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‘Come through me’: Veteran calls out terrifying UFC prospect... after booking one-way Ibiza trip Dan Hooker has spent more than a decade fighting some of the most dangerous men on the planet. And if any big-name newcomer wants to walk straight into the UFC lightweight division’s top 10, ‘The Hangman’ believes they should have to come through him first. UFC 331: Van v Pantoja 2 | SUN 20 SEPTEMBER 11AM AEST | The UFC returns to Los Angeles for a blockbuster title showdown, as Joshua Van defends his crown against former champion Alexandre Pantoja in a rematch for the ages. | Order Now with Main Event on Kayo Sports. This weekend, that man is Salahdine Parnasse. The former two-division KSW champion arrives in the UFC with a 23-2 record, enormous hype and thousands of French fans ready to roar him home in Paris. But Hooker plans to ruin the entire party. In fact, just thinking about it makes him smile. “I’m looking forward to it,” Hooker told Fox Sports Australia. “I’ve heard some pretty crazy things about the French fans. I know they’re incredibly passionate. “Kevin Jousset is my teammate, and he’s been telling me that on fight night he hasn’t heard anything louder than these French fans. “So I’m excited to get out there against the hometown kid, with the French fans going absolutely crazy, and give them a night they’re never going to forget. “Maybe I can leave them with a permanent bad taste in their mouths.” Hooker admits he had “no idea” who Parnasse was when the UFC first came calling. He certainly does now. “He’s come out of the woodwork,” Hooker said. “But since the fight came across, the coaches and the team have had a good look at him. “He’s accomplished some pretty big things and it’s definitely a justified main event. This kid has quite a lot of hype outside the UFC and he’s a big name in Europe. “But it’s a lot of pressure on him, man. Not only making your UFC debut, but coming into the rankings and doing it in your hometown is a tough ask.” And Hooker certainly isn’t dismissing Parnasse simply because he built his name outside the UFC. “He’s been fighting UFC-calibre opponents for a very long time and he’s taken his time developing,” Hooker said. “We’ve just gone two different ways about it. I’ve done my developing inside the UFC and he’s done it outside.” Yet Hooker also suspects Parnasse’s camp may be feeling a little too confident after watching his last outing against another French lightweight, Benoit Saint Denis. Parnasse has previously trained alongside Saint Denis, who stopped Hooker in February, and ‘The Hangman’ suspects those gym rounds may have helped convince the Frenchman’s team this was the right fight for his UFC debut. “His team generally makes some pretty smart decisions, and I would think they believe this is a smart decision at this stage of the kid’s career,” Hooker said. “They’ve obviously got their confidence from somewhere. “I know Parnasse has trained with BSD in the past, so they would have seen that result and seen how he did against him in the gym. “But they’re two completely different kettles of fish. Fighting someone in the gym and then doing it under the lights is where it all changes. “I’m expecting him to be confident – and maybe a little bit overconfident. That may be his downfall.” Hooker, meanwhile, has spent the months since those defeats rebuilding himself away from all the cameras. The 36-year-old linked up with City Kickboxing strength and conditioning coach Bill Smart, who has had him running hills and completing track sessions. “I came into this fight camp in really good shape and we’ve been able to push through some pretty hard sessions,” Hooker said. “It’s been an incredible camp. “I feel like I have a pretty strong technical advantage over a lot of these guys, but in my recent few fights, I didn’t have the gas tank to do what I was supposed to do.” And now? Hooker wants it to go late. And get bloody. “He’s pretty smart,” Hooker said. “He’s tough and pretty tough to hit. He doesn’t really get into those knock-’em-down, drag-’em-out fights. “But I hope it does become a bloody affair. I’ve been putting in some serious work in the gym and I would love for this fight to get into the fourth and fifth rounds. “That’s where I’m really looking to showcase my training.” Of course, this is hardly new territory for Hooker. While plenty of fighters carefully protect their ranking, the cheerful Kiwi has spent his UFC career putting his hand up for the fights nobody else seems to want. So why keep doing it? “It’s about getting the blood flowing,” he grinned. “I like that feeling when you take a fight against someone great and start thinking, ‘Oh man, this is going to be a tough one’. “Those are the fights I like to take, and those are the fights I tend to perform pretty well in. “I don’t like taking fights where people think I’m going to win because then I don’t even turn myself on. “The ones I’m supposed to win, I’m usually still asleep. Then the ones where I’m supposed to get my ass kicked, I get myself into gear.” Better still, Hooker is already eyeing the next supposed world-beater. With undefeated former PFL champion Usman Nurmagomedov – cousin of UFC legend Khabib – rumoured to be heading to the UFC, Hooker has volunteered to welcome him too. “The rumour mill is going crazy that Usman is making his way to the UFC,” Hooker said. “I’d love to get my hand raised against Parnasse and then take him on. “That sets the bar. If you want to come and compete inside the UFC’s top 10 after coming from a different organisation, then you kind of have to come through me.” MORE UFC: ‘Not the same’: UFC king’s brutally honest Volk take ahead of title blockbuster ‘Another 10 years’: Volk opens up on title epic as Aussie icon out to change the conversation Before any potential showdown with Nurmagomedov, however, Hooker has plans for a very different endurance test. Win or lose, Hooker and his teammates are heading directly from Paris to Ibiza – and ‘The Hangman’ hasn’t even bothered booking a flight home. “Me and the boys are off to Ibiza,” he laughed. “We’re having a good time and I only have a one-way ticket. “My manager is so confident in my after-partying skills that they didn’t even bother to book me a return flight. “We’ll be stuck in Europe for a while. I’ll give myself a couple of weeks. “I’ll disappear. I will disappear – but I will be back.”