The New Zealander faced
Ultimate Fighting Championship debutant Salahdine
Parnasse in the main event of
UFC Paris this past September and lost via technical knockout
at 2:35 of the first round. Hooker is looking to make a quick
turnaround and is now scheduled to fight Brian
Ortega at
UFC Qatar on Nov. 21. “The Hangman†recently opened up about
why he's returning to action just 77 days after his last bout.

Dan Hooker says frustration after his Salahdine Parnasse loss
prompted him to accept Brian Ortega at UFC Qatar

Hooker said he was frustrated he couldn’t show his improvements
after a hard training camp for the Parnasse fight. He claims he
would've taken more time in between fights if he had gone to war
with the Frenchman for five rounds. While Hooker went down with the
body kick from Parnasse in the opening frame, he didn't suffer any
serious injuries, hence the short turnaround.

“When you just get out there and don’t really get to show anything,
that’s frustrating,†Hooker told Ariel Helwani. “I put in a really
hard training camp, made some pretty big improvements in my
consistency and training, and I just didn’t get to show it… Then I
saw Nolan was matched with Moicano, so I called my manager Ash and
said, ‘F*ck, surely I can beat Brian Ortega.' I was like, ‘F*ck,
he’s old as well. Surely, I can beat Brian Ortega.' The UFC liked
that fight, so I got it.â€

While Hooker (24-15) is on a three-fight skid, Ortega (16-5, 1 NC)
has lost four of his last five bouts.

Zuffa LLC

UFC star Tatiana Suarez has taken a look back at what she was able to learn from her title loss to Zhang Weili ahead of her return.

In early 2025, Tatiana Suarez fell to her first loss in professional mixed martial arts at the hands of Zhang Weili. Since then, however, she has done a pretty good job of rebuilding herself, with victories over Amanda Lemos and Loopy Godinez.

RELATED: Tatiana Suarez believes she is right back in title conversation after UFC 327

Ahead of her fight against Virna Jandiroba this weekend, Tatiana Suarez has been reflecting on what went down against Zhang Weili. Of course, a loss is always hard to take, but it can often help you become an even better version of yourself.

In an interview, Tatiana Suarez had the following to say on the matter.

Tatiana Suarez reflects on former title fight defeat

“I took a lot from that fight, obviously – um, I guess it's not obvious, because not everybody does that, but I'm sure you have to,†Suarez said. “There's just no way you don't take anything from a loss, you know? For me, it's helped me in a lot of ways mentally. Obviously, it's helped me understand things that I also have to improve on, and more so the mindset of it all. Up until that point, I've never faced any adversity in a fight. So, that was the first time I've ever had to face any type of adversity, and I never stopped coming. I always kept trying, so that's something to be said as well.

“So it does show me that I always just never quit. I'm never just going to be like, ‘OK, I'm done.' She hit me with some good shots, and I just kept coming forward. But I think more importantly, I just feel like being a skilled fighter and having the fight IQ is important when you have big fights like that. So, that's what I definitely learned out there as well is like being smarter and fighting smarter.â€

Quotes via MMA Junkie

Will Suarez compete for a UFC world title again? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below, BJPENN Nation!

This article appeared first on BJPENN.COM

Moicano suffered a third-round stoppage loss to Nolan at
UFC Vegas 123 on Oct. 31. However, the fight was marred by
controversy when Miragliotta stood the fighters up for inactivity
while Moicano had Nolan's back in the second round. While it's very
rare for a referee to intervene when a fighter has his opponent's
back, White defended Miragliotta's call.

Why Dana White believes Dan Miragliotta made the right
call

The
Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO says that, under the
ruleset, damage is the key factor in stand-ups, not holding
position. White notes that some grapplers can ride their opponent's
back for three rounds and says the referee is right to intervene if
the fighter in a dominant position isn't trying to land damage or
advance position.

“I don't think it's about dominant position,†White said during a
media scrum captured by TheMacLife. “It's about, are you doing
damage or not, trying to win the fight? Some of these guys are so
good, they can f*cking take your back and ride it out for three
rounds. The rules are, if you’re not doing damage or trying to
advance your position, or trying to win the fight, you get stood
up.â€