UFC's Greatness is Back After UFC Fight Night

UFC Fight Night: How The UFC (Maybe) Got Their Groove Back

NEW YORK – Dana White has done it. He has reached the top. 

White, who has presided as UFC president since 2001, has achieved a dominance in combat sports that every other manager could only hope to fantasize about. Over the course of a quarter-century, he has turned a hemorrhaging product into the single most successful promotional outfit in mixed martial arts.

Akin to the NFL, the NBA, or the MLB, the UFC is considered THE major leagues of mixed martial arts. Not ONE Championship, not the PFL; instead the UFC is the gold standard destination for fighters looking to reach the precipice of the sport. Dana is not beholden to the 600 some fighters on his roster; having to deal with the cross-promotional drama that infects other sports (cough-cough, boxing), as he is the one, autocratic manager. He needs not to take risks that may threaten the stability of his company, for the callousness of his work has amassed a net worth of over a half-billion dollars.

Fraught relationships, pay disputes, canceled events; each dilemma not grand or adequate enough to affect the company’s viability. The Ultimate Fighting Championship is, plainly, too big to fail. 

Dana White is a wartime general in a time of peace (shoutout to MMA On Point). And with peace, wartime generals tend to get very bored. 

There simply isn’t another way to describe the obvious change in his attentiveness to his UFC product. His varying interests in other sports, his confounding pay-per-view cards, and fighter rosters that STILL feature names with losing-streaks; Dana has stopped trying, for there is no longer an incentive to try. Dana White is pressure anthropomorphized. When need be, he makes diamonds the sizes of McGregor, Rousey, and Lesnar. When the time calls for it, he creates HISTORICAL events the magnitude of UFC 229. Dana NEEDS a muse, something or someone to force the UFC to focus all their attention towards.  

Speaking as earnestly as possible, the last couple of years has struggled when it comes to capturing excitement. The issue is not so much that the product is boring, but rather that the promotion doesn’t consistently feel like a must-watch television event every time out. Repetitive matchmaking, fighter inactivity, and entire divisions in literal purgatory (looking at you heavyweight) have rendered White’s company a business model that sometimes shoots itself in the foot. 

How Good Was UFC Paris?

That night in Paris; it felt different. 

Maybe it is a stretch to call Fight Night 287 a complete success; the ever-so venomous Michael Page may very well be done in the promotion after another lackluster performance against

Ruziboev. Outside of that fight, however, this card felt like a showcase for the next generation of UFC greats, prospects and finishes alike. 

Firstly, we would be remiss not to mention the prelims, as the undercard started the night off with excellent moments to create anticipation for the main card. Matthieu Duclos, Delphine Benouaich, and Mario Pinto each earn themselves a victory in two rounds or less, with Modestas Bukauskas, Pavel Andrusca, and Felipe Lima cruised to decision victories and TKOs. This appetizer set up the entree that we received with a main card that had a single subpar fight.

Losene Keita had himself one of the most entertaining fights of the night, displaying a healthy amount of confidence and flair as he sent Muhammad Naimov to the canvas and finished him midway through the first round. Kurtis Campbell surprised EVERYONE when he submitted Trevor Peek, a featherweight who is notoriously a hassle to finish. In terms of fighter performance, Axel Sola gets the silver medal; the lightweight DEMOLISHED Fares Ziam with a nasty first-round knockout, doing so in front of his fellow countrymen. 

Dan Hooker vs Salahdine Parnasse

Then there’s the main event, which worked itself out as a cinematic showing of the UFC’s next big star. Is anointing Salahdine Parnasse as such a bit preemptive — maybe, but the UFC set the Frenchman up for success, and he delivered. Parnasse, who had reigned as a two-division champion in Polish promotion KSW, stepped into the octagon facing opposite of fan-favorite Dan Hooker. “The Hangman,” as he is so affectionately called, is NOT a run-of-the-mill opponent.

The New Zealand native, despite the losing streak, is a professional with nearly 40 professional fights, a lengthy UFC tenure, and notable wins over legit lightweight competition. For Parnasse to beat an opponent as such is one thing, to do so in your debut with your city watching nonetheless, takes you from a prospect to a division threat in an instant. 

Just as the liver kick that he delivered to the abdomen of Dan Hooker, Salahdine Parnasse exploded onto the mixed martial arts scene on the grandest stage, and whether it be Dana White, TKO, or the MMA gods, there’s a new muse in their promotion. 

It’s time to make diamonds.