It has been a long journey full of ups and downs for Dan Hooker to work his back into the top five of the lightweight division.
After defeating Mateusz Gamrot at UFC 305, he's riding a three-fight winning streak which has seen him bounce back from consecutive losses.
Hooker, at one stage, had just one win in his last five Octagon outings and that came after he made it into the top five for the first time in his career. And in his opinion, that skid was caused by a few crucial mistakes he made.
He has learned a lot in this four-year-period and is now confident that he won't make the same mistakes that he did last time.
Dan Hooker Says That Fighting Michael Chandler At UFC 257 Was A Mistake On His Part
Hooker is now seemingly on the verge of what could be a title eliminator against the likes of Charles Oliveira or Justin Gaethje.
Though he took big fights against Dustin Poirier and the debuting Michael Chandler the last time he was in this position, he believes that the latter in particular was a mistake.
"Iron" Mike would hit the ground running in the promotion by stopping the Kiwi fighter in the opening round in Abu Dhabi.
Hooker didn't need to risk his ranking against a new arrival like Chandler, even if competing in the co-main event of a Conor McGregor card was a big opportunity for him.
The major issue with taking this fight is that it took place during the COVID-19 pandemic where New Zealand had very strict regulations, which compromised his preparations.
Having admitted in an interview with ESPN Australia that he has a whole new level of respect for the team around him, Hooker said that he has learned from the missteps that he has made in his career and isn't going to waste this opportunity.
I kind of have learnt that from my first rodeo, is to just kind of not do anything dumb this time around. I mean the last time I was number five, I agreed to fight Michael Chandler. Gave Michael Chandler a shot, it was his first fight in the UFC, I flew to Abu Dhabi so other side of the world with absolutely no coaches and went and fought him with a guy I'd been training for six months in my corner. so it was not the smartest of decisions so I guess this time around, I'm just not gonna do anything dumb or sell my title shot again.