UFC Paris: Hooker vs Parnasse - Sep 5 🇫🇷

[wandshogun09]

It’s early September so you know what that means. Back to Paris we go…

PARAMOUNT+ MAIN CARD
Dan Hooker vs Salahdine Parnasse 

Fares Ziam vs Axel Sola 

Michael Venom Page vs Nursulton Ruziboev

Punahele Soriano vs Daniil Donchenko 

Kurtis Campbell vs Trevor Peek 

Losene Keita vs Muhammad Naimov

PARAMOUNT+ PRELIMS 
Morgan Charriere vs Felipe Lima 

Mario Pinto vs Ryan Spann 

Oumar Sy vs Modestas Bukauskas 

Nathaniel Wood vs Pavel Andrusca  

Fabia Sintes vs Michael Aljarouj 

Nora Cornolle vs Klaudia Sygula 

Luis Felipe Dias vs Matthieu Duclos

Delphine Benouaich vs Sofia Montenegro 

 

 

Fair bit of no name filler lower down the card but there’s just about enough on this one to hold my interest. I love the main event and I’m looking forward to finally seeing Parnasse in the UFC. Couple of other fights that look like they could be fun and I’m hoping for much better performances from Pinto and Keita after their disappointing showings last time. Only thing really dragging that main card down is MVP. You just know that, once again, he’s gonna find a way to suck the fun out of the arena. Not bad for a Fight Night though and at least we get the Euro start times. Prelims are at 5pm, main card at 8pm.

 

Dan Hooker vs Salahdine Parnasse headlines. This one’s came around quick, hasn’t it? Doesn’t seem like five minutes since the news of Parnasse signing with the UFC broke, now here we are. I love that they’re just throwing him straight into a main event in front of his home crowd in his UFC debut. The way things are these days you’re always half expecting them to just stick new signings in the Apex. This is a great opportunity for him to hit the ground running against an established but beatable name. I really like this as main event.

Dan Prostitute has been chosen to welcome Parnasse to the Octagon. He’s ranked #10 or #12 depending on which rankings you’re looking at and, like I said, an established guy who’s been pretty much part of the furniture in the Lightweight division for about a decade now. At 36 years old with a 24-14 record, he’s not gonna be reaching champion status in the UFC at this point. He’s never had the consistency or the required skill set really to put himself ahead of the top guys at 155. But he’s always been a scrappy sod and he’s given us some incredible fights over the years. You can go back to 2015 and his stoppage win over Hatsu Hioki, a win I don’t think many expected him to pull off at the time. He knocked out the likes of Ross Pearson, Jim Miller and Gilbert Burns. Beat Al Iaquinta on points. Beat Paul Felder by decision in a forgotten war in front of his own people in New Zealand in 2020. Had that crazy FOTY contender against Dustin Poirier in his fight after that. In 2023/24, he narrowly won back-to-back bangers against Jalin Turner and Mateusz Gamrot. When it comes to that group of Lightweight warriors people talk about, most people rattle off names like Poirier, Gaethje, Chandler, Alvarez etc, and rightly so. I think Hooker deserves to be mentioned in that mix as well though. He has been floundering a bit lately. As I said, he’s never been the most consistent. There’s been losses sprinkled throughout his entire career. But his last two fights saw him get dominated and finished by Arman Tsarukyan and Benoit Saint Denis. Just got squashed in both basically. And now they’re throwing him in with a highly touted debuting guy in his backyard? Apparently he’s been getting all kinds of shit off Parnasse’s fans since the fight was announced as well…

“The death threats have been outrageous. I didn’t get them when I fought Benoit Saint Denis. French people have been speaking French and telling me I’m going to die. Whoever this cunt’s fans are, they’re outrageous. It’s going to feel pretty sweet to shut this kid’s lights out.” - Dan Hooker

“French people have been speaking French” has taken me out. The cheek of them to speak their native language! Hooker must know he’s being positioned as the sacrificial lamb by the matchmakers here. He’s surely gonna be coming in fired up with a point to prove. Whether that translates to success in the fight itself, we’ll have to wait and see. One thing I’ll say for Hooker, I don’t think anything is gonna phase him mentally. He’s probably gonna lose but the hostile territory and the crowd all being against him and all that, I don’t think that’s gonna be a factor in why. He’s been around the block enough and I think if anything he’ll lean right into playing the heel.

