Renato Moicano vs. Benoit Saint-Denis, UFC Paris Ceremonial Credit: UFC
UFC featherweight Renato Moicano looked set to continue his rise in the rankings, but he will have to face the extremely dangerous Benoît Saint-Denis on Saturday at UFC Paris.
Moicano (19-5-1) snapped an impressive four-fight winning streak with wins over Brad Liddell, Drew Dober, Jalyn Turner and Cristian Guzman. “Money” Moicano, one of the most popular fighters on the roster, entered enemy territory looking for his fifth straight win.
Saint-Denis (13-2) dominated the lightweight division with five straight wins before facing Dustin Poirier at UFC 299 in March. With wins over Ismael Bonfim, Thiago Moises and Matt Frevola, BSD is poised to bounce back from his loss at ‘The Diamond’.
Within 30 seconds, Renato Moicano stepped inside and got the first takedown of the match, neutralizing BSD. Moicano finished in half guard, but Saint-Denis relied on a butterfly guard and eventually pushed Moicano back and threatened him with an upkick. However, Moicano fought back again, taking the back and landing a bodylock. Moicano took advantage of that and moved to mount, landing a few nasty elbows. A right hand followed and BSD simply rolled and twisted with little hope of escape. He gave a thumbs up signal, but it was never okay. Saint-Denis immediately fell onto his back, but Mucano remained on the horse with two minutes remaining. BSD was bloody and battered, but somehow it held on. And, pretty impressively, he’s back in full guard.
However, after attempting to scramble out, Saint-Denis gave up on his back. Moicano jumped on it, but couldn’t get the finish. But with a minute left he was back in half guard on top of a bloody BSD. The fact that he survived the round was perhaps the most impressive thing about BSD’s opening round. Meanwhile, Moicano lived up to his nickname, “Money.”
Between rounds, Saint-Denis’ corner implored him to “wake up.” It was a back-and-forth battle early in the second round, with Saint-Denis still feeling the damage he sustained in the first round. Despite this, Saint-Denis was able to use his boxing to attack throughout the second set. Moicano kept the pace, mixed in his kicks and looked the fresher of the two fighters. However, the Frenchman’s eyes were swollen and he was taken to a doctor to be checked for BSD before the start of the third round. Saint-Denis got so many questions wrong, especially in his right eye, that doctors held up their fingers. This led to referee Mark Goddard waving his hand to stop the fight, and UFC Paris and its main event came to a rather quiet end.
Official results: Renato Moicano def. Benoît Saint-Denis TKO (doctor stop), round 2, 5:00
