Kiwi lightweight contender Dan Hooker has been around the game long enough to recognise a golden opportunity, and no second thought was required when Michael Chandler‘s name was floated his way late last year. While others among the upper echelon of the division appeared tepid to the proposition, Hooker (20-9) was eager to further his stock against the marquee signing, and lay out the most inhospitable of welcome mats to three-time Bellator champ Chandler (21-5) at UFC 257 in Abu Dhabi on January 23. And fighting on the same card and in the same division as Conor McGregor – the UFC‘s platinum draw – when the pandemic is wreaking havoc on events may also result in the kind of life-changing moment “The Hangman” couldn’t overlook. “I‘d be lying if I said that’s not a big reason why I jumped on this fight,” he told SCMP MMA. “If someone gets hurt on that main event and you miss that spot, I’d be kicking myself for the rest of my days. “This is a game of opportunity. To play the McGregor roulette – I‘d be lying if I said I wasn’t going all in on that. If something happens and that fight opens up, I’d jump on that fight in a heartbeat.” Hypotheticals aside, the 30-year-old Auckland native realises Chandler still offers the kind of name value and credibility that could help him push his way to the front of the queue. UFC: Adesanya has ‘no need to bulk right up’ for Blachowicz There is a logjam at the top of the UFC‘s most competitive division, where an unofficial tournament of sorts is starting to take shape for the belt vacated by the retiring Khabib Nurmagomedov in October. “[The UFC] put him as the backup for the title for the [Justin] Gaethje-Khabib fight, which proves just how much stock they put into him,” said Hooker. “He‘s used to the pressure, he knows how to handle the situations. So, to take him out puts me right back in title contention.” After a full eight-week fight camp at City Kickboxing, Hooker flew to Abu Dhabi last week without head trainer Eugene Bareman, who is preparing Junior Fa for his heavyweight boxing clash with former WBO world champion Joseph Parker on February 27. Bareman then departs the next morning with Israel Adesanya for the middleweight champ’s light heavyweight title bid against Jan Blachowicz on March 7. Instead, Hooker’s corner will be led by his former coach at Tiger Muay Thai, the seasoned grappling expert George Hickman. “My camp has been incredible ... I‘m so confident in that, I feel I’ll be fine,” he said. “The game plan has been drilled into the back of my eyeballs … because of the stylistic match-up, there’s not a lot of new tools I need to reach into the bag for.”