The arrival of Salahdine Parnasse to the UFC has been a long time coming but I’m glad he took his time. So many fighters jump at the chance and just take whatever the UFC’s first offer is, and I get why because it’s a foot in the door and can be the opportunity they need to potentially go on to bigger things. But it’s quite refreshing to see a guy like Parnasse build himself up outside the UFC first and come in when he’s ready. That used to be the norm but obviously in this era of DWCS and the insane schedule of cards the UFC put on, they’re generally snapping fighters up at a much earlier stage in their development these days and I don’t think it’s always a good thing. Parnasse has gone about it the more traditional way. He’s 23-2 with 15 of his wins coming inside the distance. He was the Featherweight and Lightweight champion in KSW and actually competed for their Welterweight title as well in 2023 but came up short. He was one win away from becoming a three weight champ. Notable wins on his record include Marcin Held and current UFC fighters William Gomis, Morgan Charriere and Robert Ruchala. We last saw him on the big Rousey vs Carano card for MVP on Netflix in May, and he bashed up Kenneth Cross for the first round stoppage. He’s looked the business for a while but, the issue any top prospect outside the UFC faces is that there just aren’t a whole lot of big names you can add to your resume outside the UFC anymore. There’s only so much you can do. In July, Ariel Helwani teased the signing of Parnasse and mentioned the possibility of this Hooker fight specifically. The response from Parnasse basically confirmed it without actually confirming it…

Wasn’t long after that it was made official. Obviously MVP didn’t lock him into a deal and the UFC swooped in. Clearly a bit of a tactical signing because Parnasse was one of the more credible younger fighters on that Netflix card and he brought real legitimacy to that show, which was needed to kind of counterbalance the freakshow feel of some of the other matchmaking on the card. But Parnasse would’ve been a great signing whenever they got him. This wasn’t the first offer the UFC made to him either. He talked about it earlier this year and said he was better paid in KSW than what the UFC were offering him so he wasn’t interested at that time. I guess they sweetened the deal after the Netflix show because here we are.

“After my fight with MVP, the UFC contacted me and it was a really simple opportunity. To be part of the main event in my hometown of Paris. This time, the deal was better, and they offered me the opportunity to be part of the rankings by taking a fight against Dan Hooker. It’s a really good opportunity for me.” - Salahdine Parnasse

Just goes to show that competition is always a good thing in MMA. Not that MVP are anywhere near closing the gap on the UFC and I’m not saying Parnasse is on monster money now, nor is he claiming to be. But I’d be pretty sure he got a better contract than he would’ve before MVP got into MMA. The UFC clearly wanna stick it to them and take one of their best young fighters away. There’s a reason they made him a better offer that he was happy to accept now, when he’d declined previous offers, and it’s not because the UFC saw Kenneth Cross as some huge, game changing win. It was to mess with MVP. No doubt Parnasse is a great addition to the roster regardless, but this was a ‘fuck you’ to MVP make no mistake. If Parnasse was able to gain from the pettiness in some way, fair play to him.

That’s that then. Big opportunity for Parnasse to come in with a bang here. Feels like a great time for him to come in when the Lightweight division feels like it’s kind of in a transitional period. Gaethje can’t have many fights left and a lot of that old guard who have given us all those battles over the years are ageing out now. Parnasse is only 28 years old. The timing could be perfect for him. I’ve got a good feeling about him. Not necessarily saying he’s gonna be UFC champion or anything but I think he can make an impact in the top end of the rankings. I think/hope he’s gonna be much more Yaroslav Amosov and less Patchy Mix, put it that way. Hooker’s gonna be game as he always is, he’s gonna bring it. But I think Parnasse wins this one. After that, it’s gonna get interesting. Because he’s coming in with the UFC actually giving him a bit of a push right off the bat, which they don’t always do. While a win over Dan Hooker in 2026 isn’t setting the world alight, it’s a decent name win and you’d think the crowd is gonna give him the star treatment. It’s gonna look and feel like a big deal and it’s something they can use to catapult him into bigger fights after. If he does win, a lot is probably gonna depend on how he wins. If he scrapes a decision, the hype is gonna cool off. If he steamrolls Hooker though, he’s probably getting the rocket strapped to his arse.

