Salahdine Parnasse officially arrived on Saturday with a devastating knockout over Dan Hooker in his debut in the UFC Paris main event.
Given the opportunity to headline a card in his octagon debut, Parnasse certainly made the most of it as he hurt Hooker badly with a body kick in the opening round. With Hooker wincing in pain, Parnasse just unloaded with a kick to the head followed by a blistering series of punches that put the veteran lightweight down and out on the canvas.
The referee finally saw enough to rescue Hooker from further harm with Parnasse getting the knockout win at just 2:35 into the opening round.
âIâm the best fighter of the world,â Parnasse said after the win. âI knew I was going to finish the fight. I finish all my fights by KO. Iâm ready for the next fight. Top five.
âMy dream fight is Max Holloway. Heâs the legend. Good condition, legendary of UFC, âBMFâ Iâm ready for Max Holloway.â
The lightweights were just exchanging kicks early with shots to the legs and body until Parnasse finally exploded forward with some big heavy punches trying to end Hookerâs night.
The big exchanges continued until Parnasse uncorked a nasty body kick that blasted Hooker in the midsection and he immediately showed the ill effects of that shot landed. With Hooker clearly hurt, Parnasse stormed forward with a head kick that landed as a glancing blow but he wasnât done yet.
From there, Parnasse started hammering away with punches as Hooker finally just folded over and the assault continued until the referee saw enough to stop the fight. It was a very impressive performance from Parnasse, especially with the arsenal of strikes he showed off in such a short amount of time.
He also made a smart callout with a potential matchup against Holloway after his most recent fight was somewhat spoiled when Conor McGregor blew his knee out just seconds into the opening round. Holloway is now awaiting his next assignment and Parnasse might just be the man for the job.
Regardless of who is his next opponent, Parnasse proved the hype around him is very real as he moves to 1-0 in the UFC while taking out a real veteran like Hooker in his debut.
