Fight Coverage
Main Event Spotlight | UFC Paris
Lightweight Contenders Renato Moicano And Benoît Saint Denis Clash In What Should Be An Action-Packed Affair In Paris
One of the underlying themes around the September 28 main event in Paris is that it is a matchup of two men who got what they wanted. The bout is an opportunity in the spotlight Renato Moicano loudly demanded after accumulating a three-fight winning streak in the lightweight division. Meanwhile, the fight’s location in Paris — UFC’s third Parisian event in as many years — is what France’s Benoît Saint Denis has wanted, and for good reason, after earning a pair of wins and performance bonuses in Accor Arena the last two years.
The bout is a crucial one in a lightweight division in flux, as a new guard of contenders slowly, but surely, turns the page on an established, beloved, and still highly competitive group of veterans at the top. With Islam Machachev approaching his second year on the throne, Saturday’s main event could put the winner on the inside track toward a title shot as soon as 2025.
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Renato Moicano
Brazil’s Moicano isn’t anything close to a new face on the block. Rather, the 35-year-old is a seasoned and tested veteran whose UFC tenure stretches nearly a decade. The jiu jitsu ace opened his Octagon account with five wins out of his first six outings in the featherweight division, including wins over Jeremy Stephens, Calvin Kqattar and Cub Swanson.
Those results gave him enough momentum to weigh in as the backup for the featherweight title fight between Max Holloway and Brian Ortega (Moicano’s lone loss at that point) at UFC 231. However, back-to-back losses in 2019 to José Aldo and The Korean Zombie prompted a move up to 155 pounds. Moicano kicked off his new era with three submission wins in four fights, and following his rear-naked choke of Alexander Hernandez at UFC 271, “Money Moicano” was unveiled.
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The affable Brazilian shouted “Moicano wants money!” and a new persona was born and embraced. The shift came in part following the birth of his son in 2020, but also due to a sense of urgency. Moicano believes he has one more quality run toward title contention left in him, and he’s going to rattle the cage as loudly as he can when he isn’t submitting people inside of it.
After stepping up on short notice for a five-round bout with Rafael Dos Anjos the week after unleashing his new moniker, Moicano continued his streak at lightweight with wins over Brad Riddell, Drew Dober and Jalin Turner, the latter two coming within the first four months of 2024.
Benoît Saint Denis
France’s Benoît Saint Denis is exactly what you want out of a fighter. The French Special Forces veteran came into the UFC with a short notice opportunity against Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos and pushed the Brazilian veteran for three rounds before suffering his first professional loss. After getting into the show and back into his weight class, Saint Denis showed himself as a force. Saint Denis subsequently tallied five consecutive finishes, including three performance bonuses, to climb into the division’s Top 15.
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His all-action style and penchant for chasing the finish (the only fight of his to go the distance was, in fact, his UFC debut) caught the attention of Dustin Poirier. “The Diamond” was coming off a disappointing head kick loss to Justin Gaethje in their BMF title fight, and he needed an opponent—any opponent—to get the engine going again. Saint Denis was deemed that guy, and when they clashed at UFC 299 in Miami for the rare five-round co-main event, they put on a show.
Saint Denis pressed forward for as long as the fight lasted, and although Poirier turned things around in stunning fashion to score the knockout win, Saint Denis showed he could very much threaten the best in the division.
Meeting In The Middle
The bout between Moicano and Saint Denis may feature a pair of fighters outside the Top 10, but the lightweight division is in a curious spot at the moment. Seven of the top 10 fighters are coming off losses, and the only matchup between Top 10 fighters on the books is a rematch between Michael Chandler and Charles Oliveira at UFC 309. That means, inherently, that the winner on September 28 could find themselves just a win or two away from title contention.
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Stylistically, the fight is intriguing. Both men love to pressure and march forward to initiate the action, and they’re comfortable doing so in part because they’re highly skilled in the grappling arena. Saint Denis is a black belt in judo and has won gi and no-gi jiu jitsu competitions in France before moving to mixed martial arts. Of his 13 professional wins, nine came via submission. That does, however, play into Moicano’s strengths as a jiu jitsu black belt. All but one of Moicano’s finishes came via submission. In fact, his first knockout win came in his most-recent outing at UFC 300 when he came back to defeat Turner in the second round.
The Paris crowd is certainly primed to see fun grappling exchanges and scrambles, but both men are also prone to sitting in the pocket and slugging it out. Either way, the collisions will come frequently, and the pace of the fight is certainly going to be a breakneck one with so much on the line in The City of Light.
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