Daniel Preston Hooker (born 13 February 1990) is a New Zealand professional mixed martial artist and former kickboxer.

[6] Hooker was born in Auckland, New Zealand into a family of partial Māori (Ngāti Maniapoto) descent.

He fought primarily in his native New Zealand and amassed a record of 10–4 before joining the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

On 18 October 2009 he took part in the ICNZ Contender Series 1 No-Gi Submission Wrestling Tournament.

He beat Thomas Kwok and Bass Khou by guillotine choke and lost to Pumau Campbell on points.

He has also competed in a heavyweight fight, for which he weighed in at 86 kg / 189 lbs, against Mark Creedy, winning by knockout in the second round.

[13][14] Hooker made his promotional debut against fellow newcomer Ian Entwistle on 28 June 2014 at UFC Fight Night 43.

[22] In April 2016, Hooker competed in the 2016 Tiger Muay Thai Tryouts in Phuket, and won a place on the professional fight team, along with teammate Dave Leduc.

[27] Moving up from featherweight to lightweight, Hooker fought Ross Pearson on 11 June 2017 at UFC Fight Night 110.

[31] Hooker faced Marc Diakiese on 30 December 2017 at UFC 219[32] He won the fight via guillotine choke submission in the third round.

[50] This bout was widely considered one of the greatest fights of the year, due its back-and-forth bloody exchanges.

[57] Hooker faced Islam Makhachev as a short notice replacement for Rafael Dos Anjos at UFC 267.

[59] Hooker faced Arnold Allen in a featherweight bout on 19 March 2022 at UFC Fight Night 204.

[64] However, Hooker was forced to withdraw from the event citing a hand injury,[65] and he was replaced by Mateusz Gamrot.

[70] However, the week before the event, Hooker withdrew due to injury,[71] and was replaced by Jalin Turner.

[77] Hooker ran and taught at his own gym, The Combat Academy in Auckland, New Zealand,[78] which he has since closed to focus on his MMA career.

[79] In September 2021, Hooker announced that he was relocating to the United States due to problems he experienced with lockdown measures in New Zealand as well as obtaining a work visa to travel to the US from NZ.