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Speaker 1: You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine

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Speaker 1: from news Dog ZEDB.

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Speaker 2: Speaking of Dan Hooker. As mentioned, he'll meet Armenian Arman

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Speaker 2: Serukian in the five round main event of the UFC's

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Speaker 2: first card in Kata tomorrow morning, New Zealand time. Dan

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Speaker 2: Hooker goes into the bout ranked number six in the division,

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Speaker 2: while Serukian is the number one contender. Host of UFC

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Speaker 2: on sky Sport, Ravenda Hernia is with us rev Thanks

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Speaker 2: for taking the time. It feels like Dan hook is

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Speaker 2: an underdog for this fight. How big an underdog is he?

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Speaker 3: Oh, he's an absolute underdog, Jason, But nothing new though,

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Speaker 3: we're how cill we boys? Really? In general, he's an underdog,

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Speaker 3: you know, I think for good reasons, considering just as

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Speaker 3: you said, Armam Serukian the number one contender, you get

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Speaker 3: through Arman Serukian and you got a shot at the title.

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Speaker 3: So very much so, arm I'm Serukian. I think he's

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Speaker 3: on a seven fight wind streak, three of them and

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Speaker 3: grappling competitions, and yeah, he's been, you know, running red

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Speaker 3: hot for a little while. Dan Hooker though, three fight

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Speaker 3: win streak himself and he has been you know, slowly

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Speaker 3: working his way back up the division. So yeah, Arma

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Speaker 3: Seruki Serukian the favored fighter here. But as we know,

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Speaker 3: Dan loves to come in and disappoint these wrestlers.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely he does. Now does he also typically raise his

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Speaker 2: performance against higher ranked opponents, Yeah.

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Speaker 3: He does. I mean that's just Dan as an athlete.

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Speaker 3: I feel, you know, when we saw that fight against

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Speaker 3: Matteus Gamrot in Perth in August last year, he definitely

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Speaker 3: did that. He was a heavy underdog for that fight

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Speaker 3: as well, especially considering Gamrock was a heavy wrestler. But

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Speaker 3: he really does, you know, step it up. And I

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Speaker 3: don't think it's just you know, the technical sense, you know,

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Speaker 3: by what he brings in terms of his fighting ability, psychology, psychologically,

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Speaker 3: Dan Hooker, I always say, how do I say this nicely?

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Speaker 3: It's like kind of like that little bit of a

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Speaker 3: psychofactor where he is his biggest fan, he is his

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Speaker 3: biggest supporter, and he you know, truly believes in himself

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Speaker 3: to be able to get the job done. So I've

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Speaker 3: always admired his mental strength coming into fights, and I

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Speaker 3: feel like after eleven years in the UFC, that's really

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Speaker 3: been built. He knows what he needs to do. He's one,

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Speaker 3: you know, gifted athlete that can carry out a game

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Speaker 3: plan no matter what style is coming at him. So

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Speaker 3: I feel like, you know, that experience really is his

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Speaker 3: strength and gives him that confidence in any fight. Now.

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Speaker 2: So Dan Hooker hasn't fought for more than a year

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Speaker 2: due to injury. Will that be in any way of

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Speaker 2: factor here?

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Speaker 3: You know what? Most probably you know, you have to

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Speaker 3: be honest about that. But Dan just lives for competition.

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Speaker 3: He's you know, kept himself busy of that year and

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Speaker 3: a half, him and his wife welcomed a new baby.

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Speaker 3: He started his own promotion that a lot of people

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Speaker 3: are talking about, you know, on the side as well,

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Speaker 3: but as well, he has been working super super hard

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Speaker 3: in the gym. That part has never stopped. Then with

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Speaker 3: his arm and a cast, he was still training, you know,

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Speaker 3: He's still throwing kicks, still working on his conditioning, knowing

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Speaker 3: that a big fight was imminent for him after that

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Speaker 3: win against Gamrock. So he's never stopped. The only thing

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Speaker 3: that did stop was you know, competing in the octagon.

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Speaker 3: Of course, earlier this year he was supposed to fight

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Speaker 3: justin Gaechee. That wasn't to be because he reinjured himself.

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Speaker 3: So he has always been around in the gym working,

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Speaker 3: and you know, he's not just in the gym, you know,

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Speaker 3: you know, just casually he's he's training and fighting as

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Speaker 3: a UFC fighter, So he has been active. But yeah,

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Speaker 3: that might that might play a part because he's been

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Speaker 3: out for a little while, but so too has Arman Serukian.

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Speaker 3: He's been out for a little while as well. Hasn't

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Speaker 3: been in the UFC octagon for a while as well,

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Speaker 3: So it'll be interesting to see what these two bring

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Speaker 3: with a long time.

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Speaker 2: Off tell us about On Serukian, the type of fighter

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Speaker 2: he is, and what he brings to the octagon in

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Speaker 2: terms of his specific strengths.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, arm On Serukian is just that well rounded fighter.

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Speaker 3: I don't feel like he's a master of anything because

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Speaker 3: he's you know, pretty good at, you know, being a

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Speaker 3: complete MMO fighter. He started his career twenty eighteen and

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Speaker 3: on debut faced Isla Makachev, losing that fight ya unanimous decision.

