It was another tough night in the office for lightweight gatekeeper Dan Hooker, whose liver was obliterated by Salahdine Parnasse en route to a first round TKO loss (watch the highlights here). The fight was Hooker’s third loss in a row, while Parnasse has now established himself in the UFC as a 155er to watch.
Leading up to his UFC Paris bout, Hooker said French fans were sending him a number of death threats. While we haven’t heard of any actual attempts on his life, the Accor Arena crowd was full
of hometown fighter Parnasse’s fans, and some of them tried to get a rise out of Hooker on his way out of the arena.
New video from the crowd shows Hooker leaving following his defeat and then responding to something someone in the crowd yelled at him. He turned around and started to approach the stands, only to get handled by multiple security and led backstage. Hooker threw a middle finger to the crowd as he went.
“He wanted to get up in it with the crowd,” the caption on the video read with laughing emoticons.
It’s pretty pathetic behavior to mock a fighter after a loss, and it almost makes you wish security was a little more lax so s—t talkers could get what they deserve. Arman Tsarukyan and Merab Dvalishvili have been criticized for going after fans in the stands, but we’d give Dan a pass on this one.
While Hooker is on a three fight slide, it’s worth noting he’s one of the few people willing to step up and face anyone in the lightweight division at any time. Here’s hoping the next time the UFC calls, it isn’t to book him in against another absolute killer (like Usman Nurmagomedov). Give “The Hangman” a break on the next one, maybe?
