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Parnasse Announces Himself, UFC 332 Takes Shape

Salahdine Parnasse blew through Dan Hooker in round one and is already calling out Max Holloway, while UFC 332 fills out around its new flyweight title fight.

Parnasse Announces Himself, UFC 332 Takes Shape

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UFC Paris gave us a legit new star and a scary trip to the hospital, and while that's still settling in, UFC 332 in Salt Lake City is picking up new fights by the day. Here's where everything stands heading into the week.

Parnasse Arrives in Style

Salahdine Parnasse made the most of his UFC debut. He hurt Hooker badly with a body kick early and never let him off the hook, and Hooker ended up needing hospital attention afterward. Parnasse wasted no time asking for a massive step up, calling for Max Holloway next, and fellow fighters were quick to joke on social media that he's actually getting Michael Chandler. Either way, a two-division KSW champion just announced himself to the entire lightweight division in one night.

Costa Sounds Off on UFC 332

Paulo Costa spent Saturday night venting on social media after the UFC announced Natalia Silva vs. Wang Cong as the main event for UFC 332 without going his preferred route. According to Costa, he had pitched his own plan to fix the card and it got turned down before the promotion settled on Natalia Silva versus Wang Cong for the vacant women's flyweight title. It's a reminder that not every fighter is thrilled with how a lineup comes together, even when the replacement plan turns out to be a title fight.

UFC 332 Fills Out the Card

Valentina Shevchenko was stripped of her flyweight title after vacating due to injury, and Natalia Silva now meets Wang Cong for the vacant belt in the October 3 main event at Delta Center in Salt Lake City, airing live on CBS and Paramount Plus. Betting odds for that title fight are already out. The undercard is rounding into shape too, with Khaos Williams making his welterweight debut against Roberto Soldic, and Marcus McGhee fighting up and coming Albanian Benardo Sopaj.

Around Paris

Word is that Axel Sola demolished Fares Ziam at UFC Paris, with Sola landing a single left hand that put Ziam out cold. On a rougher note, UFC officials confirmed that one fighter was transported to a local hospital as a precaution after taking heavy damage in their fight. No update changes the read on either result, but it's a good reminder of how brutal that card got outside of the headliner.

From the community

Over on @BloodyElbow, fans are talking about this: Paulo Costa reveals his plan to save UFC 332 was rejected before lame main event announcement https://t.co/WpqNM6lema https://t.co/moQ6CJ3n6d.

