Benoît Saint-Denis

Benoît Saint Denis (born December 18, 1995) is a French professional mixed martial artist who competes in the lightweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

As of March 12, 2024, he is #11 in the UFC lightweight rankings.

Benoît Saint Denis was born in Nîmes, on December 18, 1995 as the eldest of five brothers.

His father was a French Army officer practising judo at a good level, and his mother was a teacher.

Saint Denis practised judo in France and Germany from the age of 8 to 16 and earned a black belt.

He also played football and rugby union in his youth.

Prior to his MMA career, Saint Denis was a member of the 1st Marine Infantry Paratroopers Regiment, a unit of the French Army Special Forces Command.

He served as a French Special Air Service (SAS) operator in Mali during the war and more generally in West Africa, fighting terrorist groups.

He was awarded the Medal of the Nation's gratitude and the Combatant's cross in September 2017.

Saint Denis began kick-boxing with Stéphane Susperregui and Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) with Christophe Savoca in 2017 in the Bayonne region close to his regiment.

He also competed in BJJ, winning the medium-heavyweight (under 88,3 kg/194 lbs) division, in blue belt, at the 2017 West Zone Championship in France.

He participated in the 2017 IBJJF Paris International Open No Gi Championship, in the medium-heavyweight (under 88,3 kg/194 lbs) division, taking 3rd place.

In September 2017, he started MMA initially to improve his SAS close combat skills and tested himself in the Invictus XV amateur tournament that he won in the welterweight division on December 16, 2017 in San Sebastián, Spain.

Passionate about MMA, he was thinking of making it his career.

He won the middleweight (under 82,3 kg/181 lbs) division, at blue belt, in the absolute category, and took 2nd place on the regular category at the 2018 West Zone Championship in France.

He won the medium-heavyweight division, in blue belt, at the IBJJF Paris International Open Gi Championship in Spring 2018.

In July 2018, Christophe Savoca asked Luiz Tosta, a Brazilian colleague to host Saint Denis for a week at his MMA gym in London, Shootfighters, where Michael Page is training.

The Brazilian confirmed that Saint Denis was capable of launching into professional MMA.

In September 2018, Saint Denis stood out among thirty fighters during a test organized by Daniel Woirin, a French coach renowned for having won three belts at UFC and two at Strikeforce with MMA champions Anderson Silva, Dan Henderson and Lyoto Machida.

He left the army after five years of service in March 2019.

He was also the winner of both gi and no-gi divisions in the 2019 France National Championship, at blue belt in the middleweight (under 82,3 kg/181 lbs) division.

He also participated in two shows for ACB JJ, notably facing Yusup Raisov, losing by points.

Saint Denis, ending his contract with the army, decided to embark on a career as a professional MMA fighter early 2019.

He gave himself two years to break through to the highest level in MMA.

Two years was the time he had with his savings to train full time and get signed by the UFC.

He joined the Bulgarian Top Team of French manager Giom Peltier and won six fights in eleven months.

Then the pace of the fights slowed down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

With Daniel Woirin, he stayed undefeated and went eight wins by finish in middleweight, welterweight and super lightweight divisions, half of them at the Brave Combat Federation, where he ended up as the #1 Title contenter of the super lightweight division at the time he accepted to join the UFC.

2021

Saint Denis made his UFC debut in the welterweight division on short notice against Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos on October 30, 2021 at UFC 267.

He lost the fight via unanimous decision.

2022

Cutting to lightweight, Saint Denis faced Niklas Stolze on June 4, 2022 at UFC Fight Night: Volkov vs. Rozenstruik.

He won the bout after submitting Stolze via rear-naked choke in the second round.

He was scheduled to face Christos Giagos on September 3, 2022 at UFC Fight Night 209, in Paris.

However, Giagos pulled out in August after a domestic accident.

Consequently, Saint Denis faced Gabriel Miranda.

He won the fight via technical knockout in the early second round.

This win earned him the Performance of the Night award.

2023