The Ariel Helwani Show - Breaking News: Salahdine Parnasse dominates Dan Hooker in debut; UFC 332 finally has main event

Episode Date: September 6, 2026

Ariel Helwani reacts to Salahdine Parnasse's dominant win over Dan Hooker at UFC Pairs, Katie Taylor's historic retirement fight, and the anticipated reveal of the UFC 332 main event.  

Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, holy smokes. What a breathtaking night. A breathtaking afternoon. Holy smokes. We have a lot to talk about. I wanted to come on here to react to everything that we saw over the course of the last five, six hours from Dublin, Ireland to Paris, France, the Katie Taylor retirement fight, the Saladin Parnais debut. Heck, even RAF in Moscow, an incredible Saturday afternoon, an incredible Labor Day weekend. And if you were sitting at home, forget college football, forget whatever else is going on right now,

combat sports this afternoon on fire. And I am reminded of what the great Mike Breen said when the New York Nick Buckers finally became champions after a 53-year drought. When he saw Jalen Brunson hugging his father, Rick, seconds after the buzzer sounded, he said, life isn't perfect, but there are perfect moments. and I feel like we saw two perfect moments, one in Dublin and one in Paris. Let's start in Paris. I know you guys want to talk about it. The UFC signed Saladin Parnaz just a few months ago, and they had tried to sign him

over the course of the last, I don't know, three or so years. And for whatever reason, finances, not feeling ready, master plan, both Parnais and his team said, not yet. And then he makes his American debut on that MVP card on Netflix, back. in May, excuse me. And he looks great, but he beats Kenneth Cross. And so there are still some people out there who probably are thinking, hey, two-division champion in KSW, tried to go for the third, but who has he really beat? And so they debut him, as we've talked before, not only in his home country, not only in the main event, but it's like a really lovable character

in Dan Hooker. They never do this. They build you up. They put you on the prelim somewhere. They put you like they're doing with Roberto Solditch in Utah, wherever they can fit the pieces. They built this cart around him. Now, I know they were already going to Paris, but perfect moments. The stars aligned. And so he goes in there and he walks out to that familiar California knows how to party, the Tupac song. California. That's his song. And it was great when he walked out back at the Intuit Dome in May. And it's a measure Dan Hooker. And Hooker was great. throughout. He played the villain. He tried to play the spoiler role. He had a great promo beforehand, leave in an orderly fashion, grab your belongings. He was perfect for this. He was the perfect,

perfect foe for this. But I did wonder if he was content with just being a part or actually trying to spoil the party. And I actually thought, to begin with, he was measured. He didn't go crazy. He was relaxed. You know, hands were a little bit low, chin a little bit high, but it didn't seem like he was trying to do anything crazy. And you knew that he wanted to keep the fight standing. And there was a part of me that wondered if Paranas would try to take the fight to the ground. He did not try to take the fight to the ground. And relatively early in the first round, he lands a beautiful liver kick. And you can see that it hurt Dan Hooker. And Dan Hooker is made of steel. Dan Hooker, you know, he does not show pain, even if it is painful. And you could see that it hurt him. And he

pounce, Parnas pounces, and he finishes him seconds later with ground and pound. It was as perfect of a debut as you will ever see. Home country, main event, lovable character and an opponent, first round finish. You could not scripted any better. And the place, the Akko Arena was absolutely deafening. There was a great shot as Parnas walks out. Victor Wembeyanama is just standing there, admiring him as he's getting the Vaseline put on, getting ready to go into the cage. Victor Wembeñama, right next to him is Rudy Gaubert. two giants, literal giants of the French sports scene, watching, excited, as fans, clapping for this future superstar. And we can't call him a future superstar anymore.

He is a superstar. They have something special on their hands. The big question is going to be how quickly are they going to rush him to the top? Afterwards, he told Michael Bisping, Max Hallways my dream fight. Now, I can see Max saying, I just beat Connor McGregor. Like, I want to fight Justin Gae. I want to fight Isamachev. give me one of those guys. No one is going to want to fight this guy because he's that damn good

and they don't want to be put on his mantle. But they've got a star on their hands. And it's been a long time since we've seen someone come over from another organization established. KSW, shout out to them. They did a tremendous job in building them up and then walk over to the UFC and just sort of like waltz right in there as a stud. Reminds me a little bit of when Strike Force fighters came over, WEC fighters came over where they were put right into main events. Gilbert Melendez, for example, in San Jose fighting Benson-Henerson, like that type of scenario. They walk right into the main event in title fights and are given big opportunities. And make no mistake about it, I think that Saladin Pranhas could fight for the belt today.

