Benoit Saint-Denis showed what he’s capable off with a full training camp against Niklas Stolze at UFC Fight Night 207.
[autotag]Benoit Saint-Denis[/autotag] showed what he’s capable of with a full training camp against [autotag]Niklas Stolze[/autotag] UFC Fight Night 207.
After dropping his octagon debut on short notice earlier this year, Saint-Denis (9-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) got the opportunity to show what he’s all about in a welterweight bout against Stolze (12-6 MMA, 0-3 UFC) on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
He did just that, threatening with all types of submission before finally locking in the rear-naked choke and getting the tap at the 1:32 mark of Round 2.
Watch the highlights of Saint-Denis’ first UFC win below (via Twitter):
Following the win, Saint-Denis said he’s here to be a problem for everyone at 155 pounds, and he wants a quick turnaround at UFC’s July 23 event in London.
“Give me UFC London guys,” Saint-Denis said in his post-fight interview with Paul Felder. “Before Paris I get married one week before, so I can’t get drunk for my wedding. Give me UFC London and I will put so much pressure. I thank the UFC for the opportunity.”
Up-to-the-minute results of UFC Fight Night 207 include:
All the UFC and Bellator fight announcements that were broken or confirmed by MMA Junkie in the past two weeks.
MMA fight announcements are hard to follow. With so many outlets and channels available, it’s nearly impossible to organize.
But here at MMA Junkie, we’ve got your back.
Each week, we’ll compile all the newly surfaced fights in one spot. Every Monday, expect a feature listing everything you might have missed from the UFC or Bellator.
Here are the fight announcements that were broken or confirmed by MMA Junkie from April 18-May 1.
Jared Gooden admitted prior to UFC on ESPN 28 that he was in a do-or-die situation. He responded with a violent knockout.
[autotag]Jared Gooden[/autotag] admitted prior to UFC on ESPN 28 that he was in a do-or-die situation. He responded with a violent knockout of [autotag]Niklas Stolze[/autotag].
Gooden (18-6 MMA, 1-2 UFC), who stepped into the welterweight bout with Stolze on just four days’ notice as a replacement, needed just 68 seconds to score a violent first-round knockout of Stolze (12-5 MMA, 0-2 UFC) at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Check out the replay of the finish below (via Twitter):
What made the win for Gooden all the more dramatic is that after stepping up to fight, his bout was called off Saturday afternoon due to COVID-19 protocols. However, upon further review, the UFC received medical clearance to reinstate the fight.
That was a good thing for Gooden, who got the job done in spectacular fashion.
“My mentality and my coach changed,” Gooden said in his post-fight interview with Paul Felder. “We knew we couldn’t go to the judges no more, and that’s what changed.”
In the main event, [autotag]Uriah Hall[/autotag] (17-9 MMA, 10-7 UFC) takes on [autotag]Sean Strickland[/autotag] (23-3 MMA, 10-3 UFC) at 185 pounds. Both fighters come in with four-fight winning streaks, but it’s Strickland with a sizable betting advantage at -225 at BetMGM, and he’s got a big 10-3 lead in the picks from our 13 editors, writers, radio hosts and videographers.
In the co-feature, [autotag]Kyung Ho Kang[/autotag] (17-8 MMA, 6-2 UFC) meets jiu-jitsu ace [autotag]Rani Yahya[/autotag] (27-10-1 MMA, 12-4-1 UFC) at bantamweight. Kang is the slight favorite at -135, and he’s got just a narrow 7-6 lead in the picks in our most contentious fight.
[autotag]Cheyanne Buys[/autotag] (5-2 MMA, 0-1 UFC) and [autotag]Gloria de Paula[/autotag] (5-3 MMA, 0-1 UFC) both are looking for their first UFC wins in a women’s strawweight fight. Buys, from South Africa, is a -165 favorite and has a big 11-2 lead in the picks.
