Dan Hooker admits he 'lied through his teeth' about injured arm ahead of canceled Bobby Green scrap
Dan Hooker recently opened up about the arm injury that forced him out of his bout against Bobby Green at UFC Austin in December. Surprisingly, he revealed that he lied about being fit to accept a fight, knowing that his injured arm wasn't fully healed after having been hurt during his last outing earlier this year.
Hooker is coming off a hard-fought split-decision victory over Jalin Turner at UFC 290 in July. While 'The Hangman' was initially slated to face Turner at UFC 285 in March, a broken right arm ruled him out. Their fight was re-booked for July, and Hooker suffered another right arm fracture in the first round.
While Dan Hooker knew he should've allowed his arm to heal completely before accepting another fight, he resumed training prematurely and broke his hand again while blocking a kick. In a recent interview with Combat TV, Hooker admitted that he lied about being fit in order to take the Bobby Green fight and said:
"I knew. I knew. This is a conversation I had with Ash, my manager, yesterday. He's like, 'You just need to be honest. You need to be honest with us. You need to tell us.' And I said, 'Look, brother, I'm going to lie through my teeth to fight.' I lied through my teeth, I lied to the surgeons, I lied to the doctor. I lied through my teeth because I wanted to fight."
Catch Hooker's comments below (4:05):
Dan Hooker injury: 'The Hangman' explains what caused his latest hand injury
Dan Hooker recently spoke about his latest arm injury and revealed what exactly caused his already-injured hand to break again. As mentioned, this injury forced Hooker out of his scheduled five-round barnburner against Bobby Green at UFC Austin in December.
In a recent interview with Submission Radio, the 33-year-old Kiwi explained that he hurt his hand during a sparring session and admitted that he hadn't waited long enough for his arm to heal from its previous fracture. He said:
"In sparring yesterday, copped a bit of a kick. Got sent to an X-ray. She’s custard… Yeah, it just broke in the same place, and it kind of is what it is. I took a risk... I rushed to come back. I wanted to fight... I blocked a thousand kicks in the last couple of months, and just one hit on the right spot, and it just, yeah. It is what it is."
Catch Hooker's comments below (0:28):
Jalin Turner has been roped in to replace Dan Hooker and will face Green in a three-round bout at UFC Austin on December 2.