I don't think it's a big statement to make that Parnas could fight for the belt today, fight the number one guy, Justin Gachi, fight Ilya, fight Patti Patti Pimbleat, fight Armand Sarukin. He could fight these guys. Does he win every single one of these fights? I don't know. But he is as good as them, in my opinion. I don't think that's hyperbole.

I don't think that's hyperbole at all. He is a stud. He is a star in France and the French crowd. Shout out to them. Holy shit. It's a shame that we were deprived of these crowds for so many years because it took France so long to legalize mixed martial arts.

It's truly a shame. It took them so damn long. But holy shit, they continue to be the best crowds. They blew Shanghai out of the water. Sorry, Shanghai. As expected, France blew you out of the water. Paris blew you out of the water. I've said this before.

I've been in that arena. It is the loudest arena that I've ever been in. Canada, France, quarterfinals, Olympics basketball, loudest arena I've ever been. Canada was shook. And this seemed 10 times louder than that. Parnas is unbelievable. Now 24 and 2. A hooker will be around.

He's beloved. That was a tough, tough, tough fight. I can't wait. Could we get Paranoz back in December? Could we get him at T-Mobile? I don't want to see him once a year. I want to see him right away. I know you just went through a training camp,

but took hardly any shots, looked amazing. He's a stud, man. He is an absolute stud. What a performance. Let me know below what you thought of the performance. So that is one that we'll be talking about. A reminder, we're back on Tuesday, Labor Day on Monday. Saladin Parnaz has arrived.

There have been fans that have been waiting for this. there have been media people that have been waiting for us, that have been talking about him for years and years and years. Shout at the PC, he's been talking about him for years. And he lived up to the hype and then some, to all of the hype and then some. What a superstar. Axel Sola, tremendous knockout of ForesiM.

I'm telling you, the UFC is on, like, one of their greatest runs ever. This card, another example of that. You know, they may be rebuilding in terms of the names and draws, but the action, the entertainment is unmatched right now. Like if you're Paramount, you've got to be at least happy with the product. You may be missing out on some big cards, but we'll get to that in a moment. You know what I'm talking about. But the product, the actual just product of sitting there and watching fights

has been supremely entertaining. Axel Sola knocking out Foresiam viciously. He actually got hit with an elbow as he knocked him out with the overhand left. And Friziam was out cold, face on the mat, Rick Flair style, open. Great post-fight interview with Sola giving love to fellow Frenchmen telling them, you know, the crowd to show him some love. That was a great win. Michael Venom Page, that might have been it for him. Five and one now in the UFC's won four in a row. He defeats Nerseltan Ruzabayev, but it just wasn't, it wasn't the best fight. And he did what he had to do. He had to win on the way out. Once they

gave him Ruzabayev, I don't necessarily blame him. There was too much at stake. You got Koker waiting there. You've got most viable. promotions waiting there. Too much at stake. You're going to try to mess around with Nerseltan? Nah. Get the dub. Walk out the back door. Thanks for the memories. I don't blame him. I know some fans will blame him. UFC put him in some bad matchups, not fan front. Like, people want to see Michael Ben and Page stand in trade. That's what they want. And I understand that some will blame him for not engaging enough. I get that. But there was no reason whatsoever in this fight to take any kind of kind of risk. Just from a business standpoint, no reason whatsoever. Who else should we talk about?

Curtis Campbell, third round, submission, rear naked choke, went over Trevor Peak. What about Keta? What about Losein Keta? Wow. What a knockout? And then what a freaking Selly afterwards, jumping over the gate, sitting in the crowd, crossing his hands. Golly. That was amazing over Mohamed Naimov. They've got something special on him as well. Holy shit. That was supremely. impressive. 145 pounder, that's a name to remember. And afterwards, oh, he called out Laurel Murphy. I was trying to remember who he called out.

He called out Loro Murphy. He was sitting there flexing. Sign me up. Black Panther. Who else? Who else? Mario Pinto with the stoppage win over Ryan Spann. Modestis, Bukowskus, with the comeback win in the second round.

That was impressive as well. Hey, we've seen some nice performances out of the ladies. First, let me tell you about Machu Duclos, a great first round win over Luis Philippe Diaz and Delphine Benouache, I believe I'm pronouncing that correctly, straight out of tough getting the first round win, excuse me, second round win, rear naked choke, blood everywhere, amazing way to start the card. Crowd going crazy, deafening, France crowds are incredible. But I'm still buzzing over Saladin Parnaz. Parnas and Katie Taylor were happening at the same time. And so over in Dublin, and I'm not going to spend too much time on this because Ptze up on the pod feed has a full recap live from Croke Park. He recorded it live seconds after the end of the fight.

