Dan Hooker knows what it's like to be counted out, but it's a little different this time. Hooker enters Saturday's UFC Fight Night main event -- a spot he's very familiar with -- but it's promotional newcomer Salahdine Parnasse getting most of the attention in Paris.
Hooker hasn't given people reason to believe in him lately. Consecutive stoppage losses to Arman Tsarukyan and Benoit Saint Denis halted a career resurgence and sent him tumbling back down the lightweight pecking order. His preparation admittedly wasn't where it needed to be in those performances.
"Success has its own faults as well," Hooker told CBS Sports. "It was a combination of many things. I had four surgeries back-to-back, and then I wasn't able to train. I wasn't able to be in the gym. And so I got distracted with a lot of other things.
"I run my own fight show and have a few businesses. You're getting dragged for meetings, traveling, this and that. Success has its downfalls. I was getting pulled in a million different directions."
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Outside ventures took priority as Hooker recovered from numerous surgeries. His 1 Minute Scraps and King of the Street backyard fight series took off online and in New Zealand. Once Hooker was healthy enough to fight again, however, he hadn't properly shifted his attention back to his Octagon career. The Saint Denis loss in January forced him to reconsider his priorities.
"With the result of the last two fights, it's a real wake-up call that I need to be giving this thing the right amount of time and energy," Hooker said.
Hooker didn't wait for another booking to get serious. He kept training after the Saint Denis loss and was already in shape when UFC called with a September main event. If Hooker is truly prepared, it's unwise to count out the +440 underdog. He's no stranger to career turnarounds.
Hooker looked like he might be nearing the end after losing four of five fights, including an ill-fated featherweight return. Instead, he rattled off three straight lightweight wins. The middle victory, against Jalin Turner, was vintage Hooker. He fought through a broken arm and orbital bone to win a decision in one of 2023's fiercest fights.
It takes a special kind of crazy to be an MMA fighter. Hooker is a lunatic by comparison. He seems to enjoy the thrill and agony more than most. He's knocked out heavyweights on short notice, engaged in tag team kickboxing that had pushy men cosplaying as ropes and delivered some of UFC's most memorable fights. He had his first professional bout at 19. Nearly two decades later, that same vicious appetite serves a different purpose.
"I use the sport as artistic character. That's why it's always been," Hooker said. "My first professional fight was when I was 19. I'm 36 now. I've been in the UFC for 12 years. Early on in my life, it was to develop character.
"Now it's to test it. To make sure it's still there. Make sure it's still sharp. Make sure I'm still mentally strong. There's no other sport in the world that you can test your character to this, to test yourself mentally and physically to this level."
Parnasse is a fitting opponent for that test. Hooker is the veteran coming off consecutive losses. Parnasse is the prized newcomer, a two-time KSW champion making his UFC debut in a main event on home soil.
Hooker understands what it implies about their respective careers; he doesn't plan to cooperate. For Hooker, this fight is just as much about his future as it is Parnasse's.
"I want to springboard off this. This is to get the ship heading in the right direction. It's turning this thing around," Hooker said. "I still feel I have plenty of good fighting years in me. We'll get this ship headed in the right direction."
Being the spoiler suits him. Hooker has experienced the uncomfortable pressure of fighting at home. In Paris, none of it belongs to him. The hostility he's already received from French fans, which includes death threats, is something Hooker enjoys.
"It's not a fairy tale. We're not in the sport of fairy tales," Hooker said. "There needs to be a villain for it to be a good story. And I'm more than happy to kind of play that role.
"We have a sold-out arena here. The most passionate fans in the world. From what I'm hearing, these boys get quite loud behind their fighter. If there's a guy out there that is going to enjoy ruining their time, it makes everything a little bit sweeter."
There was a serious incentive for Hooker to risk his top 10 ranking against someone who has never competed in the UFC. Hooker said he was paid a premium for accepting the fight -- enough that he joked he'd fight former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou for the same amount.
If welcoming highly touted newcomers pays this well, Hooker will make it a habit. He already has another name in mind: undefeated PFL and former Bellator lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov.
"He has to come through me," Hooker said. "That's not exclusively a message to him. I would like that fight. If he's going to come into the UFC, then I'm the guy. That's my job: to welcome these guys. They think that they can compete at the highest level of the UFC in these other organizations."