 

Fares Ziam vs Axel Sola is a pretty solid France vs France co-main event. Should be a good fight. Ziam’s 29 years old and 18-5 with 11 finishes. Up until his last fight, he was on a nice six fight streak which included wins over Jai Herbert on points, a brutal knee KO against Matt Frevola, a bloodbath decision over Mike Davis and an elbow TKO over Nazim Sadykhov. Then he dropped a decision to Tom Nolan at the Apex in June. I missed that fight, that was a couple of months ago when I had some shit going on and I basically missed two or three entire cards. I remember being a bit surprised when I saw the result, to be honest. Is Ziam shitter than I thought or is Nolan better than I thought? Anyway, Ziam’s gonna have to get his shit together here because Sola’s no pushover. He’s 28 years old and 12-1-1 with 8 not making it to the scorecards. Former Ares FC Lightweight champ, made his UFC debut on last year’s Paris card and beat up Rhys McKee for the late TKO. Most will remember him from that barmy slugfest against Mason Jones on the London card in March though. We’re two thirds of the way through 2026 now and it’s still easily one of the best fights of the year for me. It was also Sola’s first loss. He bounced back in style with a first round D’arce choke sub over Ismael Bonfim on the Abu Dhabi card in July. So a quick turnaround for Sola here but he rolled over Bonfim so quickly I guess it makes sense.

 

Michael Venom Page vs Nursulton Ruziboev. Oh boy. Here we go again. Gear up for another MVP stinker. From what I’m reading, this is the last fight on his UFC contract. Would anyone be surprised if they don’t renew it or re-sign him? Even if he wins? The bloke’s been rotten to watch in the UFC. He had his snoozers in Bellator years ago but at least back then you’d get him creating highlight reel knockouts in squash matches in between the duds. Now you don’t even get that. For what it’s worth, he seems to be blaming it on the matchmaking…

“In all honesty, it’s been frustrating. I feel like it’s crazy that I’ve reached the pinnacle of MMA and getting a fight with someone in the Top 10 seems incredibly difficult. It’s excuse after excuse. Then we send another slate of names and the same thing happens. I’m genuinely asking for everybody. It just feels crazy that I’m competing in the toughest combat sport in the world, surrounded by the toughest guys, and it’s this hard to get those fights. I don’t want it to be my last UFC fight. I just want to push for bigger fights. I don’t wanna get too stressed about the politics and everything. Let me go in there, put on a performance and make them want me to come back and do it again.” - Michael Venom Page

Where do you start? I get that he wants bigger fights and bigger names. I also get why those bigger names have no interest in fighting him. And I also get why the matchmakers don’t wanna put those guys in there with him. Because even if they beat MVP, he’s probably gonna drag them into the worst fight of their career in the process and then what? Nobody really wins. Again, I’m not saying he’s a bad fighter or unskilled, far from it. But he’s fucking awful to watch. I won’t hear any different. And while some blame the matchmaking for his fights being arse, they put him in with Sam Patterson last time out on the London card, admittedly a weird choice names-wise but Patterson was also coming off four first round finishes and was pretty wild and aggressive in those fights. It honestly felt like the matchmakers were trying to give MVP a guy he could have a watchable fight with. And he still plopped out one of the worst fights of the year and then moaned about the choice of opponent. It doesn’t matter who they put him in with, it’s the same old shite. Ruziboev’s got a record of 37-9-2-2 with 34 finishes, 21 by submission and damn near strangled the soul out of Andrey Pulyaev in his last fight. Call me a cynic but this feels very much like the matchmakers trying to set MVP up to lose on his way out the door to me. Whether it plays out like that, fuck knows. One thing MVP is really good at is freezing opponents up and almost hypnotising them into fighting his kind of fight. But if Ruziboev can get the grappling going, this could get ugly for MVP fast.