So go watch it. But Katie Taylor beats Flora Pili, becomes a three-time undisputed champion. And honestly, retires in truly one of the most breathtaking scenes that I've ever seen covering combat sports. And I wish I was there. everything from the crowd 83,000 people at Croke Park, and what coverage on uncrown.com in particular this week? From the Jackson Morrow photo gallery to the Pizzi articles, I mean, everyone killed it, Darsha, everyone killed it. Shout out to Shaheen and her chief.

The walkout was amazing. The music was amazing. The crowd was amazing. The scenes were amazing. The fight was great. It was better than Taylor Serrano 3. She had to do what she had to do to win. the last few seconds were vintage Katie.

She gets the W. Loved everything about it. Afterwards, shout it to Jamie Ward. You're not supposed to give up the mic. He gives it the mic. And you know what? If I was in that position, I would have given up the mic too.

Because she went out and talked about every single person in her life from her manager, to her coaches, to her promoter, to her mom, to her dad, to her family, to her husband,

to the crowd, to the people. It was vintage Katie. It was all classic. It was dripping with class as only she can do. It was so uniquely her. She's the only one that could exude this type of emotion. I was thinking about this.

I don't know if there's a single country that loves a female athlete like Ireland loves Katie. And I would argue a single country that loves an athlete like Ireland loves Katie, male or female. And then afterwards, walking around the ring by herself, no one in the ring, putting the gloves down, all the belts being put next to the gloves, the flag, the tricolour next to the gloves. I wish these two things weren't happening at the same time, these two great events, but they were. Thank God for the phone and the TV. I'm not lucky enough to have multiple TVs like some of you, but I was just like, my head was spinning. This is why we love combat sports, the emotion, the passion, it makes us feel something. We go on these journeys with people. We get emotionally invested in their

stories, in their backstories, in their highs, their lows, their ups, their downs. Fuck, one of the greatest honors of my career was being in the ring with Katie and Amanda after Katie and Amanda two and three. Being in the building for Taylor Serrano won at MSG, just watching it, taking it all in with Pizzi and Chuck. Something I'll never forget. Oh my God, it was unbelievable. I hope, I hope, I hope that you guys watch it. And if you were just focused on UFC Paris, I understand, go to DeZone and watch it. Do yourself a favor.

beautiful, majestic, heavenly stuff. The walkout was great. Adam Smith was great. Matrum deserves all the credit in the world. The Thomas Cardi, Dave Allen fight was shambolic. Cardi sort of hits him behind the head. Excuse me, Dave Allen kind of hits him behind the head. Cardi falls out of the ring, through the ropes,

fights over a minute and a half in. Not quite sure what happened. Was it the shoulder? Was it the knee? remember he tore his knee a year and a half or so ago at the theater next door to MSG. Patty Donovan looked great. There were some great performances. Stadium shows sometimes cannot come across.

Well, this one looked amazing. The sun setting. It was like old school WrestleMania. I love stadium shows. I would sign up for a stadium show every day of the week. So that was incredible. How lucky are we on this Labor Day weekend? And over in Moscow, Hamza Tcha Myev beat Tyrone.

Woodley in their wrestling match in about two minutes, you know, age difference somewhat expected. Shout out to Tyron for turning around two weeks after his big win over Joaquin Buckley. Raff's doing big things over in Moscow, Jordan Burroughs with a big win, a bow nickel with a big win, Sharibullet won on the car. Like, what they're doing is insane. All this was happening at the same time. Let me know what you thought of Saladin Parnas. Let me know what you thought of.

Axel Sola, MVP's future. Let me know what you thought of the whole Paris card. Let me know what you thought of Katie Taylor's retirement fight. Again, like fairy tales. Sometimes we get fairy tale endings in combat sports. Usually we don't. By the way, I'm holding on to my Taylor Serrano pen right here, fitting. Usually we don't. Usually we don't. On Saturday, we got a fairy tale ending for Katie Taylor, one of the greatest careers in the history of combat sports honestly I'm not just saying it like in a hyperbolic way

one of the greatest careers in the history of combat sports this young lady had to dress up as a boy just to fight in her home country then she has to convince the powers that be to let her fight as a woman then she has to convince

Olympic officials to let her compete in the Olympics as a female boxer then she wins a gold medal then she gets her heart ripped out of her four years later in Rio. Then she goes on this incredible journey and becomes a champion as a pro, but can never fight in her home country. Then she finally gets to fight in her home country and she loses a razor-thin decision

in her first fight back just about three and a half years ago, three arena, comes back, avenges the loss just a few months later, gets the fight on Netflix twice, gets to fight at MSG twice as a headliner. What a story. And then over in Paris, a guy that we, there aren't a lot of Saladin Parnassas left, but we had been hearing about him. Champion, champion, champion, goes for a third. When will he come over?

