Hooker On Parnasse: 'First And Last Time This Kid Headlines UFC'

Dan Hooker had never heard of Salahdine Parnasse when the UFC pitched the matchup. He said yes anyway.

The New Zealand lightweight told MMA Fighting he was unaware of Parnasse's credentials as a former two-division KSW champion until after accepting the fight, which headlines the promotion's Paris card Saturday. What caught Hooker's attention was the money — reportedly double what he would have earned facing Justin Gaethje. "You've got to pay to play," Hooker said. "You want a superstar, I'm the only one dumb enough to fight the kid."

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Hooker Retools After Consecutive Losses

Hooker enters the bout following back-to-back defeats to Arman Tsarukyan and Benoit Saint Denis, both ranked in the lightweight top 10. Rather than rush back, Hooker spent months addressing what he identified as the root cause: inconsistent training between camps. He brought in a new strength and conditioning coach at City Kickboxing and logged hours running hills and lifting weights without cameras present. "You can't really sit down with your coaches and say I've just been training in fight camps and when the lights and cameras haven't been on, I haven't been putting in the work," he said.

Parnasse knocked out Kenneth Cross on the Rousey-Carano card in May and is a massive draw in France, but Hooker relishes the role of spoiler in front of a hostile Paris crowd. He said he prefers fighting away from home, anticipating the moment the local favourite falls silent after his debut goes sideways. "This kid's out here to prove he belongs in the top 10, prove he's in title contention, and he's going to make a run for the belt and this will be the last time you ever heard of the kid," Hooker said.

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"This is going to be the first and last time this kid headlines a UFC event."

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• MMA Fighting — Dan Hooker on Salahdine Parnasse: ‘This is going to be the first and last time this kid headlines a UFC event’