 

Punahele Soriano vs Daniil Donchenko should be lively however long it lasts. Donchenko has quickly become one of my undercard favourites since his UFC debut last September. He’s Ukrainian, 25 years old and 14-2 with 11 finishes. Hasn’t beat anyone of note yet really. His first 12 months in the UFC has consisted of wins over Rodrigo Sezinando, Alex Morono and Theodor Berggren. Two of which I couldn’t pick out of a lineup and Morono is the one I’d recognise despite him looking like the plain, bland CAF template on the UFC games and he’s never been much cop. But Donchenko has been entertaining to watch. Whether he goes far or not, he seems like one of those fighters who are always gonna be worth tuning in for. And Soriano used to kind of be that guy when he first came into the UFC for me. He came in undefeated and delivered some nasty knockouts early in his run but it fizzled out and he found his level quite quickly. He’s 13-4 now and, to be fair, he’s on a four fight winning streak which includes a 31 second KO over Uros Medic. That’s a better win than anything on Donchenko’s record so far. I think this should be a fun one.

 

Kurtis Campbell vs Trevor Peek isn’t doing a great deal for me but it might be a laugh. Liverpool’s Campbell, AKA ‘The Pink Panther’, made his UFC debut on the London card in March and got pinged all over the cage to a second round TKO loss at the hands of Danny Silva. Campbell was unbeaten going in and it seemed like he was gonna be a guy the UFC and the matchmakers were looking to push. He immediately got put on the main card and even got to wear the silly pink shorts. Silva really twatted him though and any buzz there was around Campbell swiftly evaporated. Peek debuted in the UFC back in 2023, has gone 2-3 since but hasn’t fought in two years for some reason. From what I remember he was quite fun to watch in a goofy, throwback way. I recall one fight where he was just winging haymakers and standing hammerfists and all sorts. Got a feeling this isn’t gonna be pretty but it could be wildly entertaining.

 

Losene Keita vs Muhammad Naimov kicks off the main card. Interesting fight on paper but not sure what to expect really. Keita’s Guinean/Belgian, 28 years old and 16-2 with 10 knockouts. He was a two weight champion in Oktagon, Lightweight and Featherweight, and his UFC debut was long awaited. It had been talked about for a while and was actually supposed to go down on last year’s Paris card against Patricio Pitbull but Keita missed weight and the fight got binned. He finally debuted on the London card in March against Nathaniel Wood. I was buzzing for that fight, made it my ‘one to watch’ and everything. But while it wasn’t a bad fight by any stretch, it was a bit flat and disappointing in the end. And Keita ended up losing a split decision. Not ideal at all after all the waiting for his UFC arrival. Hopefully we see better from him here but Naimov isn’t a cakewalk and from what I’ve seen he’s not easy to look good against. He’s from Tajikistan, 32 years old and 13-4. My main memory of him is his decision win over Nathaniel Wood back in 2023 where Naimov cheated and fouled his way to victory. He’s had mixed results since but he’s coming into this fight off a third round TKO loss to Mairon Santos in December. Hoping Keita can get a win on the board here.

 

Morgan Charriere vs Felipe Lima. Something about this fight jumped out at me so it’s ***WAND’S ONE TO WATCH*** on this card. Think this has real show stealer potential. Charriere’s the home fighter, 30 years old with a record of 21-12-1, 16 finishes. Decent fighter with a fun, fan friendly style to watch, former Cage Warriors champ etc. He’s had a right mixed bag of results in the UFC but I’ve enjoyed watching him. The highlight so far has to be his TKO win over Nate Landwehr last July. Unfortunately for him, he followed that up by getting headkicked into oblivion by Melquizael Costa in December so he’s looking to redeem himself on home soil here. Lima’s Brazilian, 28 years old and 14-2 with 7 inside the distance. He was the Oktagon champ before the UFC picked him up in 2024. He submitted Muhammad Naimov on short notice in his debut and beat Miles Johns on points in his next fight. He lost a decision to Payton Talbott in his last fight though and that was last June. So a year plus layoff for him here. That was at Bantamweight, he’s back at Featherweight here so we’ll see how it goes. Should be a good fight regardless.

