By Tim Summerville
Kiwi featherweight Dan Hooker is just over a week away from the biggest fight of his promising UFC career.
Hooker flies out to Houston on Saturday for UFC 192, to fight Mexican rising star Yair Rodriguez in one of the feature preliminary bouts.
The fight is likely to be seen by close to a million fans in the United States alone, airing on basic cable as a lead-in to the pay-per-view (PPV).
"They recognise the excitement of the fight and they want us to sell the PPV," Hooker says. "They put the most exciting guys right before the PPV because we're really the people that sell it."
"It's really a big opportunity and it's obviously a big obligation to be there."
Rodriguez is highly regarded by the UFC, who are keen to make an impact in the Mexican market. He won The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America television series to earn his spot in the company. But Hooker feels like he matches up well with the 22-year-old.
"As you get closer to the fight your confidence always grows," Hooker said.
"I kind of strike a bit of fear into myself when I first hear about the matchup, because you need to light that fire, so you really push hard in training.
"But the confidence is really there for this fight. I'm looking to showcase a lot of skills I've been working on.
"I really think I can beat him in every aspect of MMA."
Hooker's spent his entire training camp in Auckland, basing himself at City Kickboxing under the watchful eye of coach Eugene Bareman.
"It's been a real tough camp to date, probably my hardest camp in terms of the amount of work and effort and energy that's gone into it.
"I've really put in too much to not get the result I’ve worked hard for."
Hooker is one of the bigger fighters in the UFC featherweight division and admits it's hard work to get down to the 145lb (66kg) weight limit.
"Naturally I'm not a small framed guy," he said.
"I'm 6'0" and I used to do a lot of weights when I was younger so I can blow up quite easily if I start eating too many pies.
"I just have to constantly live on a diet. I sacrifice so much to be in this sport, to fight at this weight category, but it’s what I'm prepared to do to succeed."
A win over Rodriguez should see Hooker break into the UFC rankings, which features the top 15 fighters in each division, and he sees the fight as the next step in his march towards title contention.
"I see myself beating the top guys and working towards the title.
"I've fought at heavyweight in New Zealand just to prove a point, but at featherweight I believe I can be the best in the world."
Hooker is also looking forward to taking advantage of the UFC's new partnership with Reebok, which sees the company exclusively outfitting all fighters.
"Of anyone in the UFC I'm one of the people that this deal kind of benefits the most.
"They're telling me 'don’t bring anything, bring an empty suitcase, roll up and we'll kit you out, fill it full and cut you a cheque after the fight'.
"I'm more than happy about this deal."
And Hooker is confident he'll have another New Zealand fighter joining him in the UFC very soon. One of his training partners is champion kickboxer Israel Adesanya, who is making the transition to mixed martial arts.
"Izzy’' been in the gym with me every day evolving as well. His game has grown, my game has grown. The term iron sharpens iron is a cliché, but it really works."
Hooker's backing his team mate to break through at the top level.
"That's what he wants to do," Hooker says. "He wants to chase MMA and get after that UFC contract as well.
"He'll be there fairly soon I'd say"
Watch the video for the full interview with Dan Hooker.
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