Hooker shrugs off death threats ahead of UFC Paris main event against hometown hero Parnasse

Dan Hooker is heading into UFC Paris as the villain, and he could not care less. The New Zealand lightweight confirmed he received death threats on social media after being announced as the opponent for French fan favourite Salahdine Parnasse in Saturday’s main event, but the top-15 contender says the messages barely registered as a concern.

Hooker told MMA Fighting he accepted the fight without hesitation when the UFC came calling, suspecting he was one of the few ranked lightweights who would willingly step into hostile territory. Parnasse, a former two-division KSW champion, carries enormous support in France despite not yet being a global household name, and that backing quickly translated into a flood of aggressive messages directed at his opponent.

“I like that,” Hooker said. “Get your bits in before the fight. Hindsight is 20/20. Anyone can be right in retrospect. After the fight? Nah. Make your call. Get your Mystic Mac.”

Hooker’s attitude toward the threats is straightforward: none of the people sending messages can actually set foot inside the octagon to help Parnasse, so their hostility is ultimately irrelevant to the outcome.

“Whether they love me or hate me, I couldn’t care less,” he said. “He could have 10 or 20,000 people in there who want to kill me. Ain’t nothing they can do but shut the f*ck up and eat their popcorn and watch me beat their boy. That’s all they’ve got in store.”

The reception has not been entirely negative. After Hooker first spoke publicly about the threats, he said a wave of French fans reached out to apologise and express genuine excitement about the fight, softening what he had expected to be a purely hostile atmosphere.

“I’ve had a lot of French fans reaching out to me and say that they’re just excited for the fight and they’re excited that I’m making the trip out there,” Hooker said. “I don’t even feel like I’m walking into hostile territory. I feel like there will be a lot of people excited for the fight.”

For Hooker, the crowd noise and the social media noise amount to the same thing — background energy he says he feeds off rather than fears. His focus remains fixed on Parnasse and what a main-event win in Paris would mean for his lightweight campaign.