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 80 for September 6th, 2026, your daily look at what's happening now and next across the world of MMA and UFC. DUKE: Nora, we need to talk about Salahdine Parnasse, because what he just did to Dan Hooker in Paris was not a normal octagon debut.
NORA: Not even close. Parnasse moves to twenty three and two, finishes Hooker at two thirty five of round one, and remember, he walked in as almost a minus seven hundred favorite.
DUKE: Minus seven hundred for a guy nobody in the States had really seen live yet.
NORA: That tells you the scouting on him was already that good.
DUKE: That body kick early just changed the whole fight.
NORA: Hurt Hooker instantly, and once the finish started it was pure clean, precise striking, no wasted motion.
DUKE: And Parnasse doesn't waste any time asking for the big fight either, he's already calling for Max Holloway.
NORA: Bold, but not crazy. If the finish looks like that, the UFC has to think about fast tracking him into the contender mix at lightweight or featherweight.
DUKE: Some of the other fighters on the roster were floating a totally different name though, Michael Chandler.
NORA: That one makes sense from a matchmaking angle too, name value, veteran test, see if Parnasse can do it against a guy who's been in with everybody.
DUKE: Either way, dark horse to household name overnight.
NORA: And Hooker, tough as it is to say, that's a rough spot in his career trajectory right now.
DUKE: The co-main in Paris was just as violent, Nora, Axel Sola over Fares Ziam.
NORA: One punch, left hand, lights out, Ziam never saw it coming and the ref didn't even need to think about it.
DUKE: That's the kind of knockout that gets replayed for years.
NORA: It also puts Sola on the radar in a division that's starving for finishers like that.
DUKE: Now, not every story out of Paris was a highlight reel. There was a scary moment too. We're hearing that one fighter was transported to the hospital after their fight.
NORA: UFC confirmed it was precautionary, but they took significant damage in that bout.
DUKE: Good to hear it was just precaution, hoping for a clean update soon.
NORA: Always the part of these cards nobody wants to talk about, but it matters.
DUKE: Alright, let's pivot to UFC 332, because the picture for that card just changed completely. Valentina Shevchenko is out of the flyweight title fight, Nora, she vacated the belt.
NORA: She was stripped due to injury, and now Natalia Silva and Wang Cong are fighting for the vacant strap, and that fight now headlines UFC 332 on October third at the Delta Center.
DUKE: Huge break for both of them.
NORA: Two streaking contenders who were already building cases, now one of them walks out with the belt.
DUKE: Wild that an injury just handed a title shot outright, no interim step in between.
NORA: That's the flyweight division right now, it moves fast when the champion's out.
DUKE: And the rest of that card is stacking up nicely too.
NORA: Word is we're getting a genuine banger on paper, with a former champ reportedly facing a rising bantamweight who hits hard and moves well.
DUKE: Then you've got Khaos Williams drawing Roberto Soldic, and that one's Soldic's middleweight debut in the UFC.
NORA: Soldic's got a reputation as a finisher wherever he's fought, so throwing him in with Williams, who's got some of the scariest hands in the welterweight division himself, that's a firefight waiting to happen.
DUKE: And they just added a bantamweight fight too, Marcus McGhee against Benardo Sopaj.
NORA: McGhee's defending his ranking there, Sopaj's the up and coming Albanian everybody's been talking about, so that's a real gatekeeper test for McGhee.
DUKE: October third just turned into one of the deeper cards of the fall.
NORA: It really did.
DUKE: Okay, now we've gotta get into this Paulo Costa situation, because the man went on a full tirade this weekend.
NORA: He says he had a plan to save UFC 332 and it got rejected before that main event got announced.
DUKE: A plan to save it, meaning what, he wanted himself in there?
NORA: Sounds like it, he was reacting to the main event getting locked in without him getting a shot to pitch himself first.
DUKE: Classic Costa, though.
NORA: Classic Costa.
DUKE: The guy's never been shy about saying the promotion's doing it wrong.
NORA: And fans on X are already fired up about this, going back and forth on whether Costa actually had a real fix or if he's just frustrated watching a big date go to someone else.
DUKE: Either way it's noise around a card that didn't need more noise, it was already loaded.
NORA: It's a headline, not a booking, so we'll see if anything actually comes of it.
DUKE: Alright, time for the pick, Nora, and this one's a value play for us.
NORA: We've got Choi. Seventy five percent by our model.
DUKE: And the betting line?
NORA: Line implies about sixty nine percent for him, so we're sitting well above the market on this one.
DUKE: That's a real gap, what's driving it?
NORA: Physical stuff mostly, Choi's got four inches in height and three in reach on Pitbull, plus he's four years younger, and at featherweight that's a lot to overcome.
DUKE: Pitbull's always been a finisher though.
NORA: He has, but he's also had to close distance to do it, and with Choi's frame he might just never get there.
DUKE: So it's a range fight Choi's built to win.
NORA: That's exactly it, and it's not just us, analysts and the model are lined up the same way here, we're just the ones leaning heavier into it.
DUKE: A true value pick then, not just a lean.
NORA: Strong confidence on this one, we like Dooho Choi more than Vegas does.
DUKE: Noted. Now let's get everybody ready for what's actually up next, because we've got a heavy stretch of cards coming.
NORA: First one's Wednesday, September eighth, Dana White's Contender Series, season ten, week five.
DUKE: We'll be keeping an eye on that one for sure.
NORA: Always worth watching, that's where next year's roster gets built.
DUKE: Then Noche UFC hits on September nineteenth.
NORA: Jean Silva versus Jose Miguel Delgado in the main.
DUKE: That's a name that draws eyes no matter the slot.
NORA: It's a stacked few weeks, no filler in any of it.
DUKE: That's it for us today, folks.
NORA: Rest up, because the schedule sure isn't slowing down.
DUKE: We'll see you next time on Open Scoring MMA.

Our call is Dooho Choi. If you're fading that, what do you see that we don't? 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.