"We made it" - Dan Hooker finally gets his US visa approved in New Zealand to fight at UFC 266
In a last-minute miracle, Dan Hooker has managed to get his visa approved by the US Embassy in New Zealand. He will now be able to fight this weekend at UFC 266 in Las Vegas. Hooker took to Twitter to express his joy at getting his visa approved in time for the fight.
"Mama, we made it," said Dan Hooker in a video he uploaded to Twitter.
Check out the post below:
Squeaky wheel gets the oil. 😂 https://t.co/Kr3A4Z63El
Due to a COVID-19-related level-4 lockdown currently imposed in Auckland, Hooker was unable to get an appointment at the US embassy. It seemed like 'Hangman' wouldn't be able to get his visa approved in time for UFC 266. In a desperate last-ditch attempt, Dan Hooker took to social media to request the embassy give him an appointment.
Hooker later revealed that the embassy granted him an appointment. He also said he could be allowed to get on the only flight out of New Zealand on Thursday.
And we are in with a shot....they have granted me an appointment Monday. All goes well and I get my passport back, I can jump on the only flight out of NZ Thursday night.
Arrive in Vegas Thursday night, weigh in Friday morning, fight Saturday. ✌️
#MMATwitter 🙏🙏🙏 https://t.co/37l4Ajfba7
Dan Hooker's fight preparations were severely hampered by the ongoing lockdown in Auckland
Dan Hooker has a tough task ahead of him. He needs to make weight a day after landing in Las Vegas. This is significantly more difficult after his fight preparations were hampered in Auckland.
Initially, Hooker moved to the City Kickboxing Academy with his coach Eugene Bareman and started training in isolation. However, due to the level-4 lockdown, he was asked to move out of the academy by the police. Since then, Dan Hooker has been training for the fight at home, isolated from his coach and teammates.
He will take on Nasrat Haqparast in a preliminary card bout in the heavily stacked UFC 266 pay-per-view. The card is headlined by a featherweight title fight between Alexander Volkanovski and Brian Ortega.