A lightweight fight between New Zealand’s Dan Hooker and Al Iaquinta is nearly finalized for UFC 243 in Australia.
Dan Hooker was interested in taking on Al Iquinta in Australia. Iaquinta looks ready for a bit of travel. And so verbal agreements are in place for Hooker vs. Iaquinta at UFC 243 in October. ESPN’s Ariel Helwani was first to report the news, which should serve as a big addition to a card headlined by Robert Whittaker vs. Israel Adesanya.
Hooker (18-8) will enter the match-up at UFC 243 coming off a first round knockout of James Vick in July at UFC San Antonio. That represented his first trip to the octagon after a tough battle with Edson Barboza late last year, which saw Hooker go down to a body shot from the Brazilian.
Iquinta (14-5-1) also fought on that December card, defeating Kevin Lee in the main event of the final UFC on FOX show. ‘Raging’ Al, however, came up short against Donald Cerrone at UFC Ottawa in main, halting the momentum he had built with the Lee win.
A New York native, Iaquinta has made the trek down under before, picking up a win over Ross Pearson in Sydney, Australia at UFC Fight Night 55 in in 2014. The TUF finalist (Ultimate Fighter 15) is 2-1 in international competition overall.
UFC 243 takes place October 5 (October 6 locally in Australia) in Melbourne at the Marvel Stadium.
