Dan Hooker out of UFC 285 fight against Jalin Turner due to a broken hand

Dan Hooker will not be fighting at UFC 285.

Hooker was set to return on March 4 in Las Vegas at UFC 285 against Jalin Turner in a very fan-friendly scrap. However, on Wednesday, MMAFighting reported that Hooker has suffered a broken hand and is out of his fight. The hope is to keep Turner on the card and have a replacement opponent found.

Dan Hooker (22-12) snapped his two-fight losing skid last time out as he scored a second-round TKO over Claudio Puelles at UFC 281. Prior to that, he suffered a first-round TKO to Arnold Allen in his return to featherweight and a first-round submission loss to Islam Makhachev. Hooker holds a record of 12-8 in the UFC. In his tenure, the 11th-ranked lightweight has notable wins over Al Iaquinta, Paul Felder, James Vick, Gilbert Burns, Jim Miller, and Marc Diakese among others.

Jalin Turner (13-5) is riding a five-fight winning streak and is coming off a first-round submission win over Brad Riddell at UFC 276, who is Hooker’s teammate. After the win, he even mentioned Hooker as a possible next opponent. Turner is currently ranked 10th at lightweight and also on the win streak, he TKO’d Jamie Mullarkey, submitted Uros Medic, submitted Brook Weaver and TKO’d Joshua Culibao.

As of right now, it’s uncertain whether or not the UFC will be able to find an opponent for Turner to remain on the card next month with Hooker out.

With Hooker out, UFC 285 is as follows:

• Ciryl Gane vs. Jon Jones
• Valentina Shevchenko vs. Alexa Grasso
• Geoff Neal vs. Shavkat Rakhmonov
• Viviane Araujo vs. Amanda Ribas
• Jalin Turner vs. TBD
• Derek Brunson vs. Dricus Du Plessis
• Bo Nickal vs. Jamie Pickett
• Jessica Penne vs. Tabatha Ricci
• Farad Basharat vs. Da’Mon Blackshear
• Cody Garbrandt vs. Trevin Jones
• Julina Marquez vs. Marc-Andre Barriault
• Ian Garry vs. Kenan Song
• Kamuela Kirk vs. Esteban Ribovics
• Mana Martinez vs. Cameron Saaiman

Who would you like to see Jalin Turner fight with Dan Hooker out?