Dan Hooker withdraws from UFC 313 fight

Kiwi lightweight Dan Hooker has been forced to withdraw from the highly anticipated UFC 313 bout with American Justin Gaethje due to injury.

Hooker announced on social media that he suffered a hand injury in training and was forced to pull out of the Vegas co-main event - set for March 18.

It was set up as fan-friendly a match-up the UFC could possibly make and one in which Hooker believed he would be able to make a statement in.

Gaethje is ranked at No 3 in the division and Hooker at No 6.

“I was just throwing some bombs down range. Just caught one of my boys on the top of the dome with my knuckle,” Hooker told Sky Sport.

“I didn’t think too much of it but they sent me off to get a little CT scan and they told me it was fractured.”

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission