Dan Hooker can’t currently compete in sanctioned combat, but that doesn’t mean he can’t organize a backyard tussle or two.
Although the MMA world took a collective break this past Memorial Day weekend, the holiday didn’t stop the ranked UFC lightweight contender from putting on fights at his home. Last Saturday, Hooker invited 32 men to his New Zealand backyard, taking the internet by storm with a winner-take-all tournament of one-minute brawls.
Advertisement
Speaking on Wednesday’s edition of “The Ariel Helwani Show,” Hooker explained how this wild, throwback concept materialized.
“I got contacted a while back by a crazy Russian fight show, made my way out to Thailand where they had put it on in, like, a warehouse,” Hooker said. “They brought me out to host it. So I brought a couple fighters with me from New Zealand, but I had nothing to do with the organization or kind of planning that event. Then I just saw how they got down. They had 32-man, one-minute fights. I took the idea and I saw how you could run it smoother — or how I would do it, you know?”
Hooker, 35, has only shared a steady drip of clips from the event over the past few days, but plans to upload the entire hour-long tournament this Friday.
Advertisement
Dealing with a broken hand, Hooker has been on the mend since his injury forced him out of a scheduled matchup against Justin Gaethje in March. He recently underwent a successful surgery and hopes to return by September or October.
Meanwhile, Hooker’s having fun watching fights as closely as one can get without physically being involved. The one-minute backyard fights allowed punches only, and each fight had judges, a medic and a referee to keep things organized. Out of all the bouts, Hooker said only one real injury occurred when someone hurt his arm. The limited rules included a three-second knockdown rule and a TKO loss if knocked down twice. Everyone received $1,000 to compete, with the winner taking home $50,000.
“I just put a video up on Instagram, and people messaged me,” Hooker said of finding competitors. “I just kind of looked through. You spend enough time, you know how to filter through everything.
Advertisement
“It’s just a man with an iPhone and a dream. I knew that everyone would think it was crazy. I knew that there would be people who had issues with it, so I wanted to match[make] it — I wanted it at my house so I could control it. I had some amazing people step up to the plate.”
Controlling the festivities was an essential part of the evening for Hooker. What looked like a group of friends throwing down in the backyard could easily attract problematic attention — and it did from some.
Hooker initially hadn’t put much thought into continuing the concept for multiple iterations, however, the minor complaints he’s received since have acted only as fuel to carry on rather than stop.
Advertisement
“Deter me? I feel like you’re now — you’ve challenged me now,” Hooker said of detractors. “I was going to leave it. There’s people trying to stop me? Now I have to do it. Now I’m unbound and forced to pursue it.
“Once everyone watches the full 45 minutes and just sees the respect for all the fighters that’s shown to each other, you see that it’s just a couple of guys who end up putting gloves on in the backyard. When did having a punch-out with your mates become illegal? Since when was that a crime? And it’s being run by some of the most experienced combat sports people in the country. Thousands of fights, medically trained. If that’s illegal, then they’ve got better things to do.”
