It is no surprise to see that UFC lightweight Dan Hooker has excellent striking. ‘Hangman’ after all trains at a gym and under a coach who has produced some of the finest strikers in the UFC. Having been born and lived all his life in the New Zealand capital of Auckland, the Kiwi is among the class of impressive UFC from the tiny country.

Even before he came into combat sports, Hooker always was an athlete. After trying his hand at rugby, Hooker eventually discovered, and soon fell in love with martial arts, starting off his journey with boxing and kickboxing, before he found MMA. The sport was blowing up in popularity in the mid-2000s when the Kiwi was in high school. So smitten by the sport was the ‘Hangman’ that he decided he wanted to be a martial artist. At just 19, the Kiwi made his MMA debut and made his way to the UFC in 2014. And supporting him throughout his journey and making his success possible were his coach and teammates.

Who trains Dan Hooker? Gym and coach

Dan Hooker has been training at the famed City Kickboxing Gym in Auckland headed by the the legendary Eugene Bareman. The Kiwi coach, of course, is known for its fighters being some of the best, most effective fighters in the Dana White-led promotion.

Having trained multiple world champions, Bareman has made quite a name for his gym, which is easily the best MMA gym in New Zealand! Hooker, like many of his Kiwi compatriots in the UFC, has at least partly Maori ancestry, tracing his lineage to the Ngati Maniapoto iwi (tribe).

But the reason ‘Hangman’ is such a great and exciting striker is in no small part because of his coach’s unique philosophy about MMA in particular and prize fighting in general. Bareman revealed in an interview in January 2024 that for him, the whole purpose of fighting was “to get in and get out, while inflicting as much damage on the other person and receiving as little as possible.”

In addition, the Kiwi coach pointed out that since the striking-heavy style is always liked by fans, it led to his fighters getting to a title shot sooner because of their popularity among fans.

“This way they don’t spend the majority of their careers trying to get to the title -instead, they capture it quickly and spend the majority of their career defending it,” he said. This, according to Bareman, meant that his fighters also earned more and were able to do so earlier in their career. And this is clearly true given the other teammates of Hooker, two of whom are historically great UFC champions.

Israel Adesanya, Kai Kara-France, and more: Dan Hooker’s teammates

At the City Kickboxing Gym, Hooker is surrounded by veritable UFC royalty. The best-known member of his team, of course, is former middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, whose striking mastery needs no introduction.

UFC light heavyweight star Carlos Ulberg with his exciting, bar brawler style and devastating one-punch knockout power is another CKB member, along with flyweight dynamo Kai Kara-France. Both ‘Black Jag’ and ‘Don’t Blink’ have some Maori lineage just like Hooker, which gives him an even deeper connection with them.

Legendary former featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski, too, used to train under Bareman at the Auckland gym, although he doesn’t really go down to New Zealand from his native Australia to train anymore. Do you think the wealth of expertise that surrounds him will help Hooker pass the test at UFC 305?