Skip to main content
The Feed

UFC Paris Fight Day, Chimaev's Defiance, and the Choi Value Play

UFC Paris fight day is here with word that Hooker versus Parnasse is official on weight, we're hearing that Khamzat Chimaev is firing back after a recent loss, and the lightweight and welterweight title pictures keep churning.

UFC Paris Fight Day, Chimaev's Defiance, and the Choi Value Play

🎧 Listen to this episode

Listen: Open Scoring MMA on Spotify or in any podcast app via our RSS feed.

Weigh-ins are done in Paris and the card is locked for Saturday, but the bigger stories today are coming from fighters talking about what comes next. Here's the roundup.

UFC Paris Is Set

Salahdine Parnasse stepped on the official UFC scale first and made weight at 155 pounds a day ahead of his Paris headliner. We're hearing that both men are set for Saturday's main event. The early weigh-ins ran through the night from the promotion's host hotel, with the full field checking in on time for the card. The French crowd will have a hometown name to rally behind on top of Parnasse.

Chimaev Refuses The Loser Label

Khamzat Chimaev, a former middleweight champion, reportedly lost his belt in what was the first defeat of his UFC career, and he's not shying away from addressing it. Instead of retreating, Chimaev pushed back on any suggestion that one loss defines him, framing the setback as something he plans to answer inside the cage rather than in his rearview mirror. Given how his run to the title was built entirely on dominance, how he responds to adversity for the first time is going to say a lot about where he goes from here.

Title Talk Heats Up At 155 And Above

Movsar Evloev isn't buying into any storybook framing of a potential title shot against Alexander Volkanovski, bluntly predicting one-sided action in his favor if the two were to meet for the belt. And at middleweight, Israel Adesanya has overhauled his training camp as he tries to snap a losing skid that's put real pressure on his spot near the top of the division.

Around The Rest Of The Sport

Cris Cyborg is pitching herself as the fix for UFC 332's shaky main event situation, offering a rematch with Amanda Nunes as the kind of grudge fight that could save the card. Dana White is talking up a future UFC show in Hawaii, promising it's the kind of event that gets fans fired up. Elsewhere, Kleber Bambam is calling out Glover Teixeira for a fight and says he'd pay money just to watch it happen, and PFL has added Shannon Clark against Lucero Acosta to its October 16 card in Chicago as that lineup keeps filling out.

From the community

Over on @VeneziMMA, fans are talking about this: Breaking down every fight on the UFC Paris fight card and giving my picks predictions and takes on the betting lines. #UFCParis #UFC #MMA #PARAMOUNT #FIGHTS https://t.co/vcv9gZcX45.

Sources

Every source behind today's roundup (14)

We summarize the day's news in our own words. Full credit to the outlets below for the original reporting, click through to read their work:

Open Scoring MMA is a daily AI-produced MMA and UFC news podcast. Listen to today's episode, read the full Feed, or get every episode by email.

