The UFC turned heads with its signing of Salahdine
Parnasse. | 📷: Sarah Stier/Getty Images for Netflix
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Evolve Media.
* * *
This past weekend, it was announced during the
Ultimate Fighting Championship‘s
Abu Dhabi card that the organization had made a notable
signing, enough so that the signee would be making their Octagon
debut in the main event. Given there isn’t a whole lot of attention
paid to
KSW from most North American fans, I’m sure there was a lot of
“Who?” being said when Salahdine Parnasse was announced to be
fighting Dan Hooker at UFC
Paris in September.
How the KSW champion could reshape the UFC’s talent
pipeline
Despite the likelihood of Parnasse being an unknown to many fans,
it shouldn’t take away from the fact that the Frenchman is
legitimately a big signing for the UFC. He managed to win titles in
two divisions in KSW and made a respectable attempt for a third.
For those unaware of the significance of KSW, it has several
fighters over the last decade who have turned down UFC offers,
largely due to financial reasons as KSW tends to offer more
guaranteed money. Would they be able to carve out long-term UFC
roles? I have no doubt in my mind. In fact, the UFC nabbed a pair
of their past champions from the organization in Jan Blachowicz and
Dricus du Plessis.
Am I willing to say Parnasse is a future champion? The smart money
would be to bet the field, but if there was anyone on the KSW
roster whom I would bet would slap UFC gold around their waist, it
would be Parnasse. He’s still on the young side at 28 and doesn’t
have a major hole in his game. He also has the physical tools to
get the job done, but I’ll add the addendum that there’s a large
pool of fighters that tag could be applied to that haven’t.
Regardless, the UFC is badly in need of this type of signing.
Someone who stirs the curiosity of the fans who tend to only pay
attention to the UFC product. I’m not going to crap on those fans.
People only have so much time to devote to a hobby or interest like
mixed martial arts and the UFC is the most convenient organization
to follow. That said, even if it is the best MMA organization in
the world — and it surely is — it can grow stale. There’s so many
events that its rare anticipation grows and difficult to do
long-term promoting. A new fighter is something that is one of the
easier sells.
If someone wants to throw out the UFC had several signings last
year, I can’t argue that. Patricio
“Pitbull” Freire, Patrick
“Patchy” Mix and Aaron Pico all made the transition over from
Bellator
MMA. But they were also some of the more anticipated fights for
me for the year. How would they stack up against UFC talent?
Everyone knew “Pitbull” was past his prime on signing, but there
were still interesting matches to be had. Many — myself included
— thought Mix could emerge as a title contender. That proved to be
very wrong, but I was happy to find out rather than forever
wonder what could have been. In Pico, he still could have
his best years ahead of him. However, given Bellator was arguably
the No. 2 MMA promotion in the world for a long time, there was
also a lot of familiarity.
With Parnasse, very few know much about him. For most, their only
exposure to him came from the MVP event in May headlined by Ronda
Rousey and Gina Carano. It may be possible at that point in time,
Parnasse was the best fighter on that card… but he sure wasn’t
promoted that way. He had an entertaining scrap with Kenny Cross
that didn’t get much attention. He was dominant against someone who
very easily could have been signed by the UFC following his victory
on
Dana White’s Contender Series.
The question I have is whether this will be a sign of things to
come or if is an aberration. The UFC hasn’t done much to bring in
the best available talent. Well… perhaps I should say TKO hasn’t
done much to bring in outside talent to the UFC. They didn’t mind
spending $15 million for one fight with Conor Benn, but they can’t
spend six figures a fight for a potential difference maker in the
UFC? Given the UFC is one of two organizations where TKO butters
its bread — the other being the WWE — it’s frustrating to see it
unwilling to recruit the best available talent from around the
world when it throws that type of money around for a venture that
seems more like a passion project solely for themselves rather than
putting it into something the fans would like to see them invest
in.
Perhaps they’re noticing the grumblings. I’m hardly the only one
who feels this way and the start of the Paramount era has been a
disappointment. Sure,
UFC White House ended up being a success, but that doesn’t take
away from the fact the fans felt somewhat cheated when the card
didn’t live up to the expected quality on paper it was hyped up to
be. Hype the UFC helped to promote. They’ve dug a hole for
themselves in terms of fan goodwill.
Who should the UFC target next?
Would it be able to dig themselves out some if they started
recruiting high profile talent? Not entirely, but it would
certainly help. Parnasse could prove to be the biggest star out of
France. I admit I’m not fully aware of the contract situation of
Dakota Ditcheva — or some of the other names to follow — but she
looks like she could be the heir apparent to Valentina Shevchenko
at women’s flyweight. It would be worth backing up the Brinks truck
for her. If Dana White and Francis Ngannou could set aside their
differences, that’s an easy fight to promote. The unbeaten champion
returns to claim his throne against Tom Aspinall or Ciryl Gane? Of
course, the clock is ticking as Ngannou turns 40 soon. Of course,
Usman Nurmagomedov is presently the UFC’s “Moby Dick.”
In the end, should the Parnasse signing prove to be an aberration,
the UFC won’t be doing much to improve the malaise of its fanbase
at the moment. But if he’s the start of a flurry of new and
established talent making their way to the promotion, it could very
well salvage the rest of the year that has been underwhelming. It
needs to show fans they aren’t just happy with the status quo. A
signing like Parnasse is a good step in the right direction. The
question is if it is the only step they are presently taking.
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