On March 9, Benoît Saint Denis will face MMA legend Dustin Poirier. If the Frenchman passes this stage he could aim for much bigger things, like the BMF belt or the UFC lightweight belt, but he explains that he will not sell the bear’s skin before having killed it.
Benoit Saint-Denis has the opportunity to catapult up the rankings if he can secure a victory against Dustin Poirier at UFC 299.
The pair will meet in a 5 round co-main event on Saturday March 9th at the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida in what is undoubtedly the Frenchman’s biggest test so far.
In a recent interview with MiddleEasy, ‘God Of War’ admitted he knew that after his last victory a highly ranked opponent would be next and was extremely pleased when he saw Poirier’s name on the contract he said:
“To be honest, I was expecting a tough fight and a tough contender but yeah, I was fulfilled with joy with having Dustin Poirier across the Octagon against me for my next fight. He is a tough guy, he has a big career and it is an opportunity for me to get one more win and go as near to the belt as fast as I can. It is one of the toughest divisions out there because with 5 finishes in a row, you can only expect to be facing those types of guys but in the Lightweight division you are never sure of when these (things happen) so yeah, I am pretty happy.”
For both men, a head kick ultimately decided the fate of their last contests but in extremely different fashions. Saint-Denis stopped Matt Frevola just 90 seconds into their contest with a brutal left high kick on the release of a clinch and rendered Frevola unconscious immediately. For Poirier, he found himself on the wrong side of a head kick finish when he was caught a minute into the second round of his rematch with Just Gaethje. When pressed as to whether the head kick is something Saint-Denis will look to implement throughout the fight, he kept his cards close to his chest but told fans that there are several routes he will look to explore.
“Of course it is a weapon to use because obviously it is not something he likes but you know, in a fight of this calibre, it (takes) a moment of not concentrating on what you have to do, or getting a bit sloppy. I believe this is how he got knocked out by Justin Gaethje, who he has beaten before. It will be a weapon… but I have a couple more in the box.”
Saint-Denis has stormed the Lightweight division since picking up his first promotional victory in 2022 and has established a five-fight win streak, since. A victory in the opportunity that now lies before him could all but secure the Frenchman getting a shot at either the UFC Lightweight title or the BMF belt but the 28-year old is not looking past the Poirier and is looking forward to competing against
“As always, what I am saying to the media is, is that if I didn’t win my five fights before, the way I have been winning, I would not be here talking with you about this fight. Each fight is the most important of your career and you have to treat each fight as so. It’s a huge fight and could bring me to the top of the rankings but for me, it is not my first concern. My first concern is beating Dustin Poirier who is a very well rounded fighter, a good Southpaw and I cannot wait to be across the octagon from him.”