[autotag]Jared Gooden[/autotag] (17-6 MMA, 0-2 UFC) is stepping up on short notice to take on [autotag]Niklas Stolze[/autotag] (12-4 MMA, 0-1 UFC) at welterweight. Stolze is a 2-1 favorite at the betting window, and he’s got an 11-2 edge from our pickers.
[autotag]Zarrukh Adashev[/autotag] (3-3 MMA, 0-2 UFC) takes on [autotag]Ryan Benoit[/autotag] (10-7 MMA, 3-5 UFC) in a flyweight bout. And despite just a -140 nod from the oddsmakers and betting public for Benoit, he’s running away with the picks at 11-2.
And to open the main card, [autotag]Bryan Barberena[/autotag] (15-7 MMA, 6-5 UFC) is the biggest favorite at -275 in his welterweight bout against [autotag]Jason Witt[/autotag] (18-7 MMA, 1-2 UFC). He’s also our lone unanimous pick at 13-0.
In the MMA Junkie reader consensus picks, Hall (61 percent), Yahya (62 percent), Buys (77 percent), Stolze (61 percent), Benoit (74 percent) and Barberena (86 percent) are the choices.
Mounir Lazzez won’t get to make his U.S. debut and Jared Gooden is now targeted to face Niklas Stolze at UFC on ESPN 28.
[autotag]Mounir Lazzez[/autotag] won’t get to make his U.S. debut just yet.
Lazzez (10-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC) has been forced out of UFC on ESPN 28 due to visa issues and [autotag]Jared Gooden[/autotag] (17-6 MMA, 0-2 UFC) is targeted to step in on short notice to face [autotag]Niklas Stolze[/autotag] (12-4 MMA, 0-1 UFC) on Saturday.
Two people with knowledge of the matchup informed MMA Junkie of the booking Tuesday but asked to remain anonymous as the promotion has yet to make an official announcement.
Stolze took to Instagram Tuesday night to vent his frustration at the lack of communication between Lazzez’s camp and the UFC, where he only found out about the withdrawal on fight week.
Lazzez wasn’t happy with Stolze’s initial comments, vowing to make him pay whenever they cross paths.
Germany’s Stolze will be in search of his first UFC win. The 28-year-old saw his four-fight winning streak snapped in his promotional debut when he dropped a unanimous decision to Ramazan Emeev at UFC on ESPN 14 in July.
After dropping back-to-back unanimous decision losses to Alan Jouban and Abubakar Nurmagomedov, Gooden will also be in search of his first UFC win. A Titan FC, LFA, and Island Fights veteran, “Nite Train” has finished 13 of his 17 pro wins.
With the change, the UFC on ESPN 28 card lineup now includes:
All the UFC and Bellator fight announcements that were broken or confirmed by MMA Junkie in the past week.
MMA fight announcements are hard to follow. With so many outlets and channels available, it’s nearly impossible to organize.
But here at MMA Junkie, we’ve got your back.
Each week, we’ll compile all the newly surfaced fights in one spot. Every Monday, expect a feature listing everything you might have missed from the UFC or Bellator.
Here are the fight announcements that were broken or confirmed by MMA Junkie from May 17-23.
Welterweights Mounir Lazzez and Niklas Stolze will look to rebound when they square off on July 31.
Welterweights [autotag]Mounir Lazzez[/autotag] and [autotag]Niklas Stolze[/autotag] will look to rebound when they square off in July.
Lazzez (10-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC) takes on Stolze (12-4 MMA, 0-1 UFC) at a UFC Fight Night event on July 31, which does not yet have an announced location or venue.
Two people with knowledge of the matchup informed MMA Junkie of the booking on Friday but asked to remain anonymous because the promotion has yet to make an official announcement.
After an impressive showing in his UFC debut against Abdul Razak Alhassan in July, Tunisia’s Lazzez was stopped by Warlley Alves at UFC on ESPN 20 in January. The first fighter born and raised in an Arab country to sign with UFC, Lazzez has finished eight of his 10 professional wins.
