"Slowly turning into Julianna Pena" - UFC world bashes Dan Hooker's "irrelevant, salty" comments about Islam Makhachev's retirement 

Dan Hooker faced Islam Makhachev at UFC 267, losing the bout via first-round submission. While 'The Hangman' is currently sidelined with a broken arm, he recently revealed that he believes the lightweight champion will retire before facing Arman Tsarukyan, who he defeated via unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night 149 in 2019, once again.

Speaking to Ariel Helwani of The MMA Hour, the No.9-ranked lightweight stated:

"He ain't going to fight him. I guarantee he'll retire by the time Arman gets there, for sure... Too risky, there's too much risk. There's too many other easier fights out there. Stylistically. The bigger names who are actually - no one's going to buy an Arman Tsarukyan pay-per-view. Come on, you know what I mean. No one's tuning into the press conference. No one's giving the $80 for the pay-per-view. You’d rather watch Islam fight [Conor] McGregor or [Justin] Gaethje or someone like that."

Check out Dan Hooker's comments on Islam Makhachev below:

Fans responded by claiming that Hooker has not gotten over his loss to Makhachev. @Muhamm1700 shared a photo of the bout being stopped, captioning the post:

"The hooker still can't get over it, bro owns CKB"

@CaAngryblackdu believes that 'The Hangman' is acting like Julianna Pena:

"Dan Hooker was one of my favorite fighters, but he's slowly turning into Julianna Pena."

@AwaisRoger claimed that Hooker is jealous and has chronic traumatic encephalopathy, which is a brain condition caused by repeated injuries and blows to the head:

"Such a salty jealous individual. Not surprised with someone with CTE at 33 lol."

Check out more fan reactions below:

Fan reactions

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Why didn't Dan Hooker fight at UFC on ESPN 52?

Dan Hooker was scheduled to face Bobby Green in a five-round co-main event bout at UFC on ESPN 52. 'The Hangman' was forced to withdraw less than two weeks prior to the event. He broke the news during an interview with Submission Radio, stating:

"I'm alright, boys, been better. I was sparring yesterday, blocked a bit of a kick, got in for an X-Ray, she's casted... Yeah, it's broken. It just broke in the same place and it kind of is what it is. It is what it is. I took a risk. I obviously came back a little quicker than - yeah, like it's all on me, brother. I rushed to come back. I wanted to fight and I knew the risk of coming back that quickly. We rolled the dice and we've come up snake eyes."

Check out Dan Hooker's comments on withdrawing from UFC on ESPN 52 below:

Hooker initially suffered the injury when facing Jalin Turner at UFC 290 in July. While he was attempting to return to the octagon after just five months, he will likely be sidelined for a lengthy period after breaking his arm in the same place.