EXCLUSIVE: Dan Hooker gives us the lowdown on 'side chick' and X-rated pic drama

UFC lightweight Dan 'The Hangman' Hooker is never one to shy away from a scrap, and he’s just faced one of his messiest opponents yet - Internet drama. 

The Kiwi fighter has been making headlines for some wild recent allegations, from a public breakup meltdown to accidentally flashing 20,000 people on his Instagram story. 

Now, he’s finally cleared the air with The Rock’s Morning Rumble.

With a bit on as of late, Hooker made sure to give props where they’re due, pointing to his wife Isabella, as a true rock in his life. Amid his reputation as a bit of a "wild man," Hooker admitted he wouldn't be "a functioning human" without her keeping him grounded.

Hooker addressed the drama around a recent situation with another woman claiming to be his “side chick” that ended by "mutual agreement." 

In mid-February, a video surfaced that accused Dan Hooker of having a mistress whom he would pay for her entire lifestyle. 

According to the clip, posted by a woman known as @keekgrace on Instagram, their agreement continued until she allegedly found intimate messages exchanged between Hooker and another man.

The mixed martial arts veteran confronted the allegations with a statement on his Facebook account.

Speaking to The Rock, he claims the woman "had a bit of a meltdown", leading to the very public situation. 

"Hurt people do hurt things," Hooker says. “I don’t have any grudge toward her or hold any malice toward her. I hope she finds another bloke to terrorise.”

Hooker would like to move on from the situation.

When his phone was blowing up in the 24 hours after the bombshell allegations, Hooker dealt with the online "pack mentality" the only way a fighter knows how - by disconnecting.

"This is the beauty about it. When you’re getting bullied and harassed on your phone, you just go like this, [turn it off], put it down, and you piss off to Queenstown for a week and go skydiving and bungee jumping," he said. 

He understands that all it takes is time to settle down. "When there’s blood in the water, they attack. It’s like oh, he’s down, get your boot in".

He credits his career in MMA to having strong mental strategies in dealing with these sorts of situations.

In a more hilarious turn, and something Hooker was eager to clear up, he also addressed the infamous leaked photo of his butthole. 

"It's been interesting times,” Hooker said.

“I had this gangster message me, and he's like 'why are you gay?' and I was like 'nah, not gay' and he's like 'explain this' and then he sends me a picture of my bumhole.”

Hooker confirmed it was a cheeky shot meant for his wife after a tanning session, but he accidentally shared it to his Instagram story for a whopping 20k followers to eye up before he could delete it. 

I knew that this picture was out there. I knew at one stage or another was gonna come back and bite me in the bum.

That wardrobe malfunction was the second “dumbest” thing he did that day.

ICYMI - During a Warriors game back in 2024, Hooker was filmed throwing a drink over an opposing Parramatta Eels supporter from the owner’s box at Go Media Stadium.

Not something he’s too proud of - it was a bloody bad day for the bloke.

"I also wanna say that if you still are walking around with a picture of my bum hole on your phone, yeah. You might have to have a good, hard look at yourself,” he ended the chat. 

Mulls rushed to delete the pic.. HA.

The controversy comes at a time when Hooker is in the middle of a two-fight losing streak in the UFC.

He was submitted in the second round by Arman Tsarukyan at UFC Fight Night in November before being knocked out by Benoit Saint-Denis at UFC 325 in February.

Hooker admits that he would ‘muck around’ when he wasn’t training in the lead up to the fights and has apologised to his fans.

“I'm sorry to everyone that's been supporting me the last couple of fights because I haven't been putting in the work."

“If they (the fans) see me out with a beer in my hand, they can clip me around the ears and go 'Dan, get back in the gym.’”

Despite all the drama and the defeats, Hooker plans to keep on fighting.

"I've got four fights left on my UFC contract. I'd like to bare knuckle box at some stage. I want to say 40 (years old), I want to say I'll hang them up. I'm a lifer.”

If you wanna hear the full chat between Hooker and The Morning Rumble, you can catch that HERE on rova.