“The Hangman” was dealing with a seriously busted schnoz.
New Zealand Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fan favorite Dan Hooker returns to action this weekend (Sat., Jan. 31, 2026) when he faces fellow berserker Benoit Saint-Denis in the co-main event of UFC 325 inside Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
It’s a quick turnaround for Hooker, who was thoroughly dominated by Arman Tsarukyan just two months ago at UFC Qatar. Eager to wash away the bitter taste of that loss, Hooker jumped at the opportunity to compete again in what amounts to a near home game.
As it turns out, that fight may have been compromised before it even started.
Speaking with Ariel Helwani, Hooker revealed that Tsarukyan fractured his nose with a headbutt during the ceremonial weigh-ins — an incident that left him furious and visibly affected heading into the bout.
“I actually didn’t process the loss until I woke up in bed this morning, mate,” Hooker said. “I kind of just kept compartmentalizing it. It’s not something I really processed, and because I did get another fight so fast, you don’t really get into what went wrong — and it was f—king when this c—t f—king head-butted me at the weigh-in and broke my f—king nose, it pissed me off.”
“But you can’t get emotional at that stage of the fight. I was fuming,” Hooker added. “I wanted that back, but you just have to brush it off, put that in the back of your mind. But I was steamed, bro. I was steamed. That threw me off, for sure.”
Hooker later learned the extent of the damage after the fight.
“They scanned me and took me to the hospital,” Hooker explained. “They were like, ‘You’ve got a fractured nose.’ I said, ‘C—t, that was the weigh-in.’ That had nothing to do with the fight.”
A fractured nose typically requires six to eight weeks to fully heal, which would normally sideline most fighters. But Hooker made it clear that wasn’t happening.
“For this fight, they were like, ‘You’ve got to be medically cleared for this fight,’ and I just flat refused, brother,” Hooker said. “You already let me have one fight with it, and now you’re going to stop me from having another fight with it? That was from the weigh-in, brother.”
Hooker ultimately brushed it off, admitting Tsarukyan “got him,” while also noting the lack of proper oversight at the event.
With these details now public, it adds context to why UFC CEO Dana White was upset with Tsarukyan and ultimately benched him from the interim title fight that took place last weekend.
Still, a broken nose won’t stop Hooker, who claims he’s broken it “20 to 30 times” throughout his career. And with Saint-Denis standing across from him at UFC 325, another bloody, three-round war could be right around the corner.
