When the music hits and his name is called across a booming loud speaker with many of his family and friends in attendance, Hooker won't hear a thing.
By that time he has taken on his Hangman persona.
"Everyone's different," Hooker said. "Some guys get hyped up and they feed off the crowd; I wouldn't say I'm relaxed, but I'm more calm and it's like a horse going into a race that just puts the blinders on and looks at that one thing.
" I won't look around and enjoy the moment because that snaps you out of it. I just keep the blinders on and stay focused and then after the fight I can sit back and enjoy it."
When a hangman performs his role, they're stoic and show little sympathy for the person with the noose wrapped around their neck.
"That's the way I look at the sport. I just go in and it doesn't matter who your opponent is, it could be your best friend, your worst enemy but I go in and I've got a job to do. You go in and take care of it," Hooker said.
"It's all just professional, like a hangman's job."
The 24-year-old has dropped to featherweight from his preferred lightweight for this bout and tipped the scales at 66kg at yesterday's weigh-ins.
At 1.83m, the 10-4 Hooker is big for a featherweight and it will be interesting to see if he has retained his power despite cutting weight for the bout.
Hooker, who has signed a four-fight deal with the UFC with few guarantees, knows he needs to show something tonight to make people believe he is worthy of keeping around.
"The whole New Zealand MMA community's got my back, which gives me a lot of strength," Hooker said.
"They say when you go in to the cage you can't think of 'what if I get knocked out' or 'I've got to do this, I've got to do that'. You've got to push all of that aside and just go in and do it."
Just like any reliable hangman.
What is MMA
• It's a combat sport that allows the use of striking and grappling techniques, both standing and on the ground, from a variety of combat sports and martial arts such as freestyle wrestling, judo, kickboxing and Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
• In UFC-promoted bouts there are 31 different fouls, including head-butting, eye-gouging and low blows. The referee has the ability to stop the fight at any time if it is deemed a fighter's safety is being compromised.
• Standard bouts are set for three five-minute rounds, while title fights are generally slated for five rounds and since late 2011 all UFC main events are scheduled for five frames.
• It is scored by the 10-point must system where the winner of the round is awarded 10 points and the loser gets nine points or less. Rounds are judged on MMA techniques, such as effective striking, effective grappling, control of the ring/fighting area, effective aggressiveness and defence.
• In the UFC, there are eight male weight divisions and two female divisions. Male heavyweights can weigh up to 120kg/265lbs, while the flyweights have an upper limit of 57kg/125lbs.
• Fights can finish via KO, TKO, submission or a decision from the judges if it goes the distance.
• Some promotions conduct MMA bouts in a ring but the UFC use a cage for safety purposes. If two people are grappling and they roll through the ropes and out of the ring they risk doing considerable damage to themselves. Having the competitors in a cage allows them to wrestle without fear of falling out of the enclosure.
• The fighters wear regulation 4oz (113g) gloves, a mouthguard and a groin protector under their Thai boxing or MMA shorts.
• Like all combat sports there are elements of risk. Tom Wright, the UFC's director of operations for Canada, Australia and New Zealand, insists fighter welfare is paramount: "We worry about athlete safety. We worry about the issue of concussion but the instance of concussions are fewer in our sport than in boxing, than in American Football and in [ice] hockey."
