RADIO
Austin Swaim's UFC DFS lineups picks for UFC Paris - Hooker vs. Parnasse. Top MMA fighter picks this week include Salahdine Parnasse, Kurtis Campbell, Mario Pinto, Morgan Charriere, and Punahele Soriano.
Every week, DraftKings Daily Fantasy has MMA contests featuring the full schedule of UFC fights. The DFS slate for UFC Fight Night: Hooker vs. Parnasse locks Saturday at 12 p.m. EST on Paramount+.
Saturday's main event is a lightweight arrival. Salahdine "Lion of Atlas" Parnasse makes his hotly anticipated UFC debut in his home country, but New Zealand brawler Dan Hooker is upset-minded as he heads to the City of Light.
Here is a full breakdown of my favorite picks on the card in each pricing tier.
UFC Paris DraftKings DFS Studs to Target
Salahdine Parnasse ($9,500)
I find the DFS argument around Salahdine Parnasse more interesting than the question of whether he'll win, which DraftKings Sportsbook lists at -650.
Many have the debutant on upset alert, but 36-year-old Dan Hooker has dropped consecutive fights on the ground, and Parnasse's functional MMA game is built on working into the clinch, grinding for takedowns, securing the back, and landing big shots as his opponents get away.
That's sort of the formula that keeps going against Hooker, and grappling success has a stable floor of DraftKings points (DKPTs). At worst, this is a 25-minute fight where "Lion of Atlas" can grind out a decision with plenty of points for takedowns and control.
From a leverage perspective, Hooker should also be one of the most popular fighters on the slate, making the favorite more appealing in tournaments.
Kurtis Campbell ($9,300)
"The Pink Panther" has quite the task in front of him, but I think he's capable of performing.
Kurtis Campbell has to avoid a 0-2 UFC start after a knockout loss in March, but the matchup couldn't be better on paper. Campbell is a grappler who has posted 21.9 takedown attempts per 15 minutes across two UFC-affiliated starts, landing a decent clip (40%).
His opponent, Trevor Peek, has been floored 27 times in his five octagon trips with poor takedown defense (52%) overall.
Peek has a reputation for big power and cuts to featherweight for the first time on Saturday, but his knockdown rate (0.63 KD%) is not a practical concern. In fact, the Tennessean's notorious toughness might help Campbell pile up points in a longer bout.
Mario Pinto ($9,100)
These heavyweight coin flips can be a real struggle in DFS decision-making, but I definitely prefer Mario Pinto in a prelim showdown with Ryan Spann.
Pinto, a well-rounded contestant from Portugal, has posted a solid +0.92 striking success rate (SSR) with his slick boxing. He doesn't really sit down for the quick knockout, but that shows in his elite striking accuracy (69%) and defense (58%), and it can come with those fundamentals:
The left hook from Mario Pinto put him down 😤#DWCS is LIVE NOW on ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/SCoLE66dTf
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) October 9, 2024
Spann is the complete opposite. He's torched low-level foes for a 2.27 KD%, but his striking accuracy (39%) and defense (43%) are awful. He's 2-1 since moving to heavyweight, but the fighters he's beaten are a combined 1-8-1 in UFC.
It's so tempting to take the underdog at $7,100 and hope he finds the shot, but Spann is +380 to win in the first 10 minutes despite his reputation. I don't think oddsmakers are in the business of handing out free money.
UFC Paris DraftKings DFS Mid-Tier Picks
Oumar Sy ($8,800)
It's getting harder and harder to believe in Oumar Sy's upside, but my model still does. I've got Sy at 33.5% likely to finish in his home country on Saturday.
That probably has more to do with Modestas Bukauskas, who's been dropped 5 times in the UFC and lost 55% of his pro setbacks by (T)KO, than the Frenchman's 0.00 KD%. I still think it's interesting when we know Sy, a 30-year-old light heavyweight, is anecdotally dangerous:
Il l'a complètement dominé 💪 @Oum93mma s'impose par TKO au premier round
📺 Regardez l’#UFCParis EN DIRECT sur 🇫🇷 RMC Sport pic.twitter.com/61AmyXJQQC
— UFC France (@UFCFRA) September 6, 2025
Despite losing two of his last three, the peripherals are still very good. Sy's +1.54 SSR is solid, and he's added 2.45 takedowns per 15 minutes. Even in a decision, a decent score wouldn't be crazy.
I'm projecting that most of the field ignores this fight in tournaments. Sy has topped 100 DKPTs just twice in five appearances, and Bukauskas hasn't topped 55 in four of his seven starts. I just want to be here in case the Lithuanian's durability issues creep back up.
