When a fighter like Dan Hooker enters the cage, fans see the sharp elbows, the brutal pace, and the willingness to walk through fire. But none of that happens in isolation. As the #6 lightweight in the world prepares for his main event clash against Arman Tsarukyan at UFC Fight Night 265 in Qatar, the question resurfaces: What kind of room shapes a fighter this durable? 

If you trace the path back far enough, it leads to a single place, a gym in Auckland that has quietly become one of MMA’s most influential factories.  Before Hooker became a UFC standout, he was a young Kiwi athlete bouncing between rugby fields and local combat gyms. But once he stepped into City Kickboxing, the story changed. And that brings us to the first piece of the puzzle!

Where Does Dan Hooker Train? City Kickboxing Auckland Gym Location

Even before he came into combat sports, Hooker always was an athlete. After trying his hand at rugby, Hooker eventually discovered, and soon fell in love with martial arts, starting off his journey with boxing and kickboxing, before he found MMA. The sport was blowing up in popularity in the mid-2000s when the Kiwi was in high school. So smitten by the sport was the ‘Hangman’ that he decided he wanted to be a martial artist. At just 19, the Kiwi made his MMA debut and made his way to the UFC in 2014.

Dan Hooker has been training at the famed City Kickboxing Gym in Auckland headed by the the legendary Eugene Bareman. The Kiwi coach, of course, is known for its fighters being some of the best, most effective fighters in the Dana White-led promotion.

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Having trained multiple world champions, Bareman has made quite a name for his gym, which is easily the best MMA gym in New Zealand! Hooker, like many of his Kiwi compatriots in the UFC, has at least partly Maori ancestry, tracing his lineage to the Ngati Maniapoto iwi (tribe). So who is the man behind the gym’s meteoric rise?

Who Is Dan Hooker’s Head Coach Eugene Bareman? Training Philosophy & Success Rate

The reason ‘Hangman’ is such a great and exciting striker is in no small part because of his coach’s unique philosophy about MMA in particular and prize fighting in general. Bareman revealed in an interview in January 2024 that for him, the whole purpose of fighting was “to get in and get out, while inflicting as much damage on the other person and receiving as little as possible.”

In addition, the Kiwi coach pointed out that since the striking-heavy style is always liked by fans, it led to his fighters getting to a title shot sooner because of their popularity among fans.

“This way they don’t spend the majority of their careers trying to get to the title -instead, they capture it quickly and spend the majority of their career defending it,” he said. This, according to Bareman, meant that his fighters also earned more and were able to do so earlier in their career. And this is clearly true given the other teammates of Hooker, two of whom are historically great UFC champions.

Does Dan Hooker Train With Israel Adesanya? Alexander Volkanovski, Kai Kara-France & Elite Teammates

At the City Kickboxing Gym, Hooker is surrounded by veritable UFC royalty. The best-known member of his team, of course, is former middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, whose striking mastery needs no introduction.

UFC light heavyweight star Carlos Ulberg with his exciting, bar brawler style and devastating one-punch knockout power is another CKB member, along with flyweight dynamo Kai Kara-France. Both ‘Black Jag’ and ‘Don’t Blink’ have some Maori lineage just like Hooker, which gives him an even deeper connection with them.

Legendary former featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski, too, used to train under Bareman at the Auckland gym, although he doesn’t really go down to New Zealand from his native Australia to train anymore.  

As such, City Kickboxing isn’t just where he trains. It’s where he evolved, where he found his identity, and where he sharpened the tools he’ll rely on when he steps in to face Arman Tsarukyan. So as fight night approaches in Qatar, the story becomes bigger than Dan Hooker alone. It becomes a question of legacy: How far can a fighter go when he’s backed by one of the strongest teams in the sport?