Stolze fell short in his promotional debut when he dropped a unanimous decision to Ramazan Emeev at UFC on ESPN 14 in July. The loss snapped a four-fight winning streak for the German kickboxer, who will look to get back to the win column when he faces fellow striker Lazzez.
With the addition, the UFC Fight Night lineup for July 31 includes:
Check out all the facts and figures from UFC on ESPN 14, which saw Robert Whittaker score a main-event win over Darren Till in Abu Dhabi.
The final stop of the UFC’s inaugural “Fight Island” stretch took place Saturday with UFC on ESPN 14, which went down at Flash Forum on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi with a record 15-fight card that aired on ESPN and streamed on ESPN+.
Former UFC middleweight champion [autotag]Robert Whittaker[/autotag] (21-5 MMA, 12-3 UFC) rebounded from losing the title to Israel Adesanya last October when he outworked [autotag]Darren Till[/autotag] (18-3-1 MMA, 6-3-1 UFC) to a unanimous decision in the main event.
For more on the numbers behind the historic fight card, check below for 50 post-event facts to come out of UFC on ESPN 14.
The six fight-night bonuses issued at UFC on ESPN 14 set a single-event record for the company.
UFC on ESPN 14 drew an announced attendance of zero for a live gate of $0.
Betting favorites went 11-4 on the card.
Betting favorites improved to 14-6 in UFC headliners this year.
Total fight time for the 15-bout card was 2:40:24.
Main card
Robert Whittaker
Whittaker improved to 9-1 since he moved up to the UFC middleweight division in November 2014.
Whittaker has earned seven of his 12 UFC victories by decision.
Till fell to 1-1 since he moved up to the middleweight division in November.
Till suffered the first decision loss of his career.
[autotag]Mauricio Rua[/autotag]’s (27-11-1 MMA, 11-9-1 UFC) 23 victories in UFC/PRIDE light-heavyweight competition are the most in combined divisional history.
[autotag]Antonio Rogerio Nogueira[/autotag] (23-10 MMA, 6-7 UFC) fell to 2-5 in his past seven fights dating back to July 2014.
Nogueira has suffered six of his 10 career losses by decision.
Werdum (24-9-1 MMA, 12-6 UFC) improved to 10-4 since he returned to the UFC for a second stint in February 2012.
Werdum has earned 18 of his 24 career victories by stoppage. That includes eight of his 12 UFC wins.
[autotag]Alexander Gustafsson[/autotag]’s (18-7 MMA, 10-7 UFC) three-fight losing skid is the longest of his career. He hasn’t earned a victory since May 2017.
Gustafsson was unsuccessful in his heavyweight debut.
Gustafsson fell to 3-6 in his past nine UFC appearances dating back to his first title fight against Jon Jones in September 2013.
Carla Esparza
[autotag]Carla Esparza[/autotag] (17-6 MMA, 8-4 UFC) improved to 7-3 since losing the UFC strawweight title to Joanna Jedrzejczyk in March 2015.
Esparza’s eight victories in UFC strawweight competition are second most in divisional history behind Jedrzejczyk (10).
Esparza’s four-fight UFC winning streak at strawweight is the fourth longest active streak in the division behind Tatiana Suarez (five), Yan Xiaonan (five) and Zhang Weili (five).
Esparza has earned seven of her eight UFC victories by decision.
Esparza’s 39 takedowns landed in UFC strawweight competition are most in divisional history.
[autotag]Marina Rodriguez[/autotag] (13-1-2 MMA, 2-1-2 UFC) had her 15-fight unbeaten streak snapped for the first defeat of her career.
Craig (13-4-1 MMA, 5-4-1 UFC) has earned all of his career victories by stoppage.
Craig became the first fighter in UFC history to win three separate fights by triangle choke submission.
