Kiwi UFC star Dan Hooker will head to Las Vegas on Tuesday for his lightweight showdown with Dustin Poirier, thanks to the intervention of the US ambassador to NZ.
Hooker said his visa situation remained unresolved until this week when ambassador Scott Brown contacted him.
“Just this Wednesday, he called me up and asked me ‘what do you need? What’s the situation?’” Hooker said.
“I said 'I’m the main event of the UFC event next week, I need to get over to the US for a fight', he said ‘I’ll do whatever I can to get it sorted.’”
Hooker will head to Sin City along with trainers Eugene Bareman, Mike Angove and wrestling coach Andre Paulet.
"They (the UFC) kind of just gave me the wink, we’ll get you there, and I went with the wink."
“Shout out to Ambassador Scott Brown ‘cause he got the job done.”
The 30-year-old, who is the fifth ranked contender in the UFC's lightweight division after beating Paul Felder in Auckland earlier this year, said the fight against Poirier was “everything”.
“I get the job done here against former title challenger Dustin Pourier, it puts me next in line for the world title in the most stacked division in the UFC.”
Lockdown, during which he focussed on conditioning, and a shortened camp meant Hooker was feeling fresher than ever.
“The body is not all beaten up and dragged out from a normal 12-week camp,” he said.
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