Saturday night time at Accor Arena marks the fourth time in his profession that Hooker has stepped into the cage on a two-fight skid, and every time, he has earned a victory. Asked if he’s superstitious about this stuff in any respect, the light-hearted divisional mainstay laughed and chalked it as much as one thing way more easy.
“I just get woken up! I’m just a real practical guy where it’s like ‘Enough is enough,’” he provided. “You forget what being a loser is like — everyone giving you s*** and life being so much more difficult, doors closing, and I’m like, ‘Naw naw naw naw naw!’ Everything sucks when you lose, so I’m like, ‘I’ve had enough of it! It’s time to turn it around!’”
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While everybody can be fast to echo his mum’s sentiments upon listening to that, the brutally trustworthy City Kickboxing man opened up concerning the realities of his preparation for this struggle and the way dramatically they differed from what he’s been doing for the previous a number of years.
“I jumped on the program at City Kickboxing with the strength and conditioning coach Bill Smart, and I’ve been lifting weights and running hills and running track; just grinding, really,” started Hooker. “When I got here into this struggle camp, I used to be capable of are available in match. It’s been good. There are numerous hungry, younger guys we’re working with on the gymnasium, and that’s form of been the — I’ve been drawing life outta them. When you get to the gymnasium, and so they’re all combating for his or her life to get to the place you might be, and I’ve been taking it without any consideration, it’s a little bit of a kick within the face to them, so I’ve been working laborious within the gymnasium.
“We’ve got Rongzhu who fights a week after me. Tom Nolan and Dom (Mar Fan) have moved over as well, so that’s another ranked lightweight; there are the Mayocchi Brothers. We’ve got a bunch of guys that are on the verge of getting UFC contracts, and I’ve just been grinding out in the gym with them.”