Dan Hooker has itchy knuckles ahead of his return to action at UFC Qatar.

On Nov. 22, “The Hangman” steps back in the Octagon for the first time since his epic Fight of the Night win over Mateusz Gamrot in August 2024. The performance extended Hooker’s current win streak to three and kept him alive in the lightweight title scene, earning him another main-event spot. For his next task, Hooker faces UFC’s No. 2-ranked contender Arman Tsarukyan in a pivotal divisional bout.

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The two have volleyed plenty of shots at one another in recent years, with both men even threatening to throw hands on-sight if they run into each other in the lead-up to UFC Qatar. Speaking on Wednesday’s edition of “The Ariel Helwani Show,” Hooker explained the origins of his beef with Tsarukyan.

“Obviously, there’s bad blood,” Hooker told Uncrowned. “I feel he’s coming at me, like, since he came into the UFC, he’s just discredited me as a fighter and things that I’ve done. That’s his own opinion. It’s just been back and forth over the years, so I’d love to get in there and fight him.

“It’s just things he’s done in the past. He’s just a lippy little rich kid that’s had everything handed to him in his life, and he thinks he can go around and — I’m just saying, if there’s a repeat of him walking up on Bobby Green and getting in his face before the fight [then we’re fighting and the event will get cancelled]. Obviously, he doesn’t need the money from these UFC fights. He does this for attention and Instagram likes. He doesn’t fight to feed his family. I fight to provide for my family. Bobby Green provides for his family through fighting.

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“I’m just saying,” Hooker continued, “if he walks up on me like he walked up on Bobby Green, the fight is canceled, and the UFC has been forewarned.”

Hooker, 35, has undoubtedly played the long game in MMA, building his name on the New Zealand regional circuit to start his career and, as he puts it, “coming from nothing” before international opportunities finally came to his door. Along the way, he took fights wherever he could find them, whether in kickboxing rings or against opponents well above his natural 155-pound weight class.

Compared to the resources Tsarukyan has, Hooker admitted he probably shouldn’t beat his 28-year-old rival.

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“His daddy can pay for the best strength and conditioning coach,” Hooker said. “I’ve seen him come out and say he spent $100,000 on training camp and then pulled out. Bro, what? He flies in sparring partners and coaches. He should win, the amount of money that he puts into these things. Bro, I drive five minutes down the road and go out to City Kickboxing and punch my mates.

“It shows that it’s like a true testament to how far the sport has come. Essentially, rich little daddy’s boys can reach the pinnacle of the sport.”

Tsarukyan was a day away from his first title shot at UFC 311 to start 2025, however a back injury flared up on weigh-in day that forced a withdrawal from Tsarukyan’s rematch with the then-lightweight champion, Islam Makhachev. UFC CEO Dana White made it clear afterward that Tsarukyan was going to have to work his way back to a title shot; it was just a matter of who against and when.

Ultimately, Hooker received the call after he fully healed from a broken hand suffered earlier in the year, which prompted a withdrawal of his own for a scheduled clash against Justin Gaethje in March.

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When presented with the opportunity to derail Tsarukyan, New Zealand’s “Hangman” didn’t hesitate.

“I knew that absolutely no one wants to fight the guy,” Hooker said. “I know that no one wants to take that risk. Everyone does have a reason to avoid him as well, with the weight miss and things like that. Now the champion has an excuse to not fight the guy, and like a legitimate excuse in that. You put so much time into something and the guy pulls out at the weight cut — that’s a legitimate excuse for the UFC to not put you into a big fight.

“I knew he had to fight to get back into title contention. So I knew that this fight, I would be the only person that would want the most difficult fight. I don’t discredit the other guys for picking their battles and trying to find the path of least resistance. That’s just not the way that I do things. He’s the toughest test. He’s the best fighter in the division.”