UFC: Conor McGregor announces Dan Hooker fight in February

Two-time UFC champion Conor McGregor announced on Sunday (AEDT) that his next fight will be against Kiwi Dan Hooker in February 2025.

After his comeback fight in June 2024 was foiled by a broken toe, the Irishman has now been absent from the UFC for more than three years.

The 36-year-old’s return date had remained a mystery until he dropped a bombshell while leaving the latest Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship event in Spain.

“February first, Saudi Arabia,” McGregor said when asked about his UFC return.

He went on to explain that his opponent would be Hooker, the No.5 contender in the lightweight division.

Since then, the New Zealander has confirmed that McGregor spoke to him that same night to propose the fight.

“I’ve come in the ring, we had a few words inside of the ring and yeah, February first works for me in Saudi,” Hooker said.

“We’ll get that thing squared away.”

Hooker is 14-8 in the UFC since his debut 10 years ago, but he’s riding a three-fight winning streak after knocking out Claudio Puelles at UFC 281 and then claiming back-to-back split decisions over Jalin Turner and Mateusz Gamrot.

While McGregor implied the fight was already arranged with the UFC, Hooker explained that they still need to get the promotion on board.

“We’re kindred spirits, as you can say,” he said.

“We get along quite well.

“I think we’re both very similar. There’s a lot of similarities there.

“Yeah, we just spoke in the ring. Yeah, like I’m on board. He’s on board.

“We just need to get the UFC on board, and we’ll get this thing across the line.”

UFC betting sites had McGregor as favourite to defeat Michael Chandler before that fight was cancelled, and he will likely be at short odds to prevail against Hooker if the bout does go ahead.

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