Salahdine
Parnasse barely broke a sweat.
The Atch Academy cornerstone retained his
Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki lightweight championship in style, as
he stopped Wilson
Varela with punches in the first round of their
KSW 101 headliner on Friday at Paris La Defense Arena in
Nanterre, France. Varela (12-6, 4-2 KSW) succumbed to blows 60
seconds into Round 1, his six-fight winning streak at an end.
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Parnasse (20-2, 12-2 KSW) dropped the Marseille Fight Club rep with
a left cross, pounced with follow-up punches and forced the
challenger to shield himself from contact. He then climbed to the
back, flattened out Varela and closed the deal with a string of
clubbing right hands to the side of the head.
Meanwhile, onetime Bellator MMA tournament winner Marcin Held
cast aside Adrenaline Fight Team’s Davy Gallon
with a guillotine choke in the first round of their lightweight
co-main event. Gallon (21-10-2, 0-1 KSW) raised the white flag of
surrender 2:24 into Round 1.
Held (30-10, 2-1 KSW) once again worked his magic on the ground.
The 32-year-old Ankos MMA export lured Gallon into the guillotine
and eventually moved to a mounted position to prompt the tapout for
the 16th submission victory of his career.
Further down card, former Hexagone MMA champion Laid
Zerhouni rebounded from his Sept. 14 technical knockout loss to
Radoslaw
Paczuski and did so with authority, as he wiped out the
previously unbeaten Alain
Van De Merckt with punches in the first round of their
middleweight showcase. Van De Merckt (8-1, 0-1 KSW) bowed out 1:41
into Round 1.
Zerhouni (14-9, 3-1 KSW) trapped the Belgian along the fence,
flurried with power punches and drew the curtain with a clean left
hook. Van De Merckt was out before he hit the canvas.
In other action, Mickael
Lebout (24-12-2, 1-0 KSW) laid claim to a unanimous
decision—30-27, 30-27, 30-27—over Romain
Debienne (10-6, 0-1 KSW) in their three-round welterweight
tiff; Artur
Szczepaniak (12-3, 5-2 KSW) discarded Alex Lohore
(25-11, 0-1 KSW) with punches 54 seconds into the second round of
their 174-catchweight encounter; Ramzan
Jembiev (6-2, 3-1 KSW) turned away El Hadji
Ndiaye (6-3, 1-1 KSW) with elbows and punches 2:58 into the
first round of their lightweight pairing; Alioune
Nahaye (15-4, 1-0 KSW) took a unanimous decision from Eduard
Kexel (8-2, 0-1 KSW) in their three-round featherweight scrap,
drawing 29-28 marks from all three cageside judges; Nacim
Belhouachi (4-3, 1-0 KSW) dismissed Damien
Peltier (10-10-1, 0-1 KSW) with punches 3:45 into the first
round of their catchweight tilt at 152 pounds; Amaury
Wako-Zabo (3-0, 1-0 KSW) disposed of Maciej
Rebacz (0-1, 0-1 KSW) with punches 3:40 into the second round
of their 161-pound catchweight affair; and Zakaria
Hamou (3-0, 1-0 KSW) put away Andrzej
Karkula (3-1, 0-1 KSW) with punches 1:24 into the first round
of their catchweight clash at 139 pounds.