Published 02/09/2023, 12:19 AM EST
UFC 285 suffered its first casualty as Dan Hooker pulled out of his scheduled bout with a broken hand. UFC 285, scheduled for March 5, at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, would see Jon Jones make his heavyweight debut. Returning to the octagon after a three-year hiatus, Jones will face former title challenger Ciryl Gane for the vacant heavyweight title.
Hooker’s lightweight bout against Jalin Turner was one of the highlights of the main card. Per reports, the UFC is looking to keep Turner on the card but hasn’t found a new opponent for him yet.
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – JUNE 26: In this handout image provided by UFC, Dan Hooker of New Zealand poses on the scale during the UFC weigh-in at UFC APEX on June 26, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
Hooker had hoped to continue his momentum from his last win in November with the fight against Turner. The 32-year-old called for a fight at UFC 284 in Perth after his UFC 281 win. However, he got a spot on the UFC 285 card which he has now lost to injury.
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Dan Hooker suffers hand injury
Dan Hooker last entered the octagon in November 2021 at UFC 281. He defeated lightweight prospect Claudio Puelles via a second-round TKO to get back to winning ways. In his post-fight interview, he said, “Perth, I’m coming for you. Any man walking the face of this earth can get it.”
However, that was not meant to be, as a broken hand forced him out.
The Kiwi later posted an image of his plastered hand on Twitter.
The City Kickboxing team captain wanted to feature on the card headlined by teammate Alexander Volkanovski. Hooker was on a two-fight skid, losing to Volkanovski’s UFC 284 opponent Islam Makhachev and featherweight star Arnold Allen.
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The #11 ranked featherweight hoped to put together another win against #10 ranked Jalin Turner. With Hooker out of the card, another UFC lightweight has offered to fight against Jalin Turner under one condition.
Jalin Turner gets callout following Hooker’s exit from UFC 285
UFC lightweight Drew Dober has offered to fight Jalin Turner, whose UFC 285 spot is in jeopardy. Following Hooker’s exit, Dober tweeted expressing his interest in fighting Turner. However, his offer comes with a catch.
The #14 ranked lightweight wants to fight Turner in April and not March. His argument is that Turner’s current camp would not go to waste for this rescheduled date.
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Dober’s last win came against Bobby Green at UFC Vegas 66. He had called out Turner after knocking out Green to equal Dustin Poirier’s record of most knockouts in the lightweight division (8).
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What are your thoughts on Hooker exiting due to injury? Who do you want to see Turner fight if the UFC keeps him on the card? Put on your matchmaker hats and let us know in the comments below.