Benoit Saint Denis’ violent path again to light-weight title competition added one more brutal chapter on Saturday in a 15-second knockout of Beneil Dariush at UFC 322 in New York.
Saint Denis (16-3, 1 NC) put a pair of 2024 stoppage losses additional within the rearview mirror by recording his third straight victory through end by rebounding from early bother to knock out Dariush with a superbly timed left hand to the ear inside Madison Sq. Backyard. The bout was contested at a catchweight of 157.2 kilos after Dariush (23-7-1) missed weight on Friday.
The native of France immediately climbed the Octagon wall and gestured to the group that’s deserving of a shot at Ilia Topuria’s 155-pound title following consecutive stoppage wins of Kyle Propelec in Could and Mauricio Ruffy simply two months in the past.
Dariush, a 36-year-old native of Iran, briefly dropped Saint Denis within the early going with a tough calf kick. BSD additionally ate a flush knee to the face as he tried to rise again as much as his toes. However the left hook from Saint Denis that adopted was sufficient to ship Dariush to his third defeat over his final 4 fights relationship again to 2023.
“I’ll do regardless of the UFC tells me to do and can return quickly,” Saint Denis stated after the struggle.
The 29-year-old Saint Denis, who entered because the No. 13-ranked light-weight (in opposition to No. 9 Dariush) continued to point out his recuperative skill following a knockout loss to Dustin Poirier in 2024 (during which BSD was battling an sickness) and a TKO defeat six months later to Renato Moicano (after the cageside physician dominated BSD could not proceed as a consequence of a broken eye).
