Salahdine Parnasse is set to make his UFC debut on Saturday at UFC Paris.

Parnasse takes on Dan Hooker in what should be a fan-friendly fight for however long it lasts. Parnasse is someone many thought the UFC should have signed years ago, but he’s finally in the promotion and gets a main event spot in his home country for his debut.

Although UFC Paris is Parnasse’s debut, he enters the bout as a sizable betting favorite. Should he get his hand raised over Dan Hooker, he could very well get a top-five guy next, but he’s also open to welcoming Usman Nurmagomedov to the UFC if the former PFL and Bellator lightweight champ signs with the promotion.

“I think it’s a possibility for sure, we’ll see,” Parnasse told MMA Fighting. … “As of right now, this moment, I don’t have any names in my mind. So we’ll have to see when I win on Saturday.”

Salahdine Parnasse calls Dan Hooker the perfect opponent ahead of UFC Paris

Although Parnasse is open to facing Nurmagomedov, the focus right now is on Hooker. However, Parnasse has full confidence he will make a statement at UFC Paris as he believes Hooker is tailor-made for him.

“It was amazing,” Parnasse said. “It was great news for me and I just wanted to keep moving forward, so it was awesome. I was super excited. I mean, Dan Hooker is a guy that has fought everyone. He’s a guy that’s super experienced. He’s fought [Islam] Makhachev, he’s fought everyone in this division, so I was very excited to face him. … I think it’s the perfect opponent.”

Parnasse enters UFC Paris with a record of 23-2 and is coming off a TKO win over Kenneth Cross at the MVP MMA event. He’s the former KSW featherweight and lightweight champion, and one of his losses was when he competed for the KSW welterweight title.

Do you think Saladhine Parnasse will beat Dan Hooker at UFC Paris?

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