Dan Hooker has got himself a taker.
Earlier this week, a growingly impatient Dan Hooker laid out what could only be interpreted as an open challenge when he sent out a tweet stating that “Anyone can get it.”
Well, before he had a taker, he had a doubter in #14-ranked lightweight Arman Tsarukyan, who retweeted Hooker’s challenge along with “Except me” written with a facepalm emoji. Here is how the #8-ranked Hooker responded to Tsarukyan:
“I was joking, of course you can get it. You miss jokes like you miss weight,” Hooker wrote.
Ironically, Tsarukyan also laid out an open challenge of sorts two months ago after he became ranked, saying that he was willy to defend his newly earned ranking against anyone outside the top 15 since other ranked fighters are so hesitant to give opportunities. A week later, Tsarukyan claimed that, unlike Hooker, he had no taker for his open challenge.
Some may question why Hooker would agree to fight Tsarukyan, given that he is ranked six spots above him, but it’s refreshing to see that Tsarukyan is not asking for an opportunity that he himself is not willing to give.
Additionally, despite the noticeable gap in their current ranking positions, Hooker and Tsarukyan are currently riding different waves of momentum, with Hooker losing two straight while Tsarukyan has won three in a row. In fact, the only loss the 24-year-old upstart has suffered in the UFC was against Islam Makhachev, a name that Hooker himself has had recent interactions with.
We’ll keep you posted if anything materializes from Arman Tsarukyan’s acceptance to Dan Hooker’s challenge and Hooker’s ensuing acceptance of that acceptance right here on MMANews.com.
