Salahdine Parnasse needed just 155 seconds to prove that all the noise around his arrival in UFC was justified.
The Frenchman defeated Dan Hooker by TKO at 2:35 of the first round and turned one of the most demanding debuts in memory into a real exhibition. UFC had not prepared an adaptation fight for him: he debuted directly in a five-round main event against the number 10 lightweight. The duration ended up being irrelevant.
Parnasse was comfortable from the first exchange and found the beginning of the end with a body kick that did a lot of damage to Hooker. He immediately detected the moment, accelerated against the cage and ended the fight with a combination of punches.
Victory completely changes their situation.
Parnasse doesn't come to UFC as a prospect who needs several years of construction. After dominating outside the company and tearing apart a veteran like Hooker in his first appearance, he's already straight into the Top 15 at lightweight.
Then he asked Max Holloway and also talked about facing a Top 5. He may seem ambitious after just one fight, but his situation is exceptional. Parnasse is 28 years old, with championship experience and now a spectacular victory against a ranked opponent.
For Hooker, on the other hand, Paris leaves a worrying reading. The New Zealander has now accumulated three consecutive losses and received a lot of damage again. His experience is still valuable, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to imagine another path to the high 155-pound zone.
The other big explosion of the night came immediately before.
Axel Sola did not need even two minutes to knock out Farès Ziam.
Sola landed a perfect left at 1:40 of the first round and got the most important victory of his career. Ziam arrived with much more experience within UFC, but the fight practically did not have time to develop.
The victory places Sola as another French name to follow within an absurdly deep category.
Michael Page also won, albeit in a much less spectacular way.
MVP defeated Nursulton Ruziboev via unanimous decision, with three cards of 29-28. Page again used his particular distance management to control a low-volume fight, but ended up acknowledging that his performance had not been especially entertaining.
Daniil Donchenko confirmed why there is so much expectation around his future by clearly defeating Punahele Soriano. The Ukrainian took a unanimous decision and continues to advance within welterweight.
Kurtis Campbell scored a particularly interesting victory against Trevor Peek. Not only did he submit the American by slam dunk in the third round, but he racked up 13 takedowns before finding the finish, setting a new featherweight record for UFC.
Losene Keita starred in another of the great moments of Paris.
The Belgian needed such a performance after a tricky start in UFC and responded by knocking out Muhammad Naimov with a right hand in the first round. It was one of the images of the night and a demonstration that the explosiveness that made him one of the great European talents is still there.
The preliminaries also left important results.
Felipe Lima defeated Morgan Charrière via unanimous decision and remains undefeated in his three appearances inside the octagon. Mario Pinto maintained his undefeated record by finishing Ryan Spann via ground and pound just 55 seconds into the second round.
Modestas Bukauskas stopped Oumar Sy by TKO in the second, while Pavel Andrusca starred in one of the surprises of the night defeating Nathaniel Wood by unanimous decision after accepting the fight as a substitute.
And there was also great news for Spanish MMA.
Fabià Sintes won on his debut in UFC.
The Menorcan defeated Michael Aljarouj by unanimous decision, with cards of 29-28, 29-28 and 29-27. Sintes was able to adapt after a competitive start and ended up finding in his grappling the necessary tool to control the fight.
Nora Cornolle defeated Klaudia Sygula by unanimous decision, Matthieu Duclos knocked out Luis Felipe Dias in the first round and Delphine Benouaich opened the night by submitting Sofia Montenegro by killing in the second.
UFC also rewarded the most spectacular performances of the evening.
Salahdine Parnasse, Axel Sola, Losene Keita and Mario Pinto received the four Performance of the Night bonuses.
The national team sums up quite well what happened in Paris: Parnasse destroying Hooker in his debut, Sola shutting down Ziam with a left, Keita recovering his best version with another spectacular KO and Pinto confirming his status as an undefeated prospect against a very dangerous veteran like Spann.
The event also ended with 15,687 spectators, a full house at the Accor Arena and more than 4,3 million dollars in takings, making it the event with the highest box office held so far at the venue.
But above all the results there is a name.
Salahdine Parnasse.
Before UFC Paris there was a reasonable question about how much of his domain outside UFC he could immediately move to the highest level.
After 2 minutes and 35 seconds against Dan Hooker, the question has changed.
Now it is time to ask how far it can go.