Dana White has backed Salahdine Parnasse’s (24-2) callout of Max Holloway (28-9) following Parnasse’s first-round stoppage of Dan Hooker in his UFC Paris debut.
“Listen, anything’s interesting. I mean, the fact that guy wants to fight Max Holloway right now is impressive. I like it,” White said.
Parnasse stopped Hooker at 2:35 of the opening round after hurting him with a body kick before finishing the fight with follow-up strikes.
White also revealed that Parnasse’s debut generated one of the UFC’s biggest social media reactions for a newcomer.
“Incredible. He was like the third-biggest debut on social media that we’ve ever had, behind Paddy Pimblett and Rosas Jr. The crowd was incredible. The fight was great. And calling out Max Holloway is pretty crazy,” White said.
Parnasse’s performance moved him to No. 9 in the UFC lightweight rankings. While Holloway remains his preferred target, Daniel Cormier has suggested Paddy Pimblett could present an interesting stylistic challenge because of his grappling.
“Parnasse, fighting the other guys at 155, they’re generally strikers. Those are great fights. There’s one real grappler at the top of that division right now to try and ground this man, and that’s Paddy Pimblett, who’s really good at it,” Cormier said.