According to his social media accounts in recent weeks, Dan Hooker has been itching for a fight – and now he has one.
Hooker (20-10 MMA, 10-6 UFC) will return to action Sept. 25 when he fights Nasrat Haqparast in a lightweight bout as part of UFC 266 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
A person with knowledge of the matchup confirmed the booking to MMA Junkie on Saturday after an initial report from BJPenn.com. The person asked to remain anonymous since the UFC hasn’t officially announced the fight.
Hooker, 31, is 3-3 in his most recent six bouts but has lost his last two. After he dropped a unanimous decision against Dustin Poirier, Hooker returned to the cage as one half of the UFC 257 co-main event in January, when he was knocked out by Michael Chandler in Round 1.
Haqparast (13-3 MMA, 5-2 UFC) enters UFC 266 on a two-fight winning streak, which includes unanimous decision victories over Alexander Munoz and Rafa Garcia. He’s won five of his past six, with his lone loss against Drew Dober in January 2020.
With the addition, the UFC 266 lineup includes:
- Champion Alexander Volkanovski vs. Brian Ortega – for featherweight title
- Champion Valentina Shevchenko vs. Lauren Murphy – for women’s flyweight title
- Nick Diaz vs. Robbie Lawler – five-round welterweight fight
- Curtis Blaydes vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik
- Jessica Andrade vs. Cynthia Calvillo
- Merab Dvalishvili vs. Marlon Moraes
- Nasrat Haqparast vs. Dan Hooker
- Mayra Bueno Silva vs. Manon Fiorot
- Uros Medic vs. Jalin Turner
- Nick Maximov vs. Karl Roberson
- Shamil Abdurakhimov vs. Chris Daukaus
- Martin Sano Jr. vs. Matthew Semelsberger
