"You get treated like a criminal for going out and wanting to earn a living for your family" - Dan Hooker on why he is being forced to relocate to America from New Zealand

Dan Hooker has given some insight into why he and the rest of City Kickboxing are essentially being forced to relocate from New Zealand to America.

Hooker recently competed at UFC 266. 'The Hangman' made it to the event after facing visa issues in the build-up to the fight. The troubles nearly prevented him from being able to leave his home country.

The New Zealander was ultimately victorious at UFC 266, putting on a well-rounded display to get the unanimous decision victory against Nasrat Haqparast. The victory saw Hooker move up to No.6 in the UFC lightweight rankings.

Dan Hooker is now sitting outside the top-five and potentially only one or two wins away from a title shot. Because of that, he's unsurprisingly reluctant to have to go through New Zealand's stringent Covid restrictions in the build-up to his next fight.

Speaking on the 78th episode of The Schmozone Podcast, Dan Hooker had the following to say about the trials and tribulations he had to overcome in order to compete at UFC 266. They are also all reasons as to why the City Kickboxing roster appears to have their hearts set on a move to the United States.

"My government's, like, actively working to not let me train for a fight. Like it's, yeah, your representing your country, you're a small business owner. They've shut your business down, you're not getting paid to sit at home. You're just like sitting there, they're telling you to sit on your hands, not fight, not train. Not come over here, not go to work. You get treated like a criminal for going out and wanting to earn a living for your family."

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Dan Hooker on the backlash he and Israel Adesanya have received for stating their intent to relocate

While the response to the City Kickboxing team's decision to make the move to the U.S. has largely been met with positivity by fans and media in North America, Dan Hooker has revealed that it is a very different case in New Zealand.

"They're like, calling Israel and me for coming out and saying what we were saying... The public reacted to it as...there's people out there commenting 'they're just entitled sportsmen, just entitled sportsmen.' I'm like, a small business owner, I have a gym, you gotta pay rent, you gotta pay this, you gotta pay that. None of that's getting covered by the government."

You can check out The Schmo's full interview with Dan Hooker and Alexander Volkanovski below: