Kiwi MMA fighter Dan Hooker will change up his scene with his next fight in March, shifting back to the featherweight division in London.
The UFC announced on Tuesday Hooker will return to the octagon to take on Englishman Arnold Allen at UFC London on March 20.
Hooker will shift down 5kg to the featherweight division for the fight, having spent the last couple of years making a name for himself in the lightweight division with bouts against top-ranked fighters such as Dustin Poirier and Michael Chandler.
However, a string of three losses in his last four fights - including his most recent bout against Islam Makhachev at UFC 267 last October - has seen Hooker's stocks slip and his ranking in the stacked division now down to eighth.
"The reality of the situation is I’ve lost to three of the top five guys in the lightweight division. It doesn’t really excite me treading water at [155lb] for the next year," he said.
"I don’t fight for the money or attention, I fight purely to entertain myself. This move just excites me to get back there and get straight in the mix."
Prior to his lightweight run, Hooker spent time at the featherweight division so he's confident he can still hold his own at the lighter weight.
"I spent a long portion at [featherweight], so I can't really understand why it's so unfathomable for everyone to think that I can make the weight," Hooker told The AllStar YouTube channel.
To prove he could, Hooker said he recently carried out a "test weight cut", managing to tip the scales at 146 pounds to qualify for the division.
"I just did it to prove that it was very easy. You get me a fight and fly me across the world, then of course I’m going to step on the scales at that weight," he said.
"I did it for absolutely no reason, I did it to prove a point to my coaches, I guess."
Arnold enters the fight in dominant form, sitting on a 10-win streak [eight of which are UFC fights] with a career record of 17-1.
Hooker knows the fight will be tough with the Englishman sitting at seventh in the featherweight division.
"I can see why I get the fight, because I generally get the fights that other people don’t want to take," he said.
"It excites me to get out there and get the opportunity to stop a run like that. To stop it and to take all of that momentum that he’s carrying from those eight wins, for myself, that’s what excites me about this fight."
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