Matthieu Duclos ($8,200)
A pivotal DFS fight in the mid-range is a middleweight prelim between Matthieu Duclos and Luis Felipe Dias. It's -500 to not go the distance and nearly a pick 'em as to who wins it.
Frankly, that latter point is a bit surprising, given that Dias is coming off a debut knockout against Yi Sak Lee, and Duclos didn't even win his bid on Dana White's Contender Series to earn a contract. But, that loss on DWCS to Marco Tulio (4-2 UFC) hasn't aged poorly at all.
The Frenchman is a talented kickboxer with elite length (77") and height (6'3") for the division, and he stuffed both of Tulio's takedown attempts on DWCS. If that holds, he should have a comfortable edge in the standup.
Dias has landed just 2.85 significant strikes thus far, and the road only gets tougher from here. It's fair to say he struggles at striking range and will need takedowns, which could also deplete a questionable gas tank.
Klaudia Sygula ($7,900)
I've talked a lot about tournament risks, but Klaudia Sygula is a no-brainer in cash games.
In a striker's delight against Nora Cornolle, she's the lower-salaried side, and I've got her modeled as 65.2% likely to win. She was +110 on Sunday and sits at -110 as of this writing, so I'm not alone.
The Polish kickboxer is improving at just 28 years old, training at the elite gym American Top Team. The grappling shortcomings she had against Melissa Mullins in her debut shouldn't come into play here when Cornolle has only attempted a takedown in one of her six appearances.
Even if Cornolle gets the nod in her home country, I've got Sygula projected for 68.1 significant strikes and 1.04 takedowns at a median, and she's topped 100 significant strikes in her last two outings. This fight is -200 to go the distance, as well.
UFC Paris DraftKings Underdog Plays
Axel Sola ($7,600)
Danger is the keyword in the co-main event. I think Axel Sola has it, and Fares Ziam doesn't.
Ziam's six-fight winning streak was snapped in June, prompting a closer look under the microscope at whether a fortuitous schedule might have been the reason. Those six foes are 3-6 since facing him, and only two remain on the roster.
His career-high mark for significant strikes remains just 61, and his 0.51 KD% doesn't impose much danger, either.
Meanwhile, Sola's 1.40 KD% earned him a knockout in his debut, and he's coming off a submission win over Ismael Bonfim that resulted in 125.7 DKPTs:
Keep your eyes on Axel Sola 👀
He just submitted Ismael Bonfim is less than a round!
[ #UFCAbuDhabi | LIVE ON @ParamountPlus ] pic.twitter.com/bQjFdgTyzu
— UFC on Paramount+ (@UFConParamount) July 25, 2026
Many will point out Bonfim's shortcomings, but if all else is equal, the underdog seems to have more finishing upside in both MMA domains, and he averages 1.82 more significant strikes landed per minute. I'd play him at a higher salary than Ziam -- much less this one.
Morgan Charriere ($7,300)
I need every dollar this week with a poor punting tier, and Morgan Charriere can help.
Charriere's fight with Felipe Lima seems to have some length. It's -250 to start Round 3, and that sort of checks out with the fact that Lima, the -198 favorite, is only 5'6" and moving up a weight class in this fight despite not having recorded a knockdown at 135.
Plus, "The Last Pirate" is notoriously durable. He's infamously lost just twice inside the distance in 34 pro fights, and one was a Melquizael Costa head kick in his very last start. He got caught.
I don't have much conviction that the Frenchman can hand Lima his first loss by stoppage, but any win should be enough this weekend.
Punahele Soriano ($7,200)
Daniil Donchenko is a maurauder who moves forward with an all-action style. He's landed 8.07 significant strikes per minute. That's typically the place we want to be in DFS.
However, numbers can lie, and Donchenko just hasn't faced good competition. His three UFC wins have come over foes a combined 2-7 with the promotion since the start of 2023, and he even went to a decision with Alex Morono.
Punahele Soriano is also undefeated in this weight class (4-0), but Puna has gotten his hand raised over four straight multi-time UFC winners. He even KO'd Uros Medic, a rising Serbian inside the rankings at 170 pounds.
This fight will be decided by the viability of Soriano's improved wrestling attack (1.97 takedowns landed per 15 minutes) against Donchenko's relatively untested takedown defense (85%).
However, "Puna" has lost just once by (T)KO in 18 pro fights. I'm not even sure that, even if Donchenko is getting the better of the standup, the Ukrainian is winning the fight in a fantasy-relevant fashion.
