If Salahdine comes in here and shits the bed, the same way that Patchy Mix and Aaron Pico did in their UFC debuts, no one would be surprised. I think we’ve all established at this point that the UFC is a completely different tier. With that being said, I don’t think that happens. Parnasse is the cleaner, faster, better striker here and as long as he fights that way, he can absolutely win, so I am going to pick him to win. But if he plays Dan Hooker’s game and lets this turn into a war, he is absolutely cooked. Dan doesn’t get enough credit for how tough he is because he is finished so often, but he’s finished on the ground, not the feet. 5 rounds should be interesting but they both have experience with longer fights.

Dan Hooker

Dan Hooker is a very good striker with an enormous amount of heart. He is a long rangy kickboxer who uses his kicks well to manage distance. He’s sharp and technical but can at times get sucked into fire fights. His takedown defense is solid at 77% but everyone knows you can beat him by taking him down including his last opponent Benoit Saint Denis who finished him in the second round after 2 takedowns.

Salahdine Parnasse

Salahdine Parnasse is a rangy striker with an incredible head kick. He does an amazing job staying long while also throwing with speed and power. As soon as you are comfortable with striking range, he moves to grappling. He doesn’t have the best takedowns but they are well timed and hidden behind the strikes. He has very good takedown defense and has been both winning and defending belts outside of the UFC for quite some time.