'Get seriously hurt': UFC star Dan Hooker's plan for boxing tournament labelled 'straight-out thuggery'

New Zealand UFC star Dan Hooker has caused a stir in his homeland through his promotion of a boxing event reportedly linked to an online gambling site..

The tournament, called "king of the streets", is being promoted by Hooker and was endorsed by fellow City Kickboxing alum and former champion Israel Adesanya.

The event will see 32 amateurs fight with no weight limits, in one minute contests wearing MMA gloves.

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Radio New Zealand reports the tournament appears to be linked to a social media influencer and to an online gambling site.

Last week, Adesanya called for Kiwis to bring the "whanau" (meaning family in Maori) to watch the event in a video with Hooker posted to social media.

"Bring the family, bring the whanau, bring everyone, come watch, you'll get knocked out or knock someone the f--- out," Adesanya said.

In another video posted on May 17, Hooker said too many fighters had registered.

But plans for the tournament caught the attention of boxing authorities — and they're far from happy.

The president of New Zealand's Boxing Coaches Association has called it "straight-out thuggery."

Billy Meehan spoke to Radio New Zealand and labelled the event a "street scrap" and should not be classified as boxing.

"The rules are a lot different, for starters we don't do one-minute rounds," he said.

"You're saying to the guy in the corner get out and start smashing the other guy as best you can. Boxing is an art form; it's a sport and this is straight-out thuggery.

"[If] you've got a 70kg boxer or fighter getting in and fighting a 120kg fighter. You've got a little bit of difference here.

"They're actually saying to both sides to go just go out there and smash."

Meehan pointed to the glove size as a massive problem, saying someone could "get seriously hurt".

"Nobody wears four-ounce MMA gloves," Meehan added.

"What you've got there is just thugs getting in there and going out and they're just like absolutely smashing each other and we're going to see somebody get seriously hurt, if not killed.

"To promote a boxing tournament, organisers must have a police permit, he said.

"It's got to be sanctioned by a sanctioning body. They're not even advertising where they're holding this so the police obviously don't even know."

Meehan said the Boxing and Wrestling Act stipulates what needs to happen for an event to take place.

"Other rules and regulations [are] around weights, weigh ins, full medicals, blood tests and it just goes on and on," he said.

"People who can hold boxing tournaments are actually listed on the Wrestling and Boxing Act. Dan Hooker's not on the Wrestling and Boxing Act."