 

Mario Pinto vs Ryan Spann. Heavyweights. You know the score. Don’t expect much. Pinto was actually one of the few new Heavyweights I had some hopes for, to be fair. He’s Portuguese born, from London, and he’s undefeated at 12-0 with 8 finishes. Still only 28, a puppy by Heavyweight standards, and he seems to have a bit of personality about him from bits I’ve seen. All sounds promising. But he looked pretty shite in his last fight on the London card in March. He faced a debuting Felipe Franco and all I was reading going in was that Franco was terrible and one of the worst UFC signings in years. So it felt like a mismatch going in. Yet somehow it went the distance, was a crap fight to watch and Pinto really didn’t look great even in victory. I’m hoping it was just an off night. He’s still young enough to improve. But man, just when I was starting to feel good about him. And Spann’s been plodding around in mediocrity for years now. He’s 35 years old, 24-11 and has never been much good. He moved up to Heavyweight last year and has gone 2-1 since. He’s finished Lukasz Brzeski and Marcus Buchecha in his last two, whatever that’s worth. Pinto needs to be winning this fight or all hope is lost.

 

Oumar Sy vs Modestas Bukauskas is alright. Can’t say I’m counting the days or anything but it’s perfectly fine prelim fodder. Sy’s Paris born, bred and trained so you know whose side the crowd is gonna be on. He’s 30 years old with a record of 12-2 and 9 finishes. He came into the UFC unbeaten back in 2024 and had a couple of OK wins before suffering his first loss against Alonzo Menifield last June. Menifield isn’t a bum but he’s not great either so Sy losing that one pretty much killed the talk of him as any kind of serious prospect. He did rebound with a first round TKO over Brendson Ribeiro but then got subbed in a round by Ion Cutelaba in his last fight in March. Bukauskas is Lithuanian/British, 32 years old and 20-7 with 14 finishes. Former Cage Warriors champion and has looked decent at times in the UFC but has never quite put it all together. He got knocked out by Nikita Krylov back in January but bounced back (kind of) with a split decision over some sod called Christian Edwards at the Apex in May whatever that’s worth. Don’t think I saw it. Yeah, I don’t hate the fight and they seem quite well matched so it could be a pleasant surprise. But I’m not expecting a lot from it really.

 

Nathaniel Wood vs Pavel Andrusca is an almost last minute card change. Man, Nathaniel Wood just can’t catch a break, can he? He never seems to make any progress up the card no matter what he does. He’s on a four fight streak which includes wins over Morgan Charriere (who’s higher up this card than him), Jose Delgado (who’s bagged a main event spot against Jean Silva the week after this) and Losene Keita (who came in with some hype, Wood beat him and Keita is still higher up this card than him). Hunter Campbell’s wife must call him “Nathaniel” in bed or something. Here he was supposed to fight Mairon Santos but Santos has pulled out just four days out from the show. In steps Moldovan 24 year old Andrusca. Don’t know anything about him but looking him up I see he’s undefeated at 8-0 with 7 finishes and he just won by first round TKO on a UAE Warriors card in late July. Fair play to Wood for accepting this late replacement because it really doesn’t do much for him other than him not wasting a training camp. Definitely feels like a fight that’s more risk than reward for him.

 

Fabia Sintes vs Michael Aljarouj. Going in completely blind on this. Never seen or heard of either of them. Sintes is Spanish, 32 years old and has a record of 11-3 with 7 finishes. Literally nothing else to say but he’s on a 7 fight winning streak. Aljarouj is Syrian born but fights out of and represents France. He’s 29 years old and 13-3 with 10 finishes. That’s your lot.

 

Nora Cornolle vs Klaudia Sygula then. Nothing to this really. France vs Poland. Cornolle’s the home fighter, 36 years old and 9-4 with 6 finishes. She’s coming into this fight off back-to-back losses to Karol Rosa and Joselyne Edwards. Sygula’s nearly a decade younger at 27 years old and she’s 8-2 with only 3 finishes. She got stopped in her UFC debut by Melissa Mullins but has won a couple of decisions over Irina Alekseeva and Priscila Cachoeira in her most recent fights. Can’t pretend I give a bollocks about this.

