“The Hangman” is doing his bosses a favor.
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) madman Dan Hooker finally returns this weekend when he meets No. 1 Lightweight contender Arman Tsarukyan in the main event of UFC Qatar on Sat., Nov. 22, 2025, inside ABHA Arena in Doha, Qatar.
This fight has been years in the making — built on callouts, trash talk, and plenty of mutual disdain — but Hooker didn’t wait for opportunity to land in his lap. Instead, he flew all the way to Australia earlier this year to beg matchmakers for the Tsarukyan fight.
“I’ve been asked all week, ‘Oh, how did you feel when this came across your desk?’ It’s like bro, I flew to UFC Perth and negged Hunter Campbell and negged Sean Shelby to give me this fight,” Hooker told reporters during UFC Qatar media day. “I said, Please, let me slap the shit out of this man. I said I know you guys don’t like him either, so let me get him out of the way. I got rid of Gamrot, let me get rid of Arman, and give me a damn title shot.”
The matchmakers obliged — and for Hooker, the timing couldn’t be better.
Tsarukyan has spent much of 2025 in UFC’s doghouse after torpedoing the promotion’s first pay-per-view of the year by pulling out of his title fight one day before the event. Whether or not that played into the matchmaking, UFC CEO Dana White officially slapped a No. 1 contender label on this weekend’s main event.
Hooker also made sure to bring up Mateusz Gamrot, who at the time of fighting Hooker was riding a three-fight win streak, ranked No. 5, and was clamoring for a title shot in his own right … Hooker put an end to that and sent him back to fighting at the UFC Apex.
Now comes the biggest question: Can “The Hangman” derail Tsarukyan’s climb back to a title shot? We’ll find out in just three days.
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