Arnold Allen will fight Dan Hooker in a featherweight fight at UFC London, the promotion has announced.
The UFC confirmed last week they will return to the O2 Arena on March 19 and have already begun to construct a fight card of talented British fighters.
No.7 ranked featherweight Allen recently told Mirror Fighting he was hopeful of fighting Hooker at the event, which marks the promotion's first event in London since 2019.
"I think so, that's what they're planning," he said of fighting Hooker. "It will probably be that March card in London if it goes ahead.
"That would be ideal especially fighting in London, as it's been a couple years since there's been an event in London, so that would be really nice.
Allen has only fought twice in two years, suffering a broken hand after his fight with Sodiq Yusuff last April that forced him out of competition for the rest of 2021.
He was scheduled to face top featherweights Josh Emmett and Jeremy Stephens in 2020, but the Americans both pulled out of bouts against the Suffolk-based Allen.
No.8 ranked lightweight Hooker will return to featherweight to fight Allen after competing at 155-pounds for the last four years.
The New Zealander is going through a rough patch in his career, losing three of his last four fights against some of the best lightweight contenders.
'Hangman' went 3-3 when he competed at 145-pounds in the UFC, with his last bout in the weight class taking place in 2016.
And Allen joked they should introduce height limits in the promotion after the 6'0" Hooker returns to featherweight.
"They should introduce height limits in divisions, not weight limits! There should be like a three-inch limit, 5'9" is the cap at featherweight," he said.
The Brit - who is unbeaten in seven years - is confident that two victories in 2022 will be enough to earn him a shot at the featherweight title.
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"A win certainly jumps me up the division, getting a win over someone like that who is ranked in the weight above, it's got to put you up," Allen continued.
"It either cements my position where I am or puts me in the position where I'm looking at guys ahead of me rather than people that ranked below and such."
Allen also revealed the promotion was working on a fight for him against 'The Korean Zombie', but the MMA veteran is now fighting for the featherweight title at UFC 273 against Alex Volkanovski.
Tickets for UFC London will go on general sale at 10am GMT on Friday, February 4, via AXS and Ticketmaster. Fight Club and The O2 priority members can purchase tickets from Wednesday, February 2 at 9am and 10am GMT.
Newsletter subscribers and those who register their interest can gain early access to tickets from Thursday, February 3 at 10am GMT. Register here to stay up to date with the latest ticketing information.
