Dan Hooker believes there’s at least one contender that UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev wants no part of.
In the main event of UFC Austin, Arman Tsarukyan made short work of Beneil Dariush to pick up his third straight win and push himself one step closer to a lightweight title shot. Makhachev currently awaits his next challenger, which could come in the form of “BMF” champion Justin Gaethje or past opponent Charles Oliveira.
Tsarukyan likely needs one more win to earn a shot at Makhachev, the man who defeated him in his UFC debut back in 2019, but Hooker doesn’t think that the streaking Tsarukyan should hold his breath waiting for that rematch.
“Yeah, they had a pretty close fight in the first one,” Hooker said on The MMA Hour. “Yeah, [Tsarukyan] could beat him. [Islam’s] not going to fight him. I guarantee he’ll retire by the time Arman gets there, for sure. It’s too risky, there’s too much risk. There’s too many other easier fights out there that he’d rather fight. There’s easier fights out there, stylistically.
“There are bigger names. No one’s going to buy an Arman Tsarukyan pay-per-view, come on. No one’s tuning in to the press conference. No one’s giving $80 for the pay-per-view. You’d rather watch Islam fight [Conor] McGregor or [Justin] Gaethje or something like that.”
As impressed as Hooker was by Tsarukyan’s fight night performance, he was considerably less impressed by his antics during fight week.
Ahead of UFC Austin, videos were released of a physical altercation between Tsarukyan and Bobby Green that took place at the fighter hotel. Though the two fought different opponents on Saturday with Tsarukyan fighting Dariush, and Green fighting Jalin Turner in the co-main event, they still managed to steal headlines with their outside-of-the-cage quarrel.
“That’s a dangerous game,” Hooker said. “Striking distance is for striking. If you want to talk to me, talk to me from over there, but if you come that close, I’m going to hand fight you. That’s silly. … If I’m going to walk up that close, for me, personally, that distance is not for talking. You don’t talk to someone that close.”
“This is business,” he continued. “That’s for show. Walking up to Bobby Green with a camera behind you, that’s for show. This is all for show. There’s cameras everywhere, there’s security there. I know full well if you wanted to get at someone, if you legitimately wanted to attack someone or get at someone, you could do it, 100 percent. You could track them down, you could find them, you could catch them by yourself, no cameras. You could get at someone. So I know that this is all just for show and for attention, to attack someone like that. This is our job, but self-defense is self-defense.”
Hooker’s dislike for Tsarukyan predates UFC Austin fight week as the two have previously aimed insults at each other over a proposed matchup in 2021 that never materialized.
When Hooker recovers from a recent arm surgery and is able to compete again, he thinks it’s possible that Tsarukyan could be the fighter who welcomes him back.
“Perhaps it’s Arman,” Hooker said. “I don’t like the guy, I think he’s an idiot. I think he’s annoying. Can he fight? A hundred percent. That’s why he’s a very talented young fighter, but he’s just annoying. He’s just a dweeb. I just don’t like him.”