Craig’s five submission victories in UFC light heavyweight competition are tied with Jones, Misha Cirkunov, Ovince Saint Preux, and Glover Teixeira for most in divisional history.
[autotag]Gadzhimurad Antigulov[/autotag] (21-6 MMA, 3-2 UFC) has suffered all eight of his career losses by stoppage.
Antigulov suffered his first submission loss since Apr. 27, 2013 – a span of 2,646 days (more than seven years) and 18 fights.
[autotag]Alex Oliveira[/autotag] (21-8-1 MMA, 11-6 UFC) improved to 9-5 (with one no contest) in UFC welterweight competition.
[autotag]Peter Sobotta[/autotag] (17-7-1 MMA, 4-6 UFC) fell to 4-3 since he returned to the UFC for a second stint in May 2014.
Sobotta has suffered four of his six UFC losses by decision.
Khamzat Chimaev
Chimaev (8-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) set a record for fastest time between UFC wins with two victories in 10 days.
Chimaev earned a fight-night bonus for both of his wins.
Chimaev has earned all eight of his career victories by stoppage. He’s finished five of those wins in Round 1.
[autotag]Rhys McKee[/autotag] (10-3-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) has suffered both of his career stoppage losses by knockout.
Preliminary card
Francisco Trinaldo
[autotag]Francisco Trinaldo[/autotag]’s (26-7 MMA, 16-6 UFC) 15 victories in UFC lightweight competition are tied for fourth most in divisional history behind Jim Miller (19), Donald Cerrone (17) and Gleison Tibau (16).
[autotag]Jai Herbert[/autotag] (10-2 MMA, 0-1 UFC) has suffered both of his career losses by knockout.
Ronson (22-10 MMA, 1-3 UFC) was successful in his return to the UFC after going winless in his first stint from 2013-2014.
[autotag]Nicolas Dalby[/autotag] (18-4-1 MMA, 2-3-1 UFC) fell to 1-1 since he returned to the UFC for a second stint in September.
Dalby suffered the first submission loss of his career.
Aspinall (8-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC) has earned all eight of his career victories by stoppage.
[autotag]Jake Collier[/autotag] (11-4 MMA, 3-4 UFC) was unsuccessful in his UFC heavyweight debut.
Collier has alternated wins and losses over his past eight fights.
Collier has suffered four of his five career losses by stoppage.
[autotag]Movsar Evloev[/autotag] (13-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) has earned all three of his UFC victories by decision.
[autotag]Mike Grundy[/autotag] (12-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC) had his nine-fight winning streak snapped for the first defeat of his career.
Grundy suffered the first decision loss of his career.
Tanner Boser
Boser (19-6-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) earned his second UFC victory in a 28-day stretch. He also won at UFC on ESPN 12 on June 27.
Raphael Pessoa (10-2 MMA, 1-2 UFC) has suffered both of his career losses by stoppage.
Pessoa suffered the first knockout loss of his career.
[autotag]Pannie Kianzad[/autotag] (13-5 MMA, 2-2 UFC) has earned nine of her 12 career victories by decision. That includes both of her UFC wins.
[autotag]Ramazan Emeev[/autotag] (19-4 MMA, 4-1 UFC) improved to 3-1 since he dropped to the UFC welterweight division in May 2018.
Emeev improved to 16-2 in his past 18 fights.
Emeev has earned all four of his UFC victories by decision.
[autotag]Niklas Stolze[/autotag] (12-4 MMA, 0-1 UFC) has suffered all four of his career losses by decision.
[autotag]Nathaniel Wood[/autotag] (17-4 MMA, 4-1 UFC) earned his first decision victory since Nov. 14, 2015 – a span of 1,715 days (nearly five years) and 11 fights.
[autotag]John Castaneda[/autotag] (17-5 MMA, 0-1 UFC) suffered the first decision loss of his career.
UFC research analyst and live statistics producer Michael Carroll contributed to this story. Follow him on Twitter @MJCflipdascript.