When will he come over? Wow, MVP card, wow. Finally comes over. Liver kick. TKO. What a debut. Places going nuts. How lucky are we?

Let me know what you thought of all of it. Give me a thumbs up in the chat. Give me a thumbs up. sub, like, subscribe, all of that. A reminder, we're back Tuesday, not Monday, but here's a little taste of what's to come. And I hope you all have a happy Labor Day weekend. If you are celebrating, go on the feed.

PT's got a reaction. Check it out. Boys in the back was great. Crack was great yesterday as well. Oh, and I forgot. I forgot about UFC 332. Before I go, UFC 332 has a main event. It was announced during the broadcast.

It is, in fact, Natalia Silva versus Wang Kong for the vacant UFC women's flyway title. They announced that Valentina Shefchenko is hurt. She has vacated. She will get an immediate title fight upon returning. Valentina, who last fought in November of last year at Madison Square Garden beating Zhang Wei Li no longer champ. They may do the gimmick where she's the champion until the fight happens, whatever. They're doing a title fight, and it's Natalia Silva against Wang Kong. Now, also of note, the main card is going to air on CBS.

So the very first UFC title fight to air on CBS is going to be Natalia Silva versus Wang Kong for the women's flyway title. The very first UFC title fight to air on broadcast TV since the Fox days, because on ABC they didn't do any title fights, will be Natalia Silva versus Wang Kong. The very first UFC main card to air on CBS will be headlined by Natalia Silva versus Wang Kong for the vacant UFC women's flyway title. And as I said online, get used to it. We're fixated on these numbered events, meaning something a little bit more than the fight nights. This on paper is just a good fight night.

In fact, it's a pretty damn good fight night. Peyton Talbot versus Davidson Figurado is a very good fight. They also announced the signing of KSW double champion Roberto Saldic. he's now coming to the UFC against Chaos Williams. There's something here. It's just not what we have been accustomed to, programmed to think, numbered events should be, need to be. But they all cost the same.

And yes, I know there's pay-per-view in Canada and all that's going away. Paramount Plus is like five times in terms of what they're paying. All these territories combined aren't paying what Paramount Plus is paying. So they dictate. And there's no difference between 332 and UFC Sacramento. It's just where the chips fall. So we need to stop being fixated on, oh, number event has to be a big event. Maybe they're going to still stick to like numbered event has to be, you know, a title fight.

But the times they have changed. And yeah, Utah may be paying. Everyone's paying. And yeah, maybe the tickets, they don't care. They don't care. UFC comes to town. They announce a main event, what, less. than a month, it's October 3rd to, what, 28 days away. And it's a fight that doesn't have any juice

and is one of the more underwhelming title fights, if I'm being kind, in the history of the sport. I'm not trying to take anything away from them. God bless them. It could be a very fun fight. Women's MMA has been on a great run as of late, but it's not what we've been accustomed to. But guess what? They're not charging 7499 anymore for these. So it's all the same. And guess what? over the course of the next six and a half years, it will continue to be this way, and it will continue to get watered down, and it will continue to feel a little bit more shallow

at the top of these cards, because it's all bought and paid for. It's all sold. It is all sold. Guaranteed money. There is no pressure anymore to sell these pay-per-views. That's gone. So they're all the same.

Now, there's obviously like levels, pay-per-view, fight night, apex, Contender Series, tough. Them's the levels. but sometimes, especially when you're doing two numbered events in the same month, remember three weeks later, it's Abu Dhabi with two title fights on it. Why they couldn't put one of those on there? I don't know.

It's just going to happen. So bellyache all you want. It's not going to change. I'm not defending it. I'm just trying to have a realistic reaction to it without like going crazy. You shouldn't be surprised. You just shouldn't. And I feel for the Utah fans, sometimes the cookie crumbles in a certain

way and it's like, man, sometimes you get an incredible card that's, you know, like triple stack, double stack with title fights and sometimes you get this. But there are some names on there. Payton v. Figgy is a great fight. Soldich making his debut and there's other good fights on there as well. So anyway, we'll talk about that too on Tuesday. UFC 332 finally has its main event so we can end that mystery. I'm out of time. I've gone way too long, 21 or so minutes in the books. Let me know what you think about all this, including the UFC 332 main event and the state of those numbered events. I'll talk to you on Tuesday.

Peace and love. Peace and love.