Dan Hooker confirms he isn’t retiring after UFC 257 loss: ‘You’re always frustrated after a loss’
Dan Hooker has said he will continue fighting.
In the co-main event of UFC 257, Hooker suffered a first-round TKO loss to Michael Chandler and after the loss he left his gloves inside the Octagon. Many wondered if that signaled Hooker retiring, but just over a week later, he says it was just frustration and will continue fighting.
“You’re always frustrated after a loss. (It was) a balance of everything,” Hooker said to Submission Radio. “Sheer frustration, you’re disappointed, and in that moment I was like, ‘I’m done! I’m finished with this s****y sport! I’m done!’ Then you get back to the hotel and you think about it and you realize you’re not good at anything else either, so it’s like well, “I’ve kind of pinned myself into a bit of a corner here.’
“People think you’re gonna be rolling around in depression and not getting out of bed, but I know what it is,” Hooker continued. “This is a sport I’ve been doing and following for my entire adult life. It’s always a possibility. A loss like this, you’re not rolling around in depression, super upset. It’s self-explanatory. It is what it is. I can honestly say I’m not any more upset than when I lost the Poirier fight.”
Dan Hooker is now on a two-fight losing streak but remains a top-10 lightweight. Although he will need time off to heal his brain, and given he won’t get out of quarantine until early March, it likely he won’t fight again until the later summer or fall. Hooker is still an exciting fighter and will only need to win one or two in a row to get another top-five opponent.
For now, Hooker remains in Abu Dhabi training and waiting to fly back home to New Zealand and start his two-week quarantine.
