UFC lightweight contender Dan Hooker suffered a serious injury from Arman Tsarukyan’s headbutt at the UFC Qatar weigh-in.

Top UFC lightweight contender Arman Tsarukyan wasn’t a part of this past weekend’s festivities at UFC 324, but he remains a fixture of the division’s title picture.

Tsarukyan watched cageside as Justin Gaethje reclaimed the UFC interim lightweight title by outpointing Paddy Pimblett at UFC 324 last Saturday. Gaethje, 38, became the oldest UFC lightweight to win a belt in the promotion’s illustrious history, handing Pimblett his first UFC defeat.

Many fans and pundits believed Tsarukyan deserved a shot at the interim lightweight belt last Saturday over Pimblett. Tsarukyan most recently submitted Dan Hooker at UFC Qatar last year to extend his ongoing win streak.

Just hours before Tsarukyan defeated Hooker, the two lightweights were involved in a pre-fight scuffle at the ceremonial weigh-in. Tsarukyan headbutted Hooker as they faced off on stage, leading to UFC CEO Dana White snubbing Tsarukyan from another title shot.

But Tsarukyan’s headbutt did serious damage not only to his own title hopes, but to Hooker’s performance in their fight.

Dan Hooker suffered broken nose in headbutt that led UFC to snub Arman Tsarukyan of title shot

In a recent appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show, Hooker revealed he suffered a broken nose thanks to Tsarukyan just hours before their fight.

“When this c— f—— headbutted me at the weigh-in and broke my f—— nose, it pissed me right off. But it’s like, you can’t get emotional at that stage of the fight,” Hooker said.

“Obviously, mate, I was fuming. I wanted that back, but you just have to brush it off, you have to put that in the back of your mind, but yeah, I was steaming, bro. That threw me off for sure. They scanned me after the fight, took me to the hospital, and said I had a fractured nose. It had nothing to do with the fight – I had to get medically cleared for this fight, but I just flat-out refused [LAUGHS].

“The broken nose didn’t bother me [in the fight], not a physical thing, just more mental,” Hooker continued. “Getting a one-up on you before the fight…but kudos to him, he got it.”

Hooker is set to return to the Octagon against knockout artist Benoit Saint-Denis this weekend at UFC 325.