 

Luis Felipe Dias vs Matthieu Duclos. It’s a full on Tapology job again here. Couldn’t tell you anything about either of them otherwise. Dias is Brazilian, built like a brick shithouse, 31 years old and he’s 17-5 with 16 of his wins not making it to the judges cards. He got a submission win on DWCS last October and then made his UFC debut on the Macau card in May, stopping some fucker named Yi Sak Lee in a round. Duclos is making his Octagon debut here. He’s French, also 31 and has a record of 10-3 with 9 inside the distance.

 

Delphine Benouaich vs Sofia Montenegro. Yeah. Again, not a single clue and it’s another couple of Octagon newcomers. All I know of Benouaich is that she was on TUF, and that’s only because of that pic there. She’s French and has a 7-2 record with 5 finishes. Tapology doesn’t even have an age or reach listed for her but apparently she’s 31 years old. She won her last fight by first round submission but she’s 1-1 in her last two. Montenegro’s Argentinian, 27 years old and 6-2 with 4 finishes. She lost her last fight via split decision against Jeisla Chaves on DWCS last September, yet here we are.

 

La fin…

Edited September 1 by wandshogun09

[wandshogun09]

Wouldn’t be fight week without a fight going tits up. Mairon Santos dropped out last night. Nathaniel Wood is staying on the card and accepted a last minute opponent switch. He’s now fighting 24 year old unbeaten Moldovan Pavel Andrusca.

While I’m here, first Hooker vs Parnasse face-off from today. Only in Paris could a face-off for a fight look romantic. 

[Dai]

I'm not cultured, so is that a famous archway or something? Because if not, thats a very strange, shit picture location. Of all the places in Paris and they pick that.

[wandshogun09]

It’s the Pont de Bercy bridge apparently.

From what I can tell it’s near the Accor Arena, where this event is being held. I don’t think there’s any more to that as the location for the face-off.

And here’s our first look at Parnasse in the UFC fight clobber…

[Egg Shen]

Actually planning on watching this live Saturday, will be the first show ive seen as its happening in years. Hoping the French crowd brings it.

[wandshogun09]

The French crowds are usually lively, to be fair. And I expect they’ll be well into this especially. Parnasse could well end up being the best French signing the UFC have ever made and with him instantly coming in with the main event rub he’s probably gonna get the superstar reaction if he goes out there and does the business. 

[Dai]

MVP, to the point you made in your post Wand, has even made the BBC sport app, saying its his last fight, and moaning about the fighters he has been offered. He also moaned about the frequency of his fights, which is an extra layer of excuses. 

For the money he is probably asking for, and the age he is, and the fact hes made absolutely zero impact on his fights so far, then it seems quite reasonable for the UFC not to offer him a new contract. With whatever goodwill and rep he still has, he will still be able to get on the MVP Netflix shows for the next few years, so may as well do that.

Bizarre though, that he could end up with a 5-1 Ufc record, with some good names being beat in mix, and it still be considered a major disappointment .

[Egg Shen]

On 9/3/2026 at 3:51 PM, wandshogun09 said:

The French crowds are usually lively, to be fair. And I expect they’ll be well into this especially. Parnasse could well end up being the best French signing the UFC have ever made and with him instantly coming in with the main event rub he’s probably gonna get the superstar reaction if he goes out there and does the business. 

Watch Parnasse go out there and be another Patchy Mix...

[wandshogun09]

Don’t say that Ebb. Although it does always cross my mind with these bigger signings. I even mentioned in the opening post that I hope he comes in strong like Amosov did, and not shitting the bed like Mix. Not long to wait now. We’ll see tonight. But there’s always the possibility of a bed shitting, especially with a guy debuting in such a big spot (main event, home crowd etc), it’s a great opportunity but also brings some pressure to deliver as well. And as much as Hooker isn’t the very elite of 155 in the UFC, and he has had some rough results lately, he still might be the toughest test of Parnasse’s career to date. It’s an interesting one but I really hope Parnasse turns out to be the real deal. 

[Egg Shen]

Amosov is definitely an exception to the rule, it felt like he sneaked in the back door with little hype though. It seems to be the hyped fighters who come in and shit the bed. Even the Pride fighters back in the day, very few came in and wowed us. It was quite depressing.

[wandshogun09]

This gets underway in just over an hour.

