"There needs to be a villain for it to be a good story," says Dan Hooker, a veteran of 12 years in the octagon who is happy to welcome even the death threats sent his way by French fans ahead of the Paris show. A +440 underdog, he walks into the bout off the back of two heavy defeats in a row and four operations. His opponent lives in an entirely different reality: French debutant Salahdine Parnasse, a two-time champion in KSW, the leading Polish promotion, steps into the octagon for the first time in front of his own crowd. This may be Hooker's chance to salvage his reputation, yet the organisers have paid him a solid purse for shouldering that risk. Ultimately, this French inferno will settle whether the veteran can turn his career around or becomes the debutant star's first victim.