Dan Hooker responds to death threats ahead of UFC Paris

French fans are known for the passion that they have for their own, and Dan Hooker has been getting himself familiar with that after receiving some questionable messages in the build-up to UFC Paris.

Hooker is tasked with welcoming the highly-touted Salahdine Parnasse to the UFC. On enemy territory, against an extremely talented and hungry prospect, is always going to be a difficult task. Hoping to make the challenge even harder, Parnasse fans have been getting acquainted with the New Zealand native.

According to Dan Hooker, he has been on the receiving end of death threats as he heads into enemy territory on Saturday. Brushing aside any comments, Hooker confirmed that he will perform at his best whether those in the audience love him or hate him.

“I have been getting a lot of French fans reach out and say that they’re, they’re just excited for the fight,” Hooker said. “They’re excited that I’m making the trip out there… Yeah, I’ve had a lot of people reach out and kind of apologize for all the death threats, and just tell me that they’re excited for me to come over and put on a show.”

“I don’t even feel like I’m walking into hostile territory. I feel like there’ll just be a lot of people excited for the fight. And whether they love me or they hate me, I couldn’t care less. I feed off the energy of it entirely, at the end of the day. There ain’t nothing anybody can do about it.”

Unfazed by the threats, Dan Hooker hit out at the fans, insisting there’s nothing anybody can do to save Salahdine Parnasse once the cage doors close.

“He could have 10-20,000 people in there that want to kill me,” Hooker continued. “There ain’t nothing they can do but shut the f*** up, eat their popcorn, and watch me beat your boy.”