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ABU DHABI – Dan Hooker is looking forward to sharing the stage with his fellow lightweight contenders at the UFC 257 press conference, but hopes he won’t be embarrassed in the process.
Ahead of Saturday’s pay-per-view event, Hooker (20-9 MMA, 10-5 UFC) is set to attend a pre-fight press conference on Thursday with his main event co-opponent Michael Chandler (21-5 MMA, 0-0 UFC), as well as headliners Dustin Poirier (26-6 MMA, 18-5 UFC) and Conor McGregor (22-4 MMA, 10-2 UFC).
Press conferences involving McGregor tend to be very eventful, and history has shown that no one is immune to the verbal onslaught of the brash Irishman. Hooker said he can’t wait to see what happens.
“To be honest I’m a fan of the sport – it will be pretty surreal to sit with these guys at a press conference as huge as this one,” Hooker told MMA Junkie on Sunday. “I don’t think about it too much. I’m not the type to walk away and practice my lines in the mirror or anything like that. I’ll take it as it comes. Ninety-nine percent of the focus will be on Conor, what he’s going to do and what he’s going to say.
Hooker is never shy about getting involved in jokes, and while he’s not McGregor’s opponent at UFC 257, he knows he has to be ready for anything from “The Notorious “.
“You have to be on your toes,” Hooker said. “You don’t want to know ‘Who is this (curse) this guy?’ or something like that. He could throw you in the box in one line.
Although Hooker finds himself on the same stage as Poirier and McGregor, he naturally focuses on the fight at hand. He said he looks forward to seeing what three-time Bellator champion Chandler represents when they share the octagon, and thinks it’s a fight that will reveal a lot about himself and his opponent.
“It’s going to be pretty obvious because the play is pretty obvious,” Hooker said. “He has to put me on his back, he has to support me and get inside. If he can’t do this, and he can’t do it early, he’ll start to get into trouble. I think by the end of the first round it will be pretty clear how this fight is going to play out.
UFC 257 takes place on Saturday, January 23 at Etihad Arena on Yas Island. The main card airs on ESPN + pay-per-view after preliminaries on ESPN and ESPN +.
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