On the back of Robert Whittaker getting the UFC middleweight title belt and being joined in Perth for UFC 221 on February 10 by Mark Hunt, we are moments away from Dan Hooker featuring on the UFC 219 card in Las Vegas. Hooker will come up against Marc Diakiese and this has been bumped up from the preliminary card to the main card via the bantanweight fight between John Lineker and Jimmie Rivera cancelled. 

This is Hooker's second fight in USA and he's coming off an impressive win over Ross Pearson. 

The hardest thing for Hooker has been consistency in the UFC to start to make some UFC waves, Hooker has to stack up wins. Diakiese's last fight was a loss, after he had strung together three wins and this will be a nice step up from Pearson for Hooker. 

With the UFC 219 card re-shuffled, we've got the slightly incredible situation where Hooker is the third fight behind Edson Barboza vs Khabib Nurmagomedov and Cris Cyborg vs Holly Holm. Holm and Cyborg will fight for Cyborg's featherweight title belt and that's an exceptional match up in itself, while Barboza's striking and the return of Nurmagomedov has plenty of buzz as well. 

Hooker isn't stuck on the prelims of a funky card, he's the third fight down and that's reason enough to get hyped. And it doesn't stop there folks as Hooker's comrade at Auckland City Kickboxing Israel Adesanya has been given a UFC contract and will fight on the UFC 221 card in Perth. 

Adesanya will fight Rob Wilkinson, an Australian middleweight who is also fresh into his UFC career.

Peace and love 27.