Ask rising Kiwi MMA fighter Dan Hooker for a prediction for his upcoming bout against Marc Diakiese at UFC 219 and you're unlikely to receive your typical response.
But then, Hooker isn't your typical mixed martial artist.
"It's like unleashing a bag of cats and determining which way they're going to go. It's just impossible," Hooker told Newshub when presented with that very question.
The 27-year-old is just hours shy of boarding his flight to Las Vegas where he'll appear on the preliminary card of one of the UFC's marquee events of the year.
It doesn’t get too much bigger than New Year's Eve on the strip, where the stage will be set for "The Hangman" to make his biggest statement yet in his bid to move into the upper tier of the promotion's glittering lightweight division.
The demands of the brutal cut down to featherweight are now a distant memory, and it's clear Hooker's newfound home at 155lbs has helped breathe life into his career.
"I feel like I'm just coming into my prime now that I've come back up to lightweight," he admits.
"I just felt all those other fights down at featherweight I wasn't being myself. Those last few kilos were taking that venom from me, taking me, weakening me physically which also impacts you mentally.
"You don’t enjoy the training or the lifestyle, but I feel like it’s a path I had to go through. That’s where my contract was offered and I've shown a lot of growth over my UFC career. But I think came up at the right time."
That decision was emphatically justified with his jaw-dropping finish of veteran Ross Pearson in Auckland in June, where a perfectly-timed flying knee snuffed the light out of the Brit's eyes in a triumphant homecoming.
"That's just me being me. That's just me seven days of the week that’s what I'm like back at lightweight."
The finish earned Hooker a $US50,000 ($NZ70,558) performance bonus and exposed his vast talents to a whole new audience.
Undoubtedly one of 2017's most spectacular KOs, it's also a shining example of the dangers of his eight-point striking style which, when combined with his relentless ground game and expert use of range, poses a serious threat to any fighter across the division.
"I feel like my skills are a level above the others. I feel like I'm more technical and more skilful and because of the development and that growth.
"Put it this way, I wouldn’t want to fight myself. I'm not a fun guy to be in there with.
"I don't get tired, I have many strikes I can knock you out with, and I have many submissions that I can end the fight very quickly with. I'm not overly confident, but I'm very aware of my skills."
His opponent this weekend, Congolese-born Englishman Diakiese, was tagged by the UFC as a rising prospect but hasn't quite reached those expectations since his Octagon debut in October of 2016.
"He throws some flashy kicks, he's got some power with some Kos, but personally I'd class him as a grappler and a wrestler," says Hooker, who believes he has an edge wherever the fight may go.
"If he comes to grapple, I'll grapple him back. I back myself with my grappling, my jiu-jitsu and my wrestling skills, I think I have an advantage there."
Coming off a close split-decision loss in his most recent bout in July, "Bonecrusher" (12-1) is on a path to redemption and has inflicted his own fair share of flashy KOs with his explosive and unorthodox style.
Despite those dangers, his is a challenge Hooker wasn't shy in accepting. He knows no other way.
"All I wanted to do when I was coming up was fight the best guy on the table at the time. I didn’t pick my fights I just wanted the best guy. I always wanted to fight guys that I found challenging.
"I don’t understand going into a fight that you know you're going to win, I don’t really see the point.
"I do it for that feeling when you sign on that line and you get a bit nervous. I love getting a name that makes all the hard training worth it."
While a win would be the ideal way to round out the year for Hooker, it'd also be a fitting way to cap a landmark year for MMA in New Zealand.
Hamilton's Luke Jumeau made an impressive debut outing at the Auckland UFC Fight Night, as did Shane Young in Sydney, while Ev Ting's prolific run in Asia's ONE Championship continues. The human highlight reel that is Hooker's City Kickboxing gymmate Israel Adesanya has also recently inked a deal to appear at February's UFC 221 in Perth.
As far as Hooker himself - who you can almost guarantee will be flying an NZ cape behind him as he makes his entrance this weekend - is concerned, it's the dawn of a golden era for the sport in Aotearoa.
"Every year in this sport I've just seen growth within New Zealand MMA. The local scene back home has just grown better and better," says the staunchly proud Kiwi.
"We'll just improve on that in 2018. I can see New Zealand being a powerhouse on the global stage.
"In the next three or four years you're going to have closer to 10 guys in the UFC….doing well and really just shining for NZ."
And what better platform to perform than New Year's Eve in Sin City, where all eyes of the MMA world will be fixed.
With the Rivera vs Lineker fight scratched at late notice, Hooker's bout has been elevated from the preliminary undercard to the main pay-per-view card. The chance for Hooker to truly put his name in the lights has never been greater.
The same event in 2016, which featured former UFC golden girl Ronda Rousey against Amanda Nunes, reached almost 1.6 million viewers in the US alone, while the main card earned over 1.1 million buys.
Not that Hooker's feeling any pressure. In fact, his primary concern is a lack of it.
"I'm a bit of different character in that I can control the nerves. Sometimes a bit too much that I block them out altogether and then I don’t have enough adrenaline, or I'm not nervous enough."
"When I'm in my hometown and that pressure's there I always seem to do very well, then when that pressure taps turned down I fall asleep a bit and I'm not the fighter I should be.
"I find pressure I entirely controllable, it's not an external thing. You're under as much pressure as you put yourself under."
Either way, you can be certain that when David Dallas' "Runnin'" starts to ring through the T-Mobile Arena you'll see that trademark laser focus and a Dan Hooker who's ready to turn his learnings into results.
"It's just an accumulation of everything. It's an accumulation of my entire career, all those hours in the gym, everything's just coming together now," he exclaims.
"Even though I've taken some losses I wouldn't be the fighter I am now – as composed and as well prepared for the future if I hadn't had gone down that path. I wouldn’t change any of that.
"Everything I went through, all the hard times, all those learning experiences have made me who I am. Maybe I wouldn’t be as mentally strong if I hadn’t gone through all that hardship. Everything kind of comes together at the right time.
"As far as Dan Hooker's concerned, December 31st – the world ends."
Until the UFC's inaugural card in Perth rears its head in February, where he's eager to join stablemate Adesanya on the undercard of NZ-born Robert Whittaker's middleweight title defence.
"If I can get a quick turnaround and jump on Perth I'll be all over it," Hooker says with a grin.
"Give me six weeks, that's a lifetime. Two training camps for one fight? That's a blessing. You don't know how hard these things are."
Newshub.
