"Never count the Hangman out" - Dan Hooker lives up to 'psychopath' label with violent come-from-behind win at UFC 290

Dan Hooker is one of the most exciting fighters in the UFC today and rarely fails to put on an entertaining fight. On July 8, the 33-year-old stayed true to his 'psychopath' tag as he, along with Jalin Turner, stole the show at UFC 290 and delivered a thrilling back-and-forth war for fans present at the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada.

Prior to UFC 290, Hooker had broken his two-fight skid at UFC 281 by defeating Claudio Peulles via TKO in the second round. Turner, on the other hand, was defeated in his last encounter against Mateusz Gamrot via split decision at UFC 285.

The two athletes locked horns on the main card of the event and started trading heavy shots in the opening round. In the second round, 'The Hangman' appeared to get the better of Turner and put him in trouble on several occasions.

The slugfest lasted all three rounds and went to the judges' scorecards. Hooker was declared the winner via split decision as the three judges scored the fight 28-29, 29-28 and 29-28 in the 33-year-old's favor.

Featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski was thrilled to see his teammate Hooker perform well in the fight.

The electrifying fight had the MMA world talking on social media. Former UFC fighter Ben Askren uploaded a post on Twitter praising 'The Hangman for his ability to absorb heavy shots in the fight.

"Hooker eating this is crazy. Even crazier is he took a bunch more clean shots after this."

One Twitter user joked that Hooker's impressive performance might have something to do with 'The Hangman' dying his hair.

You can see a collage of some of the comments below:

Fighters and fans react to Dan Hooker vs. Jalin Turner

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When Dan Hooker called a 'psychopath' by a UFC champion

Dan Hooker has had grueling fights against Dustin Poirier and Paul Felder where 'The Hangman' often threw caution to the wind to engage in a slugfest. According to his teammate, friend and current middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, Hooker shows the same aggression and intensity during their sparring sessions.

'The Last Stylebender' once uploaded a video featuring moments of him and Hooker. In the video, Adesanya called the 33-year-old a 'psychopath' for how he performed against him in sparring.

"It's always good to have a psychopath. There, look at him, psychopath. Absolute psychopath. He put it on today. He made me step up. Everyone made me step up. But f***ing Dan...."

Check out Adesanya's comments from the 3:18 mark below: