Skip to main content

UFC Fight Night 226's Benoit Saint Denis: 'You will never see me doing a boring fight'

PARIS – Don’t expected Benoit Saint Denis to fight more conservatively now that he’s finding success and rising up the UFC lightweight rankings.

Saint Denis (11-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) has reeled off three straight wins – all by stoppage – as he heads into Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 226 matchup with Thiago Moises (17-6 MMA, 6-4 UFC), which takes place at Accor Arena and streams on ESPN+.

The Frenchman values winning above all else, but he also knows entertainment is a significant part of gaining traction with the UFC brass and fans of the sport. For that reason, he enters the cage each time willing to go out on his shield.

“If I need to go through a fight and I’m not winning it, I will do everything I can to win it,” Saint Denis told MMA Junkie at Wednesday’s UFC Fight Night 226 media day. “If I need to get knocked the f*ck out or I need to get submitted by doing that, I will go through. All I want is a victory. If there’s a 1 percent chance of getting the victory by putting myself in danger, I will do it. You will never see me doing a boring fight. If I’m losing a fight, I will take risk.”

The approach from Saint Denis, 27, has paid dividends. “The God of War” positioned himself to get a fight with Moises, who has shared the octagon with the likes of current UFC lightweight titleholder Islam Makhachev, Beneil Dariush, Bobby Green and more. It’s a true test for Saint Denis, and he’s ready to see how he stacks up.

“I’m very happy because I’m looking for a tough fight, and he’s a guy that can give me what I’m expecting to have inside the octagon of the UFC,” Saint Denis said. “He’s well-rounded, he’s only gotten finished by the champ (Makhachev and Joel Alvarez). … He’s a tough fighter and I think he thinks he’s better than me in everything. I think the same. Let’s see who is right.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 226.



from MMA Junkie https://ift.tt/oMxElD0
via IFTTT

Labels

Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Video: Oli Thompson lands devastating first-round knockout punch on Aleksei Oleinik in Russia

Aleksei Oleinik returned to action for the first time since his UFC exit, but things did not go in his favor. In the main event of REN TV Fight Club at Dynamo Volleyball Arena in Moscow, Russia, Oleinik (60-17-1 MMA) faced fellow UFC veteran Oli Thompson in a heavyweight bout. The result was a violent finish that left Oleinik staring up at the lights. Thompson (21-16 MMA) unleashed a crushing right hand that sent Oleinik crashing to the canvas with 35 seconds remaining in the opening round. Check out video of the finish below (via Twitter ): Oli Thompson destroys Alexey Oleynik with a massive right hand in the first round pic.twitter.com/AdWy25dQxR — caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) May 26, 2023 Thompson, 43, returned to the win column for the first time since 2020, snapping a four-fight losing skid. His last victory was also a first-round stoppage; a 23-second knockout of Szymon Bajor at Fight Exclusive Night 28 on June 13, 2020. Oleinik, 45, competed in his final UFC bout in Octo...
Read more

Henry Cejudo: 'I still don't see Sean O'Malley as the best in the world' ahead of UFC 299

Henry Cejudo is not sold on Sean O'Malley as UFC bantamweight champion. O’Malley (17-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC) knocked out Aljamain Sterling to become 135-pound champion at UFC 292, whereas Cejudo is coming off a close title loss to Sterling at UFC 288 . O’Malley will make his first title defense against Marlon Vera in the UFC 299 headliner on March 9, and Cejudo is still adamant that “Chito” beats O’Malley again – despite being a sizable underdog. “I still don’t see Sean O’Malley as the best in the world,” Cejudo said on Daniel Cormier’s YouTube channel . “I don’t. I do believe ‘Chito’ Vera is going to beat him. You have good defense, you walk that dude down, you kick his freaking legs – he still has that wide leg – you kick his legs, you just bring the fight to him and grit. “This is what Sean O’Malley will do: He’ll look at the clock because he throws a lot of power. He is precise, but he throws a lot of it. I would bet the house on ‘Chito.’ Once I beat Merab (Dvalishvili), I’m goi...
Read more

Jim Miller had no problem accepting short-notice replacement Jared Gordon: 'Business as usual'

LAS VEGAS – With over 50 professional MMA fights, Jim Miller has been through it all, which has brought a level of comfort few have in this sport. That’s why when the UFC called with Jared Gordon as a replacement opponent for Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 45, Miller (35-17 MMA, 24-16 UFC) had no problem saying yes. At this point, there’s little the UFC lightweight veteran hasn’t seen, and he expects to be ready Saturday. “(It’s) business as usual,” Miller told reporters at Wednesday’s UFC on ESPN 45 news conference. “That’s three in a row that opponents drop out like two weeks or less for the event. And I think it’s a total of nine times in my career with the UFC, so more like 25 percent. But yeah, business as usual. “I train to be the best fighter that I can be every out. At this point I’ve fought everybody from the top lanky 6’4” lefties, to guys my height, and righties and grapplers. So I just appreciated when guys are willing to step up because there are a lot of fighters that say...
Read more