Forget the lights, the walkouts, and the pre-fight pressers. The most gripping fight content in recent months hasn’t come from the UFC. It has come from the backyard of a Kiwi fighter who’s had enough of the rules.
Dan Hooker’s now-infamous 1 Minute Scraps is quickly becoming must-watch viewing for fight fans, and in my humble opinion, in some ways it is more entertaining than watching the UFC on a Sunday afternoon.
The formula is simple. Strip MMA back to its raw roots. Fighters go toe-to-toe for 60 seconds. No warm-up. No media day. Just pure, chaotic brawling. The most recent event was held in Auckland. Now, Hooker is taking it south, with an event set for Christchurch. But there’s a catch, it’s “for convicts only,” and there’s a strict 100kg limit.
It’s already raised plenty of eyebrows. Some have called it dangerous. Others say it’s disrespectful to combat sports. Hooker’s events are unfiltered and unpredictable. They’re raw. They’re violent. They’re over in a flash and yet somehow more impactful than some UFC main events.
It’s backyard fighting with a professional edge. Hooker has referees, medics, and experienced combat sports officials overseeing each fight. Fighters wear gloves. The rules are clear. The style is anything but polite.
The chaos of it all feels more honest than the polished, pay-per-view extravaganzas that dominate the international fight scene. There’s no Dana White yelling cage-side. No Monster Energy branding. No press conference insults that sound scripted. It’s just real people swinging for survival, often in front of a howling, bare-bones crowd.
Critics have slammed it as “thuggery” and questioned the legal implications. But Hooker has pushed back. “Since when is putting gloves on in the backyard and having a punch-up become illegal?” he told the Herald. And he’s not wrong. Fight fans don’t seem to mind the grittiness. They’re showing up in numbers online, calling it better than recent UFC cards and urging Hooker to turn it into a legitimate fight promotion.
The “convicts only” angle is particularly provocative. Hooker says it is aimed at offering opportunities to those the system has failed. Whether it’s smart marketing or a social statement, it has certainly added to the mystique. For some, it’s uncomfortable. For others, it’s the most honest thing they’ve seen in sport in years.
At a time when combat sports feel increasingly sanitised, Hooker’s 1 Minute Scraps is a jolt back to what made fighting captivating in the first place. The rawness, the risk, and the ruthlessness. It’s short. It’s sharp. It’s chaos with gloves on. It might just be the most exciting thing in fight sports right now.
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