Benoit Saint-Denis had to lean on his durability and toughness in his octagon debut, but on Saturday they led to his first UFC finish.
Saint-Denis took on Niklas Stolze in a lightweight preliminary bout of UFC Vegas 56 at the UFC APEX. Saint-Denis displayed his enormous grappling ability in round one, while walking through an aggressive knee from Stolze which left him with a bad gash to his cheek. “God of War,” however, continued his assault on the other end of the ring and was forced into a back-naked choke submission.
Watch the video below :
of the final.
AHORA SI LO CONSIGUE Benoit Saint Denis logra la sumision poniendo en exhibicion su calidad #UFCVegas56 pic.twitter.com/cG5h2NsYsX
— UFC Espanol (@UFCEspanol) June 4, 2022
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Benoit Saint-Denis wins his first UFC victory in impressive fashion #UFCVegas56 pic.twitter.com/nnGwI43Nwh
— UFC (@ufc) June 4, 2022
Benoit Saint Denis wants in at #UFCLondon on July 23rd! pic.twitter.com/VNtcGhlIN0
— UFC (@ufc) June 4, 2022
The 26-year-old Saint-Denis made his promotional debut at UFC 267 this past October and was able to make it to the final bell after taking a vicious beating from Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos, a fight that saw referee Vyacheslav Kiselev — along with Saint-Denis’ coaching staff — take a lot of criticism for the fight continuing on.
This time, Saint-Denis returned to his usual weight class of 155 pounds, while also getting a full training camp to bounce back from the first loss of his pro career.
Stolze is now 0-3 since signing with the UFC in 2020.