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Speaker 3: So he came into the lightweight division making an absolute

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Speaker 3: splash despite not getting that decision, but taking Islam all

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Speaker 3: the way to the end of those rounds. But Yeah,

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Speaker 3: very well rounded fighter. He's quite elusive as well. He's

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Speaker 3: you know, dangerous on the ground. He knows what he's

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Speaker 3: doing with the wrestling. We see over in Kata at

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Speaker 3: the moment, he's walking around with Hamzat Chimaye, who's the

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Speaker 3: current middleweight champion. We see Ilia Supiria walking around as well,

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Speaker 3: So he's surrounded by really great, technical, strong, you know,

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Speaker 3: fighting champions at the moment. So he'll be coming in

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Speaker 3: knowing that this is his big opportunity after missing out

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Speaker 3: on a title shot earlier this year, so his you know,

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Speaker 3: mental fortitude will be up there as well. But yeah,

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Speaker 3: very well rounded fighter. And I'm just interested to see

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Speaker 3: how City Kickboxing as a team look to combat that.

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Speaker 2: How do you think they will because excuse me as

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Speaker 2: you say, Serukian very good wrestler, good grappler. I think

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Speaker 2: Dan Hooker's strength is probably his striking. So what normally

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Speaker 2: happens when two fighters like that collide.

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Speaker 3: Well, Dan Hooker, you know, he has his strength as well,

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Speaker 3: and he made mention of that when I spoke to

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Speaker 3: him this week, talking about how he was really surprised

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Speaker 3: at how short Armand's arms were, which is you know,

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Speaker 3: every fight starts on the feet in that striking position,

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Speaker 3: so Dan knows that he well and truly has that

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Speaker 3: reach advantage. Dan Hooker doesn't really keep to that range

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Speaker 3: typically during a fight, though traditionally he does like to

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Speaker 3: fight in the pocket. He does like to fight throw

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Speaker 3: uppercuts and hooks to really damage those fighters. But I

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Speaker 3: think he knows he knows that up against the cage

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Speaker 3: and Seruki is going to be dangerous. He knows, you know, defensively,

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Speaker 3: what he will need to do if Arman is successful

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Speaker 3: in getting him to the ground, as he showed against Gamrock.

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Speaker 3: But Dan Hooker is very, very elusive on the ground

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Speaker 3: as well. We saw those scrambles against Gamrot. But I

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Speaker 3: think that if he does keep it at that range

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Speaker 3: and keeps Arman on the outside, considering that strength, that

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Speaker 3: he will have success there. And Dan has like a

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Speaker 3: strength that you know, no one really realizes until you're

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Speaker 3: there standing in front of him and copying that. We

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Speaker 3: saw that with Jaylen Turner in the successful fight there,

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Speaker 3: So it would be interesting. And we're also mentioned on

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Speaker 3: the show this week that Dan Hooker was awarded a

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Speaker 3: black belt and Brazilian jiu jitsu, so he's been working.

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Speaker 3: You know, he has his wrestling grappling pedigree as well,

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Speaker 3: So yeah, I feel that Dan Honingen on his own strength,

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Speaker 3: which he is really good at, could make for a

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Speaker 3: great upset.

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Speaker 2: All right, And whoever wins, what's the reward? Rev? Who

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Speaker 2: does the winner get to fight next? Is it a

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Speaker 2: title shot?

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Speaker 3: It's a title shot. Dana White has said that the

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Speaker 3: winner of this fight will go for the title shot

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Speaker 3: because obviously Arman Seruki and he is at number one.

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Speaker 3: You beat number one, you get a title shot. Or

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Speaker 3: if you are number one and you've been told that

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Speaker 3: the next fight is the top, you get that title shot.

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Speaker 3: The current champion is Ilia Tapuria. He is also running

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Speaker 3: red hot right now. But Dan Hooker, through his you know,

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Speaker 3: eleven years of fighting in the USC, has always spoken

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Speaker 3: about fighting for about He's never spoken about holding the title.

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Speaker 3: He just wants to fight the best. So after beating

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Speaker 3: Armann this weekend, who is the best at the moment

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Speaker 3: by way of the rankings, he gets to fight for

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Speaker 3: that title shot. So hopefully a golden year for New

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Speaker 3: Zealand and the lightweight division in twenty twenty six.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely the stakes so high. Thanks so much for providing

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Speaker 2: such great insight. Revender always great to catch up.

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Speaker 3: You're very welcome. Thank you, no, thank you.

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Speaker 2: That is our host of UFC on Sky Sport Rovenda

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Speaker 2: Hernie sa UFC Fight Night main card, Dan Hooker against

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Speaker 2: the Armenian Arman Serukian seven o'clock tomorrow morning. You can

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Speaker 2: catch it on ESPN and also on Sky Sport Now.

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Speaker 1: For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine, listen live

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Speaker 1: to News Talk ZEDB weekends from midday, or follow the

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Speaker 1: podcast on iHeartRadio