Hooker down to fight McGregor: ‘We just have to get UFC on board’

Conor McGregor has a new dance partner in mind now that his long time wait-around Michael Chandler has moved on: Dan Hooker.

Hooker was in Marbella this weekend cornering The Mac Life reporter Oscar Willis to a first round TKO win over fellow MMA media member Ben “The Bane” Davis at BKFC Spain. That gave him some opportunities to chop it up with BKFC co-owner McGregor, and they had such a good time together they apparently decided to fight in the UFC.

McGregor started announcing the fight to press on Saturday: a fight in Saudi Arabia on February 1st. At first Hooker seemed a bit hesitant to play along seeing as he’s got actual fight offers from UFC matchmakers to consider, but in a new interview with Submission Radio he was all in.

Now all they need is for the UFC to agree.

hammer out a new multi-billion dollar broadcast deal in early 2025.

a Saudi Arabia Fight Night card. That would upset their Abu Dhabi investors. It would upset ESPN, who bought the right to sell UFC pay-per-views with Conor McGregor on them. And it would hinder the UFC’s ability to earn massive gate money, something they care about a lot when it comes to “Notorious” fights.

Fortunately, Dan Hooker has other more realistic possibilities when it comes to his next match.

”I don’t think there’s a fight fan on the face of the planet that doesn’t want to see me and Justin Gaethje mix it up,” he said. “So that’s another incredible option that I have there. And I would love any of those fights. There’s not a fight on the face of the world that I would turn down.”

“So to have two of those names be on the front of my list — Conor McGregor and Justin Gaethje — is, yeah, exciting times.”