Episode transcript

Read the full episode transcript

Welcome to Open Scoring MMA. This is episode 78 for September 4th, 2026, your daily look at what's happening now and next across the world of MMA and UFC. DUKE: Fight day is here in Paris, and Salahdine Parnasse reportedly made history in his own main event by being the guy who stepped on the scale first, hitting a hundred fifty five pounds right on the number.
NORA: He beat Dan Hooker to the scale, which is a nice little psychological flex before a lightweight headliner.
DUKE: And early prelims are already rolling out live from the arena as we speak.
NORA: We're not spoiling anything for anyone still asleep back home, but by the time most of you hear this, scorecards are going to be filling in fast.
DUKE: This is a huge spot for Parnasse, he's building a real case in that division and a main event slot in his home country is as good as it gets.
NORA: Hooker's the wily veteran gatekeeper here, tough losses on the resume but always shows up in shape, so this tells us a lot about where Parnasse really stands if he gets through him.
DUKE: Let's get into the walking wounded now. Khamzat Chimaev broke his silence on life after that Sean Strickland fight.
NORA: And the message was pure defiance, he refuses to think of himself as a loser even though we're hearing that loss was a tough one for him.
DUKE: It was his first defeat inside the octagon too.
NORA: Right, so this is genuinely new territory for him mentally, not just on the record.
DUKE: You'd expect nothing less from him honestly, that mentality's his whole identity.
NORA: Sure, but talk is easy. The real test is what camp looks like next and whether he changes anything, because Strickland found something nobody else had.
DUKE: Speaking of guys hunting for answers, Israel Adesanya has made a major training change trying to snap his losing skid.
NORA: When a former two-time champion shakes up his camp this deep into a rough stretch, that's a guy who knows the clock's ticking on his prime.
DUKE: Middleweight's stacked right now too, there's no easy fight to get well against.
NORA: Exactly, whatever he's changed, the pressure's all on the execution now, not the plan.
DUKE: Movsar Evloev is not playing the respectful understudy role heading into UFC three thirty three. He had a pretty blunt response to Alexander Volkanovski's plan, says he sees this fight going one way.
NORA: This is Evloev's first ever title shot against a legitimate legend of that division, so the confidence is notable, he's not talking like a guy who's just happy to be there.
DUKE: That's the right mentality, you don't beat a guy like Volkanovski by respecting him too much in the cage.
NORA: And it sets up a real torch-pass storyline if he actually backs it up.
DUKE: Jason Jackson believes the UFC is keeping him away from the welterweight division and its reigning champion, not specifically Islam Makhachev, says the promotion doesn't want him disrupting that welterweight division.
NORA: That's a serious accusation about matchmaking, but Jackson believes he's the guy who can actually upset the champ if given the shot.
DUKE: Bold claim against someone who's run through that weight class since moving up.
NORA: It is, but every champ eventually needs a live challenger the matchmakers can't keep ignoring.
DUKE: Cris Cyborg says she's got the fix for whatever main event problem UFC three thirty two is dealing with, offering up a rematch with Amanda Nunes.
NORA: Those two have one of the great rivalries in women's MMA history, so if the promotion's genuinely searching for a replacement headliner, that's as big a needle mover as exists on the roster.
DUKE: Question is whether the UFC even wants to revisit that rivalry at this stage of both careers.
NORA: Fair, but desperate main event problems make for exactly the kind of legacy fights that otherwise never get made.
DUKE: Down in Brazil, Glover Teixeira challenged Kleber Bambam, says he'd pay his own money to see it happen.
NORA: Teixeira just talked about how hard it was getting back in there against an opponent of Shogun's caliber, so there's a real question of how much he's got left for a fresh test like this.
DUKE: Big respect either way for a former champion still willing to answer the bell.
NORA: Whether anyone actually books it is a different story completely.
DUKE: Fans on X are already deep into UFC Paris.
NORA: There's a whole breakdown going around of every fight on the card with predictions against the actual betting lines.
DUKE: That's basically our entire show's mission statement in one post.
NORA: Just about.
DUKE: Over in the PFL, Shannon Clark and Lucero Acosta are booked for PFL Chicago on October the sixteenth.
NORA: The league keeps stacking that card piece by piece, and every booking matters for the points race format.
DUKE: Good sign they're still aggressively building depth in the women's divisions.
NORA: Worth tracking as more names get added before October.
DUKE: ONE Championship was back at Lumpinee Stadium for ONE Friday Fights one sixty nine, another hundred thousand dollar contract on the line for one of the unsigned stars.
NORA: That contract series is one of the smartest pipeline tools in the sport, basically their own contender series built around Muay Thai and multi-discipline talent.
DUKE: Every one of these cards is a scouting report for who's next.
NORA: And it's a big reason ONE's roster keeps getting deeper at the regional level.
DUKE: Dana White's out here promising fans are going to lose their minds when the UFC finally lands a show in Hawaii.
NORA: Hawaii's been a targeted destination for a while, it fits the international push they've been on with Paris and beyond.
DUKE: Hawaii's produced legit fighters and that built in fan passion, the energy in that building would be unreal.
NORA: If they actually pull the trigger on a date, that's a show worth circling immediately.
DUKE: Okay, I want to go back to Jason Jackson for a second because that's a real accusation.
NORA: The matchmaking one?
DUKE: Yeah, he's basically saying the promotion is scared to put him in there with Makhachev.
NORA: I mean, is he wrong though?
DUKE: Makhachev at welterweight has looked untouchable.
NORA: Right, so from a booking standpoint, why rush a live threat in there.
DUKE: Well, because eventually you run out of guys to feed him.
NORA: True.
DUKE: And Jackson's the kind of durable, awkward matchup that could make it ugly for a striker or a grappler either way.
NORA: See, that's what makes me think there's something to this.
DUKE: It's not crazy.
NORA: Not crazy at all.
DUKE: But until the UFC actually books it, it's just a guy talking.
NORA: Fair. Talk is cheap till the contract's signed.
DUKE: Let's look ahead.
DUKE: Then UFC three thirty one on September nineteenth, we're hearing Joshua Van defends his flyweight title against Alexandre Pantoja.
NORA: Pantoja defending the flyweight strap against Van, that might be the best of the bunch.
DUKE: That fight alone could main event most other cards.
NORA: Could have, but it's not, so let's not overstate it, it's still enormous for the division either way.
DUKE: Alright, time for the OSM Pick.
NORA: We've got a pick for you.
DUKE: And the model likes who?
NORA: Choi. Around seventy three percent.
DUKE: What's the betting line saying?
NORA: Market's only got him around sixty six percent.
DUKE: So we're higher than Vegas here.
NORA: By a good margin, yeah, this is one of our value plays.
DUKE: Walk me through why.
NORA: Choi's been more active lately.
DUKE: That matters more late in a fight than people think.
NORA: It does, and on top of that, Choi's been more active lately.
DUKE: What about finishing ability, they're both known for that.
NORA: Both dangerous, but Choi's recent knockouts suggest his power's a tick sharper right now.
DUKE: Okay, I trust the tape on this one.
NORA: We've moved on this pick too, we like it more than we did last time we looked at it.
DUKE: Good, because our record needs the help, I'm one and one, you're oh and one.
NORA: Don't remind me, the model itself is fifty nine and eighteen overall, so it's not perfect either.
DUKE: Just means Choi better come through for all of us.
NORA: He better.
DUKE: That's all we've got for you today.
NORA: Big week ahead, don't sleep on any of it.
DUKE: We'll see you next time on Open Scoring MMA.
Dooho Choi is our pick. Who have you got, and why? Before you go, two quick things. Check out our free Fight Tracker at tracker dot open scoring m m a dot com, with every upcoming UFC and PFL card, live odds, and where to watch, all in one place. And follow us on YouTube, just search Open Scoring MMA, for breaking news alerts, fight breakdowns, and videos you won't get here on the feed. That's it for today's Open Scoring MMA. Keep your hands up, and we'll see you next time.