UFC: Hooker dropping to featherweight

UFC Fight Night Auckland will be headlined by a bout between James Te Huna, left, and American Nate Marquardt. Photo / Getty

Auckland's Dan Hooker will make his UFC debut during next month's fight night at Vector Arena but will have to drop to featherweight to make it happen.

The 24-year-old will meet Englishman Ian Entwistle (8-1) on June 28 and Hooker, who normally fights at lightweight (155lbs, 70.3kgs), said he had no issue with sliding to featherweight (145lbs, 66kgs) for the bout.

"It won't be a problem. I'll have enough time. It's a bit harder dieting but it's not a major," Hooker said. "I've fought at feather once before and felt great.

"It's the UFC, it's big time, man, I'm going to do whatever it takes."

Hooker has a 10-4 record and is unbeaten in his past five fights across promotions in New Zealand, Australia and Macau.

His only previous fight at featherweight came in June, 2012 when he beat China's Chengjie Wu via TKO at Legend Fighting Championship 9 in Macau.

Hooker, who began his MMA career 3-3 but has vastly improved in recent years, said next month's fight would also gauge whether he would compete at featherweight in the future.

"We'll just see how this weight cut goes," he said. "If this cut goes fine I might stay down at feather but if it's a nightmare with my diet I'll go back up to lightweight."

At 1.83m, Hooker is tall for a featherweight and will have a height advantage over the 1.75m Entwistle, who has also fought at lightweight in the past.

"We are both going to come in hungry, both making our debuts," Hooker said. "I'm not going to go in and think about him, you've got to be yourself."

Hooker has signed a four-fight deal with the UFC but the contract isn't iron-clad.

"They said nothing's guaranteed if you lose, so I've got to get that win," Hooker said. "It's the nature of the game, every time, you put it all on the line.

"To get regular fights, you have to put on a show. You have to win."

Hooker's bout, which had been rumoured for the past two weeks, is the 10th fight confirmed for next month's card.

UFC Fight Night Auckland: Te Huna v Marquardt will be headlined by a middleweight bout between Kiwi James Te Huna and American Nate Marquardt.

Te Huna is another Kiwi who is dropping down a weight class for the fight night and his meeting with Marquardt will mark his debut as a middleweight after he lost his past two bouts at light heavyweight.