Mixed martial arts fans awoke Monday morning to find their feeds filled with yet another video of a streamer/influencer seeking to throw hands with a UFC fighter – and getting pummeled for his efforts.
On his trip to New Zealand, one of the most popular and eclectic streamers in a social media landscape increasingly dominated by live streamed content decided to test himself against UFC lightweight Dan Hooker. The sparring session was streamed live on iShowSpeed’s YouTube channel.
In the past, streamers have sought to test fighters like Sean Strickland in sparring rounds in an MMA cage, but perhaps Dan Hooker is not the right athlete to play around with.
IShowSpeed is known to travel the world and – among other antics – interact with fighters and other athletes, having played soccer with the likes of Christiano Ronaldo.
Speed often turns these streams humorous with his bombastic personality and often faux-outrage, but the YouTube star found himself in no shape to do anything of the sort after facing ‘the Hangman.’
In one clip which was widely shared online, Speed lunges forward and tries to grapple with Hooker, who is known as ‘Hangman’ for his deadly guillotine choke. The pair were in boxing gloves, however, so Dan simply unloaded punches to the head and body of iShowSpeed which left the streamer facedown, covering his head with the wind knocked out of him.
? | NEW: IShowSpeed got absolutely violated in a boxing match against UFC fighter Dan Hooker ? pic.twitter.com/zUpdvQKXty
— TheStreamerHQ (@TheStreamerHQ) November 25, 2024
The combination was not dissimilar to those Hooker has unleashed in the UFC octagon, despite being only in a practice octagon at his team’s gym, City Kickboxing.
Fans took to social media to comment on the video, including noted Twitter user ‘@uhvaimorre,’ who said, “Hooker not the guy to have in your sparring streams… lmfao.”
Hooker not the guy to have in your sparring streams man… lmfao https://t.co/stWvtJ8uDz
— arrakian bronx (@uhvaimorre) November 25, 2024
The sentiment that Hooker is not one to mess with seemed to be shared by the teammate of Dan’s who was refereeing the sparring session, as he walked over to a prone Speed and told him, “Welcome to my world brother.”
