Dan Hooker responds to Arman Tsarukyan: ‘F*ck ’em. I’ll fight him’

Off the back of his impressive decision win over Mateusz Gamrot at UFC 305 earlier this month, surging City Kickboxing staple, Dan Hooker has offered to take on the current number one ranked challenger, Arman Tsarukyan — with the Armenian eyeing a potential interim title fight before the end of the year.

Hooker, the current number five ranked divisional contender, most recently extended his winning run to three straight fights earlier this month on the main card of UFC 305, turning in a split decision win over Polish contender, Gamrot over the course of three rounds in Perth, Australia.

As for Tsarukyan, the surging number one ranked challenger featured on the main card of UFC 300 back in April, landing himself a close split decision win of his own against former undisputed lightweight championship holder, Charles Oliveira in the pair’s officially-billed title eliminator.

And while Tsarukyan has seen a targeted October rematch with current champion, Islam Makhachev fall to the wayside amid an unspecified arm injury setback for the Russian, he has welcomed the chance to compete for an interim title in December at UFC 310.

Dan Hooker eyes interim title fight with Arman Tsarukyan at UFC 310

However, amid links to a rematch with Oliveira for an interim lightweight crown, Tsarukyan has now received an offer of a showdown from Auckland striker, Hooker.

“Yeah, f*ck ’em,” Dan Hooker told The AllStar. “I’ll fight him (Arman Tsarukyan), I’d love to punch that guy in the throat. December, yeah. I would never turn down a fight in my life, let alone a title fight. That’s what we all do it for. Yeah, perfect.”

I learnt that the interim title gets pay-per-view points, the BMF title gets pay-per-view points,” Dan Hooker explained. “The only reason I want the [undisputed] title is the pay-per-view points. A belt is a belt.”