Hooker earned a FORTUNE for his fight against Parnasse: I’d even fight Ngannou for that!

In an interview with RMC Combat Sports, Dan Hooker made no secret of the fact that he’s very excited about the matchup with Salahdine Parnasse. However, it’s not just about the athletic challenge. The money the UFC offered the New Zealander to face the former two-time KSW champion in the Octagon played a huge role.

The popular “The Hangman” will headline this weekend’s UFC Paris event. The veteran of the world’s largest MMA organization will face Salahdine Parnasse in the octagon. For the former two-time KSW champion, this will be his UFC debut—and an immediate test against an extremely experienced opponent.

Hooker was thrilled with his payout for the Parnasse fight. He even mentioned Ngannou

For the “Lion of the Atlas,” such a matchup is undoubtedly a tremendous honor. Already in his UFC debut, Parnasse was given a spot in the “Fight of the Night” and an opponent who has been facing the top fighters in his weight class for years.

Hooker, however, has no problem with the fact that he was the one chosen to face the high-profile newcomer. The New Zealander is eager to take on challenges like this, especially if the organization is willing to pay him accordingly.

In an interview with RMC Combat Sports, “The Hangman” made it clear that under these financial terms, he could regularly test his skills against up-and-coming fighters:

– That works for me. If they’re going to pay me that much money to fight young guys, I’ll keep fighting young guys until the day I die.

The pay scale for the bout against Parnasse clearly made a huge impression on Hooker. The New Zealander revealed that it will be the biggest paycheck of his entire career so far.

He took it a step further and jokingly said that for the money offered, he would even agree to a much crazier challenge—a fight against former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou.

– For the money they’re paying me, I’d fight Francis Ngannou, and they’re giving me an opponent who’ll weigh in at the same number of kilograms as me? This is definitely the biggest payday of my entire career.

So the UFC had to dig deep into its pockets to sign Hooker for Parnasse’s debut. Now it remains to be seen whether the Frenchman will live up to the high expectations and defeat such an experienced fighter at the very first opportunity.

We’ll find out the answer at the UFC Paris event, where Hooker and Parnasse will face off in the main event.