hand raised – so I’m not at all surprised.
“I’m just excited for the future and what comes next. There’s big things in the future and hopefully we can drag UFC again back to New Zealand early next year.”