Gone Parnasse, Sola and Ruziboev in the poll. Not massively confident in those pics but I think the main and co-main go that way. MVP vs Ruziboev? Who even knows, right? I picked Ruziboev partly because I think he might be able to get the grappling going and partly wishful thinking because I’m absolutely all the way the fuck over this MVP bollocks at this point and I’m sick of him moaning and acting hard done by when the truth is him being a boring bastard is the only thing that’s held him back. Expecting the worst out of that one but hoping Ruzi somehow gets his neck and ends it early for all our sakes. The rest should be decent enough and I’m really looking forward to the main event especially. 

[Egg Shen]

On 9/5/2026 at 2:53 AM, wandshogun09 said:

Don’t say that Ebb.  

We need not have worried. Parnasse is a real one. Outstanding.

[Cousin Jim Bob]

I actually watched this when it was on, because it was on at a normal time and wasn't Saudi sports washing shite. Plus the only other card I bothered watching live this year was the March London card, and this had a few fighters from that, plus an interesting main event.

I skipped the whole prelim's except for *Wand's one to watch*, Charriere vs Lima. Which was just ok, Charriere was a step behind the whole way and just got beat up tbh. Lima looked very good with nice combinations, but spent the whole fight doing that fucking annoying, Diaz brothers style, point at the other guy and laugh whenever you hurt them or slip a shot. Maybe there was some needle in the build up, but I ended up just thinking he was a knob.

Main card kicked off with Keita mauling, then knocking out Naimov in the first round with a lovely right hand. Which he then celebrated by climbing over the cage, sitting down in a cageside seat, and giving himself a much deserved round of applause. If his first fight in the UFC was a stinker, then this was a hell of a way to make a name for yourself and recover.

Kurtis Campbell made a bit off a fool off himself on the London card, coming in with daft hair, bright pink shorts and talking as if he was the second coming, then got battered. I was looking forward to watching him lose again here but he kind of won me over a bit. Peek did look really rubbish, but Kurtis took his time and outclassed him on the feet then kept working hard for the sub on the ground, which he eventually got. Post fight interview I was thinking "here we go, what shite is he going to come out with", then he just said sorry about the first fight and he hopes to do better now. Even when he reached back for the mic for a final word, he just dedicated the fight to his sister who is about to have a baby. Don't know how far he can go, because Peek looked so bad but positive stuff.

Oh boy the MVP fight. @wandshogun09 is going to have a field day here. I'm just going to leave it but it was a 'classic' MVP style fight.

Axel Sola one of the fighters I was really looking forward too after his fight in London, absolutely smoked fellow French man Ziam in the first. Ziam took absolutely ages to wake up, and Sola looked really upset and shaken by it. Felt for him but it was a great KO and win for him.

Then in the Main the crowd got what they wanted with Parnasse looking an absolute star. Hitting a beautiful liver kick to set up the finish. Fair play to Hooker for not going down from it and trying to fight on, very tough guy but he was fucked. 

Really fun main card with loads of great finishes, roared on by a fantastic French crowd. One obvious stinker, and I've kind of forgotten the Donchenko fight, but I really enjoyed it. 

Edited September 8 by Cousin Jim Bob

[Kfogg1991]

This fight night tops off a absolute home run of phenomenal events the past few weeks.

Overflowing with brutal brutal finishes i don't know what's changed in the back but they are going out there like the meter is still running on the uber 

We could have a new star here with parnasse they have to play it right with his next fight.

 

What the fuck can you say about MVP in the ufc, I've been a fan of his since bellator and was elated when he came in but he has been horrible and boring, yeah he's on a 4/5 win streak but they have been boring affairs and he is one half of two of the most boring fights of the year with his last two he literally has himself to blame for not being renewed

[Egg Shen]

Seen that same boring argument all over social media this week on why MVP has been let go and someone like Tai Tuivasa is still on the roster.

No one is mentioning the fact that it's been clear for a while that MVP has wanted out of the promotion, or that he was very unhappy with the deal he was on. He's been pretty unspoken about certain practices within the promotion. I'd imagine MVP will land a pretty good deal under Cokers new promotion or with MVP/PFL. He was always gonna leave when that deal run out unless he did something spectacular.