Alexander Volkanovski on Dan Hooker back at featherweight: ‘If we have to meet, we have to meet’

Dan Hooker may be returning to his old division of 145-pounds where his teammate, Alexander Volkanovski, reigns supreme as champion.

This wouldn’t be the first time Hooker fights at featherweight if it does happen. Entering the UFC in June 2014, Hooker returned to the class after a lightweight stint and went 3-3 before moving back up in 2017.

“He’s a big lightweight and you know that he’s made it before but you just sit there like, ‘How’s he gonna do it?'” Alexander Volkanovski told The AllStar. “At the end of the day, you want whatever’s best for anyone, especially your teammate. If he thinks that’s what’s best, he showed that he can make it, if he still thinks he’s gonna be healthy there then good on ’em.

“Obviously, people will be like, ‘Well, what if you’ll have to meet?’ We’ll worry about that when that happens. But at the same time, that’s just like any other division. It doesn’t mean because he’s in this division I’m not allowed to go there, that’s not fair.”

Hooker (21-11) has currently fallen on hard times inside the octagon having gone 1-3 in his last four. As for his City Kickboxing partner in Alexander Volkanovski (23-1), the champion most recently defended his title in an epic clash with Brian Ortega in the main event of UFC 266.

“If we have to cross that path, we will,” Volkanovski said regarding fighting Hooker. “Obviously, we’re teammates and we’re gonna be supporting each other helping each other out in camps doing all that type of stuff. If we have to meet, we have to meet and you worry about that then. But that’s not our goal. It’s not like, ‘Oh, sh*t. We need to start game-planning for each other.’ Not just yet. If it gets there, it gets there. If not, all good.”