Dan Hooker brought the war to Mateusz Gamrot at UFC 305 and he left with arguably the biggest win of his career.

In a bloody back-and-forth war, Hooker’s ability to shut down Gamrot’s wrestling and dish out a whole lot of damage on the feet helped him secure the victory. While Hooker actually got dropped with a punch in the opening round, he powered back and really punished Gamrot on the feet during numerous exchanges over the final 10 minutes.

When it was over, two judges had the fight 29-28 for Hooker with the third official going 29-28 for Gamrot but that was still enough for the Kiwi to get the win.

“How you like me now?” Hooker shouted after the statement win. “I don’t think I fought that well but you get in a fight, you get your hand raised, that’s all that counts. I’m tougher than old leather. I know I can walk down any man in this world.”

Early in the fight it was Gamrot showing real confidence in his hands with a right hand that tagged Hooker a couple of times in the opening round. That opened up the takedown for Gamrot as he snatched a leg and brought Hooker to the canvas.

Despite Gamrot’s best efforts, Hooker was able to scramble free to get back to his feet but it was short lived success. Gamrot clipped Hooker with another shot that wobbled the New Zealand native and the former two-division KSW champion was all over him with a barrage of punches on the ground.

Just when it looked like Hooker was in trouble, he got back to his feet and cracked Gamrot with a huge left hook to the top of the head. Hooker seized on the moment with Gamrot rattled and struggling to stay on his feet but the Polish wrestler was able to avoid any more damage to make it to the horn.

Following the one-minute break between rounds, Gamrot wasted no time setting up his wrestling as he planted Hooker on the ground with a well-timed double leg takedown but this time they were in the middle of the octagon. Gamrot advanced his position to move into side control as he looked to punish Hooker with his ground and pound.

While it took some time, Hooker eventually broke free to get to his feet and he countered the next takedown attempt with a nasty guillotine choke but Gamrot was relentless with his grappling as he just kept pushing forward.

With five minutes remaining, Hooker really began pushing the pace and getting aggressive going after Gamrot with his striking combinations. While he’s not known for his boxing, Gamrot was still tagging Hooker with a hard right hand that kept his taller opponent honest in the exchanges.

Hooker was more labored with his movement as time ticked away in the final round but he was still catching Gamrot with some hard shots. He was also shrugging off Gamrot’s takedown attempts with ease and then snapping off huge punches whenever he had room to work.

When the final horn sounded, Hooker and Gamrot both looked like they crawled through barbed wire and left a piece of themselves in the octagon. Still, Hooker’s ability to stave off takedowns and do more damage on the feet obviously made the difference on the scorecards.

With the win, Hooker now hopes that he’ll take a huge step forward in the lightweight division, especially after beating a highly ranked contender like Gamrot.

“I want them all,” Hooker said. “I want the ‘BMF.’ I want Conor McGregor. I want a title eliminator.”